Orr Hot Springs (also known as Orrs Springs, Orr’s Hot Sulphur Springs or Orrs) is located 15 miles almost directly north of  Boonville. it is also accessible from Ukiah or Mendocino by following Orr Springs Rd. The Orrs post office operated from 1889 to 1911 and from 1915 to 1933. The name honored Samuel Orr, an early settler. Orr’s son established a stage coach station and a resort there. The springs flourish on 27 acres at the headwaters of Big River.

Pomo Native Americans regularly passed through on trading expeditions and on annual treks to the Mendocino coast. Unfriendly tribes agreed to co-exist peacefully while stopping at the hot springs. In the late 1800s, “Orr Hot Sulphur Springs” became a resting spot on the Ukiah-Mendocino stagecoach line. It developed into a popular resort for city-dwellers who came seeking health and relaxation. The mineral waters were heralded as bringing great relief to arthritis and rheumatism, and to blood, kidney and liver disorders.

The original bathhouse at the springs, now a dormitory for guests, was built in the 1850’s. In the logging heyday of Mendocino County — the 1870’s to 1890’s — local lumberjacks came to Orr Hot Springs to bathe and socialize. In addition to a post office, saloon and a dance hall, a hotel catered to families that came to visit their husbands and fathers. When a daughter of the Orr family married a Weger (WAY-gur) in 1880, the ownership of the property changed names. The hotel burned down in the late 1930’s and was replaced by a lodge and eight bungalows, which are the main buildings today. In 1975, the Weger family sold the 26-acre hot springs to some hippies who turned it into a commune and grew food on the land. Leslie Williams, who lived at the Orr commune on and off for 18 years, became the sole owner in 1994.

I have known for several years that the hot springs were a stopping place for the Pomo. Alas that was all I knew. The above I have gleaned from several Internet sites and the following picture is the one and only I have so far collected of its early days.

Orr Hot Springs

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