The Road to Zzyzx - Part 1

Out in the middle of the Mojave Desert lies an oasis most people never see, let alone hear about. With faded stucco buildings, peeling Bohemian hand-painted street signs, and concrete soaking pools with a desert view deceivingly advertised as hot springs, the place is like something off a Hollywood set. Not to mention the vigorous lake in the middle of the desert ringed by tall palms, drawing one in from miles across the dry valley to see what exactly is going on in that strange place.

That morning, I had woken up miles further down I-15 after ambling out a couple miles into the desert as the sun set the previous evening. The sun shone through the skylight above my bed, waking me as the last of the cool morning breezes faded, and it rose over the short mountains to begin its relentless daily projection of what felt like mega rays hours later. I rolled out of bed and got to my morning chores of tidying up the camper and then deciding what to do for breakfast. That day, I wanted to get to exploring before it was too late, but when I stepped out my back door, the sun felt just perfect, not too hot just yet. I decided to sit in my chair and read a bit while I made a nice, hearty cup of coffee to sip on. After indulging myself for a bit, I decided that there would be no time for cooking, so I grabbed a protein bar and an apple and hit the road.

I had first heard about Zzyzx after reading an article online about it half a decade or so ago and was hoping that it was still a seldom travelled gem. These days, California State University used some of the buildings for their Desert Studies Center, but I didn't know how often that was occupied and hoped the place still maintained a lonely sort of ambiance similar to a ghost town. The road out of my camping spot was rough washboard, and I had to be patient and take it slow at 4-5 miles an hour in order not to bounce my home on wheels to pieces. It had been well worth it to get away from the road noise. Soon enough, a handful of minutes later, I was out of the desert dust and back on the highway.

The area around Zzyzx was originally known as Soda Springs, and it was first used by the Mohave and Chemehuevi tribes for generations as a place to collect water and replenish after long journeys and hot days in the desert. Later, beginning in the 1860s, the US army built a very small outpost known as Hancock's Redoubt in order to help guard folks and freight rolling down the Mojave road towards the West Coast. According to 1st Lt. Milton T. Carr, "May 1st: Left camp at daylight and marched to Soda Springs, where I arrived at 11 o'clock a.m.... Found plenty of tule grass and water here. There are three springs, one large and two small. The water is impregnated with some alkaline substance and is unpleasant to taste." However unpleasant to the taste buds, plenty of people and critters drank the alkaline water, as there weren't many other options out there back in the day. Only three men were usually stationed at the lonesome post, and by 1868 the post was shutdown, with the army seeing no need to keep their supply lines extended 35 miles to the west from Camp Cady just for three men.

Between 1868 and 1944, Soda Springs was seldom visited and there were no established groups of people there after the Native Americans were moved out of the area and onto reservations by the beginning of the 20th century. Then along came the eccentric Mr. Curtis Howe Springer, a man who bestowed upon himself the title of preacher, psychiatrist, and "old-time medicine man" among other things. Born a few years before the turn of the century in 1896, Springer began traveling the eastern US in the 1920s and early 30s, giving lectures and peddling "miracle cures" for everything from hair loss to hemorrhoids. Beginning in the mid 30s, Springer hosted evangelical radio broadcasts across the United States on over 200 stations as well as 100+ international outlets, giving him a wide audience to draw on for donations.

Photo courtesy of PBS Socal

After failing to set up a healing retreat in several eastern states, Springer set his sights on a spot in the Mojave known as Soda Springs, where he created a mining claim out of over 12,000 mostly barren acres many miles from much of anything. He never planned to do any mining, however, and this would come back to haunt him. Next he put his grand plans into action. Finding homeless men on skid row in Los Angeles, he hired them to come out to the desert and build his dream, convincing them by guaranteeing them food and shelter out in the mighty Mojave. They first constructed small cement cabins, and then the large two-story hotel for paying guests on the "Boulevard of Dreams" along with a chapel, cross-shaped pool, and dining hall. From the mid 1940s onward, Springer continued to expand his Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Resort. The property grew to include an oasis-like lake named Lake Tuendae with a central stone fountain, a recording studio for his globe-spanning broadcasts, printing and food processing facilities and even an airstrip to whisk Springer back and forth from Los Angeles every week.

Photo courtesy of the Journal of the American Medical Association

Soon, the Soda Lake name was dropped in favor of Zzyzx. Springer was intent on it always being the last word in the phone book or other directories to pique patrons interest. He also marketed it as "the last word in health" on his advertisements, which aired on his shows constantly, along with his "facts about life and how to live it." In the advertisements, Springer offered various concoctions for sale, telling his audience that mixtures of an array of root vegetable and herb juices with brown sugar could cure their maladies.

He also sold a product called Zy-Pac, which was just the mineral salts from the Zzyzx area. He directed patrons to rub it on their scalps before bending over and holding their breath, saying the resulting flushing on the cheeks and scalp from possible oxygen deprivation was a sign it was working its magic. Another cure was called Manna after the name of the food God provided to the Israelites when they journey across the desert, with Springer also calling it a "Hollywood pep cocktail." A tea was also present among Springers offerings, "Antediluvian" advertised as a peppermint herb tea from the Mojave Desert. Springer was surely a salesman above all else, making promises left and right to cure an array of ailments to people all around the world.

Turning off I-15 a short while later, I continued onto the sun-baked byway with crumbling asphalt edges that is now known as Zzyzx Road. Noels Knoll stood above me at a peak elevation of 1575 ft, made up of rugged red and brown rock with barely any vegetation at all, demonstrating the harshness of the desert all around. The mountainside seemed high, and it occurred to me that the elevation of the road I was on must’ve been close to zero, I was at the southern end of Death Valley after all. The road hugged the old shoreline of the ancient lake, and as I came around a bend ahead, I saw tall swaying green grasses popping up along the edge to contrast the sandy beige lake bed.

For a moment I was perplexed, not being able to fathom seeing lush, vibrant vegetation and swamp-like grasses so far out in such a desolate place. Then I recalled that the Mojave River runs beneath the surface for a majority of its life, and its terminus is right there at Soda Lake. Apparently in the springtime, the lake has sections of standing water resulting from the rains, and these concentrations of water likely just move further underground while losing some moisture back to the atmosphere from evaporation. Already surprised, I rolled on, eager to get to the remains of Springer’s resort.

After another moment or two, I was only a mile or two from the place. Tall, bushy, unkempt palm trees began to come into view now, with their fronds from seasons past limply resting on their trunks still, all the way down. The dilapidated trees with their shaggy shapes almost reminded me of Gossamer from Looney Tunes, almost completely covered in fur. These trees began to multiply as I got closer and closer to the resort, with the last quarter mile or so being lined with them like resolute live oaks in front of an old home in the deep south. With the grasses and the trees, I had already been immersed in the unexpected, and I pondered what other oddities I would find ahead in Zzyzx itself.

Sources:

Feller, Walter. “Digital-Desert: Mojave Desert .” A History of Zzyzx: 1860 - 1870 Army Outpost, Walter Feller, digital-desert.com/zzyzx/history-3.html. Accessed 01 Aug. 2024.

Hill, Randall  C. “The Last Word in Hucksterism: Zzyzx Road.” Idaho Senior Independent, 18 Sept. 2023, www.idahoseniorindependent.com/the-last-word-in-hucksterism-zzyzx-road/. Accessed 02 Aug. 2024.

“Bureau of Investigation: Curtis Howe Springer A Quack and His Nostrums .” Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 105, no. 11, 14 Sept. 1935, p. 900, doi:10.1001/jama.1935.02760370056027.

Grilli, Jon. “Miracles and Mirages: How Curtis Howe Springer Stole the Desert.” PBS SoCal, 9 Nov. 2018, www.pbssocal.org/shows/lost-la/miracles-and-mirages-how-curtis-howe-springer-stole-the-desert. Accessed 06 Aug. 2024.

Rasmussen, Cecilia. “ZZYZX: An Unlikely Home of Hucksterism and Miracle Cures.” Los Angeles Times, 16 June 2002, www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jun-16-me-then16-story.html. Accessed 11 Aug. 2024.