Fales Station & Hot Springs

Fales Hot Springs started as a stage station for those headed to the Bodie Boom. It grew into a resort lasting almost a century. Fales and his brother enjoyed entertaining visitors with tall tales and Chester, a ventriloquist puppet.

Fales Hot Springs Ghost Town Abandoned California CA Mono County

Early visitors

Hundreds of Paiutes made their home near the warm waters north of Bridgeport, near Devil’s Gate. The geothermal water and steam warmed the meadows, making them the warmest location in the area. They fished in the streams and hunted in the forest. Grinding stones in the Sierra’s granite boulders mark their presence.

John C. Frémont was the first to document the hot springs. Along with famed guide Kit Carson, their party viewed steam from the hot waters on January 27, 1844. The starving and exhausted men were searching for the mythical Buena Ventura River, which they believed would lead across the Sierra to Sutter’s Fort.

Rush to the eastern Sierra

With the discovery of gold at Dogtown and Monoville, prospectors flocked to the Mono Basin from Genoa, Nevada and across the Sierra from Sonora. An enterprising individual attempted to develop the hot springs in the 1860s. In 1870, Joseph LeConte wrote about abandoned baths and accommodations in a “somewhat rude style.”

Sam Fales

Archibald Samuel “Sam” Fales (False) was born in Michigan on February 22, 1829. He emigrated to California with his parents during the Gold Rush. By 1862, Sam lived in Carson City, Nevada. He participated in a land rush in 1863 and obtained the hot springs in Mono County but continued living in Carson City.

In 1865, Sam had a run-in with an upset miner and the wrong end of a pistol. A fifteen-year-old saved Sam’s life by hitting the attacker on the head, allowing Sam to gain control of the revolver. Sam and his brother Tom decided that departing Carson City was in their best interest, so they headed south. Purchasing a ranch in Antelope Valley, they farmed and worked on developing the hot springs.

Fales Hot Springs

The Fales hired Coleville-based Henry Pitts to construct bathhouses and a two-story hotel. By 1877, the Hot Springs Hotel was open and soon became a popular way station for those headed to Bodie. The hotel was known for seasonal produce, fine liquor and warm waters.

The resort boasted multiple amenities, including bathtubs, a steam room, a mud bath and a pool. Fales built the bathhouses over the hot springs, and cracks in the floorboards heated the rooms. Bath and a delectable dinner cost 50 cents for adults and 25 cents for children. Mothers in Bridgeport would bring their children to bathe in the tubs as it was easier than pumping and heating water in their kitchens.

Sam married Diana Muir Clark in 1880. Following the death of her first husband, Diana worked managing boarding houses in Aurora and Bodie. Diana cooked delicious dinners for guests, and her daughter Minnie entertained them with the piano. The resort had a post office for six months in 1881.

Mono Herald and Bridgeport Chronicle-Union
Mammoth Lakes, California • Sat, Nov 29, 1890Page 3

The Fales operated their resort for decades. Minnie married local teacher Clay Hampton in 1886. The celebration at the resort included a brass band that entertained 150 guests. The marriage lasted only a few years, and then Minnie married local rancher J. G. Pimentel. The couple welcomed their son, Archie, named after his grandfather.

Archie Pimentel Grandson of Sam Fales
(Photo credit: Find a Grave)

The Fales brothers provided evening entertainment. Children loved Tom as a ventriloquist with his puppet, Chester. Sam was known for his tall tales and unmatched tobacco-spitting skills.

Sitting in a rocking chair beside the fireplace, Sam would entrance the audience with wild tales. One of Sam’s tales was of an ambush. Each of the tellings varies slightly, with one saying 1,000 Native Americans attacked his group. They were cornered in a box canyon when the tribe opened fire. Breathless, a woman asked what happened. Sam replied, “Sorry Madam, but I don’t remember another thing. You see, they killed every d— one of us!”

In 1902, Diana died at age 54. Minnie and her son, Archie, helped run the resort. They also had a shop and a gas station in Bridgeport. Five years following Diana’s death, Sam leased out the resort but continued to live on the property until he died in 1933. He was an astonishing 104; Sam claimed a glass of hot water a day from the springs kept him healthy.

Fales Marker
(Photo credit: Find a Grave)

Later years of Fales Hot Springs

J.M. Mawer, former operator of the Mono County Hospital, leased the hot springs in 1908. Mawer advertised the health and healing benefits of the natural hot springs. In 1925, two couples from Los Angeles leased the resort. They added an enclosed swimming pool and modernized it with electricity powered by an automobile engine. The Reeds leased the property in 1940, remodeling and adding a cocktail lounge.

Arbeck and Ruby Jorgensen purchased the hot springs in 1943 and added a gas station. In 1947, the Jorgensens’ car careened off Sonora Pass, landing 200 feet below. Arbeck died in a car accident, and Ruby was seriously injured. Following her recovery, Ruby continued to manage the resort. In 1952, a butane explosion rocked Falles Hot Springs. Ruby and two guests escaped, but the resort was destroyed in the fire. Ruby built a restaurant near the gas station with the settlement money and added a new swimming pool.

Fales Hot Springs transferred hands again in 1956, this time to the Kotchs. They owned the resort for less than a year, selling to the O’Hara’s from San Bernardino. The resort again became known for great food, this time Basque. It was then sold to Jim Gossett in 1969 and to Resort Development a decade later. The cabins were demolished to make way for new cabins and an Olympic-sized pool, but neither project was completed. After a century of welcoming visitors, Fales Hot Springs ceased operations.