VAPOR CAVES HISTORICAL TIMELINE

Before 1860 Ute Indians populate the area of present-day Glenwood Springs, at the confluence of the Grand (Colorado) and Thunder (Roaring Fork) rivers, and frequently bathe and soak in the area’s many natural hot mineral water springs and underground steam vapor caverns.

1860  Isolated site of Glenwood Springs discovered by Capt. Richard Sopris, surveyor, explorer and prospector, who names the area Grand Springs. About 50 hot springs exist along both sides of Grand River.

1879  Meeker Massacre results in removal of Ute Indians to remote reservation land in Utah and southwestern Colorado.

1880  Former Ute Indian Reservation lands opened to settlement. Prospector and pioneer James Landis arrives from Leadville and claims ownership of the area.

1883 Plat filed for the new townsite of Defiance (present-day Glenwood Springs). Garfield County established from Summit County.

1883 Isaac Cooper conveys his landholdings, including the Vapor Caves site, to the Defiance Town & Land Company.

1883 Defiance Town & Land Company develops a vapor cave (Cave #2) west of the original Ute Indian cave (Cave #1). Bathers crawl through a narrow tunnel into a room of standing height. Men bathe in the morning, women in the afternoon.

1885 Town name changed from Defiance to Glenwood Springs, after Glenwood, Iowa, hometown of Isaac Cooper’s wife, Sarah.

1887  Rights to all mineral waters reserved and deeded to the Colorado Land and Improvement Company, owned by city father Walter Devereaux. This conveyance includes resources for the present-day Vapor Caves, Hotel Colorado and Hot Springs Pool. Devereaux buys the five-acre tract containing the hot springs for $125,000, and begins plans to build the hot pool.

1887  First commercial use of Vapor Caves (Cave #3) on present site, with three large underground rock chambers.

1887  Defiance Land & Town Company erects a brick bath house featuring ten porcelain tubs set in cement at Cave #2, east of the Indian caves (Cave #1) on the south river bank, across the river from the present-day Vapor Caves. Charge for bathing is 25 cents.

1887  Denver & Rio Grande Railroad arrives in Glenwood Springs. Railroad construction seals over the original Ute cave (Cave #1). Now part of the Southern Pacific Railroad, this remains an active and important freight line. (The Amtrak passenger trains stop eastbound and westbound in Glenwood Springs daily, across the river from the present Vapor Caves.)

1887  Gambler, gunslinger and dentist Doc Holliday, who came for the vapors of Cave #2, dies of tuberculosis in Glenwood Springs at age 35.

1888 Colorado Land & Investment Co. deeds land to Glenwood Light & Power Company to construct a power plant north of the present Vapor Caves. The hydroelectric plant (now the Glenwood Springs. Arts Center) makes Glenwood Springs one of the first towns in the world to have electric lights. Light bulbs from the power plant light the murky depths of the Vapor Caves.

1888 Hot Springs Pool completed.

1892  Colorado Land & Improvement Co. enters into a $500,000 mortgage with International Trust Co. to develop geothermal resources, including the Vapor Caves.

1893 Foundation laid for present Vapor Caves spa building (known as Cave No. 3). Hotel Colorado completed. Caves are opened to the public late that year.

1898 First Strawberry Day celebration held in Glenwood Springs. The annual early-summer tradition continues today with week-long events and festivities. Oldest running festival west of the Mississippi.

1902  First automobiles negotiate the primitive Taylor State Road through Grand River Canyon (name changed to Glenwood Canyon in 1914). Prior to this, travelers from Denver to Glenwood Springs journeyed over Independence Pass, Cottonwood Pass, or by train.

1905  President Theodore Roosevelt visits Glenwood Springs on a hunting trip.

1907  Grand River name changed to Colorado River by an act of the state legislature.

1911  Fred Busk and B. Aymar Sands obtain holdings including the Vapor Caves in foreclosure proceedings, and form the Glenwood Hot Springs & Hotel Company, incorporated in 1912. The company sells bottled Yampah Spring Water as a natural curative.

1914  Glenwood Hot Springs & Hotel Company fails. Taylor State Road widened and improved through Glenwood Canyon.

1916  Land title and deed of trust conveyed to Charles Hughes, Elmer Lucas and Louis Schwartz, who form the Glenwood Hot Springs & Hotel Colorado Company.

1938 Oil baron, speculator and promoter Frank Kistler purchases the hotel, pool and vapor caves for $165,000. Paved, two-lane U.S. Highway 6 & 24 constructed through Glenwood Canyon.

1943-1946  U.S. Navy occupies Hotel Colorado for use as a military hospital during World War II. The hot springs pool is also closed to civilians, and reserved for military use.

1946  Glenwood Hot Springs & Hotel Colorado Company, sells Hotel Colorado.

1947  Owners of remaining property including Vapor Caves form the Glenwood Hot Springs Company.

1953 Glenwood Hot Springs Company, including the Vapor Caves, are sold to Dr. C.W. “Doc” McFadden. McFadden practiced medicine in Glenwood Springs from 1926 through 1980. Chiropractic, massage and therapy are offered at the caves.

1956 Frank Kistler sells the hot springs pool to its present owners for $100,000

1974  Dr. McFadden agrees to sell the Vapor Caves to Dr. Richard Renn, who takes over operation of the caves.

1979  Dr. Renn formally assumes ownership of the caves and forms The Glenwood Vapor Caves, Baths and Massage Inc.

1979  Vapor Caves purchased by Ron Hoban and Patty DeFries. DeFries assumes sole ownership in 1986.

1990  Yampah Hot Springs Corporation (Bruce Kendall and Patsy Steele) purchase the caves, now named Yampah Spa and Vapor Caves. The spa building property and vapor caves undergo major renovation April-August, 1990.

1993 Yampah Spa and Vapor Caves celebrates its centennial with a new addition, an expanded reception area and passage way for the spa’s herbal treatment wing.

1993 Ute Pow-Wow in Glenwood Springs. The first time members of the three Ute tribes have gathered in 125 years. Yampah Spa celebrates its centennial anniversary with tribes.

2022 Melinda, Scott, and Alex Delmonico assume ownership of Yampah Spa and Vapor Caves, eager to carry forward the long-standing tradition of healing and wellness at Yampah.