weren't even listed on the menu -- that befit any true health-minded resort...unless catering a mostly-veggie retreat group, when place might or might not have been open to general public.

Anyhow, he noted:

"The restaurant is like a ghost house. No one uses it, yet it's one of the nicest spaces in the whole complex. Make this into a common space, put a store selling some health food items and other necessities, and let the guests enjoy this beautiful space or really invest in a place the people would want to eat like at Harbin or Sierra Hot Springs."

long sidebar

(skip if of little interest)

Once and future restaurant

contrast to encouraged silence in bathhouse -- would require new staff position or committed work-trader to oversee things lest some guest break into beer stash, or assume it's a common kitchen, like Orr, Wilbur, or Harbin's, and try frying up platter of portabella burgers on the fancy commercial range, burn themselves, and sue.

To successfully serve with longer hours, among other things there's some tricky feng shui to remedy the split-level layout, for the sunken kitchen area can make serving masses a constant uphill effort without corrective measures.

That said, old-time irregulars remember the great restaurant success Goodpasture family had in '70s with Greg's tasty, nutritious, stick-to-the-ribs food at friendly prices in a down-home atmosphere. For a while it was actually considered the best restaurant in county; people drove up just to dine in a time when inspired food offerings were scarce to nonexistent in the region. (See tribute to its chef by sister on New Tales page. Also their menu wrap newsletter. Also Part II of Emile Frank's article series on springs. 

In more recent times, some might remember Julie's spirited running of place as Springs-employed chef 2000-2001. She had a sweet deal, living on grounds in the Cottage as part of incentives, as operation was then funded by and integrated with Springs management rather than leased out, as it had been for long time since.

Living on grounds can make big difference in attitude and dedication. When it's your home and not just job to commute to, you naturally resonate with place more and invest operation with more heart (except perhaps if a living-on-grounds manager and soon creating defensive posturing and/or visitor avoidance if not on the ball and/or privacy-starved).

Julie, seasoned quick-order chef, was happy to call place home and play queen of the range and it showed. In even more recent times, lessee Bianca, living within walking distance, lent place warm down-home ambiance in which to enjoy inspired Cuban influenced offerings. Most recently, Gia has helmed place and tho commuter restored place's former down-home glory with fine veggie offerings and cheery spirit.

Lamentably, weird tendency in recent decades had been one of trying to emulate big city dining establishments: Operators put on the dog with starched tablecloths; impressive uniforms, head honcho's replete with trey fancy chef's hat, making one resist urge to either salute or laugh out loud; hovering, "Can I refill your coffee?" service (often alternating with long disconnects and seeming week-long waits for food); and fancy, haughty cuisine (spelling intentional), along with beer and wine offerings to wash it all down and perhaps dull one's senses to the ouchy tab.

That the Springs 'owner' held beer and wine license no doubt worked to keep operation in traditional upscale restaurant mode, seeming to lean on alcohol to lift spirits rather than spa healing, accented afterwards with generous portions of tasty nutritious food prepared with heart. An alcohol-serving establishment is just as unlikely to offer natural food as natural food place is to serve alcohol.

In times past it was no doubt a delightful experience for handful of well-healed omnivores and splurgers wanting to indulge and be pampered and re-challenge their liver after having purified it a bit, as a scattering of old positive reviews indicated. And a pleasant and novel change of workplace for presiding chefs and staff, even if surreally keeping intact city-operation attitudes and expectations, seemingly -- and weirdly -- totally disconnected from the rustic surroundings and special relaxed nature and health focus of place. And at prices that moved former stalwart office staffer Linda B. to sniff, "Food sounds great; wish I could afford to eat there."

Witnessed around 2012: a young, immaculately uniformed waiter delivering a meal to bathhouse visitor lounging by creek below the bathhouse. While such service was touching on one level, on another it struck viewer as some time-warped throwback to a ritzy east coast 1930s' resort catering to the idle rich.

Unknown whether such focus was last owner's or managers' possible aversion to perceived hippie crunchy-granola-tofu fare and light-spending pursuers of such, projecting own dietary preferences, and/or most restaurant leasers' belief that the place must cater to most solvent mainstream omnivore tastes...and so had to try to appear a snooty upscale eatery to have any chance of succeeding.

Maybe it was the inability to find -- or even bother looking for -- talented and ambitious veggie chef eager to run the seasonal rustic-set restaurant in simpler, just-folks way in keeping with relaxed spirit of bathhouse and earlier successful operations.

"And in this ring..."

During peak season Stewart Springs could be dizzying five-ring circus: walk-in bathhouse guests, reservation and walk-in overnighters, extended stays of special workshop groups, sweat lodge (independently run), plus restaurant operation. 'Owner' or management, liking to be freed of the extra direct load of operating a restaurant on top of everything else, had been leasing out the place for years.

Suspect that the annual lease cost plus overhead might've been such that, again, lessee felt he had no choice but to go for big-ticket meals to make nut rather than go with cheaper, more basic meals, in greater volume, to avoid losing shirt...like those across creek were more happily doing.

If so, it would go long ways to explain the occasional tense vibes some posters reported, diner volume far below optimistic projections to be successful or even break-even. Who knows? Maybe lessee took out a bank loan, remortgaged their home, dipped into life savings, or blew a dream-vacation fund to finance their grand venture, then rosy dreams of thriving establishment freaked out on the reality of slack to nonexistent diners.

Occasional teaser freebie samples were set out on bathhouse's lobby table to entice visits, and desk manager often had quick meal delivered to post, busily scarfing, giving raves when asked how it was. "Great! Better hurry if you want some, it's going fast!" Traffic flow between the two places was phenomenal. One seldom did the bathhouse without at least scoping restaurant's special to see it it could excite the taste buds, or decide to partake when finding friends or new acquaintances parked on eatery's front deck or inside.

Later leasees often got into loggerheads with management over sundry miscommunications and unreasonable expectations and demands of one or the other or both. One tragi-comic incident: chef was busy going around the grounds putting up unapproved signs to try shaking off a slow spell and attract diners...and managers  coming along minutes after, tearing down signs and tossing them into the trash.

Another involved a disgruntled chef, contract terminated and paid off a bundle after a long cold war with management, sicking the county fire marshal on the place, which in 2005 apparently had numerous fire-safety-code violations. Result: soon after, even managers joined staff in hasty efforts to get back into compliance and avoid steep daily fines if not remedied before looming deadline.

Food, Glorious Food...

Whether the former upscale dining focus struck one as incongruous or not, reviewer's main issue was over making better use of venerable structure. Lodgers were understandably loathe to drive down the hill and to town when the restaurant was closed, which was most of the time ("The drive to Weed for a mediocre dinner is a drag..." said Subject Travel), and they didn't rent room with kitchenette or bring food, and don't fancy fasting. ("Oh, good, it's got a restaurant!" some no doubt enthused on gleaning the official website, maybe thinking it was open every day year-round for breakfast, lunch and dinner.)

Especially since after good long soak and sauna one could hone an exquisitely honed appetite. And, concern for any with picky palettes or dietary regimens, regional veggie restaurants are scarce. There was only Deli in Mt. Shasta's Berryvale and Andaman Healthy Thai Restaurant and Yreka's Nature's Kitchen, all 15-20-mile freeway drives and with their own limited serving hours.

A mountain of work and long-term investment, but it would almost guaranteed in time attract more overnight visitors and for longer stays. (Assuming, of course, that trying to increase business is deemed a laudable pursuit, which spa purists might well say it is not, if at price of not having an optimally relaxed visit that fewer guests can allow). Of course, all lodgings except dorms #7-10 already have kitchenettes of some stripe (if only electric hot plate and mini-frig in some last known), but it'd be popular for these exceptions -- plus any not wanting to cook and dine in private but prefer mingling with fellow visitors -- including campers and day trippers otherwise without access to food prep area. 

Yet more rants and raves, cont'd

Classic Reviews

Following are three noteworthy posts from long ago under former Stewart Springs management.

"Sister Moonbeam"

TripAdvisor review posted ages ago by Christopher M., of Somerville, MA is reprinted here, mostly in its entirety.

"Upon my entry to the main building to check in I was forced to wait behind a woman and her daughter who were checking out, or rather trying to check out without paying because 'someone had stolen her cat.'

"The idiocy of and behind that sentence made me more tense than when I walked in, but I soon realized just how calm every employee here is with the conversation that ensued:

"Manager: 'I highly doubt anyone here would steal your cat. Did you keep her inside or outside of your cabin?'

"Her: 'she's an outdoor cat!'

"Manager: 'Well, ma'am, we are in the middle of the woods. Wild predatory animals have been seen around here. My guess is that your cat is simply gone. That is the reason for our no outdoor pets policy. Had you informed us of your cat upon check-in, we would have explained that to you. I'm very sorry for your loss.'

"Woman: *jaw on ground*

"Alright, so with that settled, I got checked in and taken to a little hut with sister moonbeam (I seriously think her name was something very similar) who proceeded to give me the greatest hot stone massage of my life..."

"Harmonizing, rejuvenating"

Another classic, this 2012 TripAdvisor review by PilgrimOnEarth of Pleasanton, CA, gave place perhaps the most rarified kudos ever put to pen or pixels:

"Having spent forty of my sixty years of life outside of the USA and having stayed in countless hotels and resorts and inns on six continents, I submit with all sincerity that my five days at Stewart Mineral Springs Retreat afforded me as much well-being of soul and body as I have ever found in the most remote and undeveloped corners of this planet, which well-being at Stewart Mineral Springs derived not only from the retreat's pristine natural setting, but also from the management and staff's palpable desire to provide their guests with a genuinely rejuvenating experience..."

"Why I like Stewart Mineral Springs"

Carlflygt of S.F. also lavished noteworthy praise:

"I've been using this resort regularly for about ten years, driving from the San Francisco Bay Area or Reno, Nevada sometimes on a weekly basis. The appeal and usefulness of the facility are several-fold:

1. Powerful mineral water, easily the best I have experienced anywhere in California with comfortable, private tubs;

2. An aromatic, wood-fired sauna maintained at temperatures that facilitate sweating and inner cleansing;

3. A magnificent, high-volume creek cascading out of the Siskiyou mountains, very cold in the winter and spring and pleasantly warm during the summer;

4. A sun deck in mountain air that affords healthy dosing of sunlight;

5. A beautiful drive into the aura of Mount Shasta, the sight of which "turned John Muir's blood into wine;"

6. A friendly and accommodating staff, attuned to the mystical qualities of the resort and the mountain and to the native traditions that are maintained here;

7. Good amenities in the neighboring cities, in particular the Andaman Healthy Thai restaurant and the Berryvale Natural Foods Grocery in Mount Shasta City.

"My inner practices are a combination of Chinese chi kung and the anthroposphical ideas of Rudolf Steiner. I am particularly enthusiastic about working with the extremes of cosmic heat and cosmic cold, fundamental to the evolution of living systems and to the ranks of spiritual beings that are said to stand behind these systems. In the context of deep relaxation, these extremes can be tested at the resort, and I find myself continually intrigued by what they can do. The context of nature, including pine and aspen, wildflowers, birds, clouds, dragonflies, sunlight and billions of stars and galaxies on clear nights, only adds to the mystery of existence that one experiences here..."

Part 4

management -- big picture overview --

universe paging new stewardship

From highest praise to most discouraging words...

For what it's worth, most of following reviews were aimed at past management under previous, Foggy absentee 'ownership.' However, past energies tend to remain present without any positive, conscious, open-minded ownership/management banishing old ones -- obsessive profit focus replaced with fresh awareness and heart-centered intent -- not simply coasting on former...or for appearance sake making nice on superficial level while brazenly re-purposing place to suit and support private-minded leanings, derailing historic spa dedication.

Without understanding where the place is coming from, breaking through into any robust, here-and-now, can-do operation becomes well-nigh impossible. That's assuming stewards are wanting to perpetuate the grand tradition. New outfit's buttoned-down mindset obviously appears egregiously indifferent to any notion of actually running place for the general public's well-being, responsive to vox populi, instead being determined to essentially retool place for own exclusive purposes.

Alas, unkind comments abound over place's former management, 'rude' being the all-too-frequent summation:

"extremely rude and condescending" (Shastadaisey, Martinez, CA)

"These are the rudest people I have ever met." (Unattributed Yelp review)

"I hope one day someone takes over with the love and care [place] needs." (Unattributed Yelp review)

"Completely hostile and rude" (Javacat_Calif, S.F.)

"Rude, short and simply unyielding" (497Laurie497, Benecia, CA)

"Lady in the office was not friendly..." ( EvaKing, Bangkok, Thailand, TripAdvisor)

"...very unprofessional" (Kris Silva, May 2018 Google Review)

"Incredible rudeness..." (Chris Robideaux, Google review)

"Management here is not friendly" (Mathias D., S.F. TripAdvisor)

"Extremely rude... (Andy G., TripAdvisor)

"Shockingly rude..." (Tim K., Woodstock, IL, TripAdvisor)

Longer vintage rants

"Great Place Very Poor Management

This is a fantastic place. However I think that all the staff have taken a course in how to be extremely unfriendly. The receptionist was rude. [In] the dining room 'if you can call it that' the staff were so rude I got a fright and as for the manager of the place she is pretty damn scary. There is a list of rules and regulations with fines attached which is hilarious... This is a deeply spiritual place which I thought was just gorgeous. Its just such a damn shame that the management are so horrible..."

   -- Steven M., Sydney, Australia, TripAdvisor review

"The turnover of employees/staff is incredibly high, that speaks volumes.... so, even though it is an amazing place/space, it could be incredible and awesome without the current management, bringing their negativity to every part of the property..."

   -- Jessica B., Dixon, N.M., Yelp review

Springred of Redding, CA in 2015 related a stressful experience at front desk:

"Great place, horrid desk clerk

...I called a day before and lucked into a cabin due to a cancellation. The woman on the phone was delightful and friendly - I was told check-in was 4:00 pm but since no-one was in the cabin I could check in anytime in the afternoon...Next day, I packed up and bought food and drove for an hour and a half arriving about 1:45. I happily walked in to the office and told the woman I was here to check in. She rudely announced that check in wasn't until 4:00.

"I don't know what her problem was and don't really care... She has no business being behind a reservation desk. She ruined my first day, although the other staff were incredibly kind and professional during the remainder of my stay. I've never had anyone treat me so horribly..."

It also reflected place's unruly past, with crude unapologetic focus on profit over service and unseasoned management's negative reactionary effort to try keeping a handle on things on a poverty budget. Resulting sometimes uber-sketchy service made for epidemics of unhappy overnighters like Springred.

In more recent times it was, again, often the result of freaked mindsets of a management couple under relentless pressure to max profits while a medical death sentence hung over the husband. Such downer strains combined to crush spirits and, as reviewer above noted, adversely affected the vibration of the entire place. 

As said elsewhere, one can't help wonder if they took the job mostly so Ted, knowing he was terminal with stage-4 liver failure, could essentially have his own hospice, taking frequent mineral soaks during closed hours in hopes of affecting a miraculous cure or at least slow the inevitable. It appeared he suffered having to deal with demanding public as the price to pay...but seldom was loathe to show displeasure over frequently trying circumstances...nor was his wife, bent out of shape dealing with a dying husband while also enduring pressures running the Springs entailed, at times a juggernaut with ceaseless comings and goings of a flood of visitors, pus constant demand to generate profit from absentee 'owner'.

Springred's story was, of course, was not an isolated incident.

Another classic tale of woe hit the nail on the head with a dollop of wry humor:

"Beware the staff...was met with a shockingly rude woman at the front desk...rather than being helpful - or even neutral! - she was confrontational and downright poisonous. At a 'place of healing'! Ruined my bath experience...she should be fired. Terrible to go to a place for peace and end up more stressed than you were before you arrived!"

   -- Tim K., Woodstock, IL, TripAdvisor

Writer's not positive, but this might well have been none other than the former general manager herself, difficult to fire with a ten year contract and former distant 'owner' reportedly not wanting to talk to customers...unless sued, and even then his people would've contacted their people.

Later I realized it was the very same time that co-manager Ted D. was in the final throes of liver failure, passing away two months later...PLUS it was during the final phase of a years-long negotiations for sale of place to Pneuma. (Beyond having to agree on purchase price, reportedly it also took a long time due to legal complexities of joint 'ownership' being mostly foreign -- Mexican and Chilean -- plus one American.) Pure pity there wasn't any well-seasoned, cheerful office presence then, like former troupers Danielle, Linda or Allison, ones willing and able to carry on through even trying periods unsupervised with diligence, aplomb, and keen understanding...

...but then, such gnarly chaos reflected what was going on behind closed doors: half of management was dying while the other half was selling out the place to parties with shockingly inappropriate designs on it.

No Band-aids could even begin to cover such grievous wounds.

 End of online review excerpts with commentary

_______________________________________

For possibly further insight as to why management had been so dysfunctional in recent decades and continues on in sad variation today under diversionary intent, consider the following op-ed. (Also 12-part editorial "What Happened to Stewart Springs?" on home page - scroll way down, to below visitor rants on momentous sweat lodge ban.)

Towards better grokking Springs

With spa operation shut permanently, will they be able to make a go of things by renting out lodgings and event space for outside groups to defray the huge $2.6 million purchase price plus ongoing, $28,000 a year -- $77 a day -- county property taxes? Or gain sufficient financial support from its own affiliated groups and those interested in its academic offerings and watered-down, new-agey workshops?

If not, then current 'absentee stewards' might at last read the writing on the wall, receive a clarion wake-up call, experience a huge reality check...and throw in the towel on a money pit, putting the place back on the market...thereby creating the opportunity for appropriate steward(s), which true-blue fans of place visualize to manifest in due season, to come forward and at last redeem the place as a nonprofit natural healing retreat dedicated to the  greater good.

Time will tell.

In the meantime...  

Tragic Legacy:

"the only good injun..."

There's a tragic secret buried at Springs...one some have no idea of and others know about all too well.

In the 1870s, racial intolerance of 'civiized' whites towards First Nation people had reached a blood-thirsty frenzy on wings of the 1876 Little Bighorn comeuppance of genocidal U.S. troops.

So when a stray renegade attacked and killed some local settlers, others, possibly riled up by hired railroad guns, became bound and determined to exterminate ALL local natives. Getting apparent warning of the imminent hell-bent campaign, natives fled to their ancestral safe place of healing waters -- traditionally a protective place of peace where even warring tribes laid down their weapons on hillside and soaked together in temporary truce.

Most were no doubt massacred in short order. Late medicine man Charlie Thom's father, then a boy, and his grandfather were spared only for being camped further upstream at the time, trying to cop cooler weather during a hot summer. Some who had fled clear to Castle Lake were caught and killed, bodies thrown into the lake.

The horrific legacy of the land now known as Stewart Mineral Springs remains to this day, a grievous wound constantly in need of healing.

Metaphysics holds that earliest energy imprints by people on any given land stay embedded in its vibrational makeup throughout all time...no matter how many changes happen in following centuries.

If true, then both earliest imprint -- peaceful sacred use of land -- and to significant degree later hideous massacre energies because so tragically momentous -- still resonate on the place now known as Stewart Mineral Springs.

On the land today there's effectively  afoot an ongoing civil war between peaceful and hostile forces. One forever seeking resolution.

The former, being earliest and spanning centuries, is naturally stronger. But the latter, again, for being so unspeakably violent that it became unmoored from the time stream -- not unlike Titanic sinking, 9-11 or San Francisco's 1906 quake and fire -- will crop up to eclipse former energy imprint to this very day. Whenever unpeaceful, exploitative, or selfish use of grounds was attempted instead of heart-centered, open sharing of one of earth's rare healing gifts, one courted sure disaster.

Skeptics might say, "Oh, come on, that was over 140 years ago; get real." But a thousand years is a day in the Lord...in divine time that tragedy only happened hours ago. Any activity on land not centered in purifying and healing and peaceful harmonizing of all pulled to the place for purification, healing and rejuvenation calls back the mournful, chaotic, violent, site-embedded energies in a heartbeat.

Anything short of dedicated service inevitably results in chaos and discord, a resurrection of violent karma of place's original visitors being slaughtered on and around sanctuary land in that sorry time when, as the ugly saying of the time went -- or Hollywood accurately coined -- the only good injun was a dead injun.

It cannot be stressed enough:

The land can only heal from its tragic karma by present-day stewards devoting ALL efforts to genuine purification, healing and hospitality service...with no thought of trying to exploit place by unduly profiting from sacred waters OR co-opting operation in ways keeping general public from availing themselves of place to affordably purify, heal and rejuvenate in free and light, original spirit of realm...one untainted by any untoward commercial or private-minded preoccupation. All else is guaranteed to end badly.

(To last absentee steward's credit, one way operation worked towards this end was by offering a free mineral bath to any Native American showing tribal membership ID. Also, locals eligible for discount extended clear to Ashland, Oregon and down to Redding. With new 'owner', discount was only a token dollar or two and then only for Siskiyou County residents, and employees' once-a-month freebee bath offer ended.)

Days of Future Past

To further understand profit drive and other inappropriate energies crimping place in recent decades, it might help to realize that earlier 'owner' of some 36 years, John Foggy, was a fairly hardnosed businessman. He simply wasn't that into new-age stuff (or altruistic old-timey service gig, as founder), offering mineral-water healing and access to vortex energies as a genuine service.

Waters had to be commodified for gain.

He couldn't see any percentage running a business if not trying to make the biggest bundle possible off it. What was the point otherwise? Towards that end workers, including writer when briefly on payroll, were paid a token 25 cents over state minimum wage and for years forced to work off the clock and/or not get work breaks if the place got busy...all for being part of an undersized staff. Smoldering resentment, bickering among selves and burnout were the inevitable result. Workers felt blatantly exploited. Those refusing to work off-clock or through lunch breaks were immediately fired.

No bones about it: skeletal staff sweating at bare-bones wages under numb-skull management often made for one sketchy spa.

Hence bushelfuls of clearly unhappy online reviews over years competed with cheerier ones. (And, now, going beyond even bothering to post rants, ever-expanding de facto boycott of place with positive visualization of place's appropriate future stewardship.) They could leave bleak overall impression things at a supposed healing place were hopelessly out of wack. It naturally (unnaturally?) defeated original dedicated purpose...as if some virulent cancer had set in and was eating away at the retreat's once rock-solid integrity and mission intent.

Such a contentious environment obviously made any positive, fair-minded, easy-flowing operation all but impossible.

While stepped-up visitor volume (which, mea culpa, writer aided and abetted in mellower period of early 2000s) let more people enjoy place, renewed focus on healing and service needed to be stepped up as well, keeping pace, or the spirit of place got buried. 

As mentioned elsewhere, in future times what might greatly help is moving laundry/housekeeping away and building bigger, separate front office (charming as current one is). Latter space could be repurposed as steam-room, say, with side office serving as new-old entrance (it was  the original office entrance before add-on office was built -- that's why there was a window on wall between the two), doubling as a perfect spot for shoe removal like at hour-away Jackson Wellsprings. It would thus better accommodate staff and visitors without cramping energies -- and offer comfortable buffer from bathhouse where the most relaxed atmosphere is essential to gaining fullest spa benefit.

Newly resurrected Harbin was, as some know, long ago set up as the nonprofit Church of Heart Consciousness. People slowed down to await turn, attuning to here-and-now while building anticipation of entering the free-spirited grounded-culture paradise, far from so-called real world. (More like reel world, running illusory films nonstop on how life is supposed to be lived in order to not upset one-percenter apple cart dependent on keeping everyone down and in their place, scrambling for just enough crumbs to not want to revolt.)

Before changing former low sit-down desk to tall, protective and practical counter for standing staff, effect of faster chi bombarding seated workers with arrivals standing over them could be overwhelming. Poor Pat, CeeCee and countless others dealt with visitors that way for ages. But on the positive side, it did make place endearingly "just folks."

Every mineral springs resort of course routinely deals with trying pressures that floods of visitors can create. Orr Springs and Breitenbush eased the problem by setting limits on number of day visitors allowed in, all by call-ahead process -- no walk ins. Stewart's in times past ineffectively tried getting handle on occasional flood of locals-day visitors by limiting number in group without zapping surcharge (with predictably unfavorable response; it was like saying, "Okay, we'll let you crowd in, but it'll cost ya extra.").

Better to set limits, be fully transparent, give people credit for intelligence to understand the situation rather than keeping inner workings and limited-water reality of place on some secretive need-to-know basis, treating visitors like mushrooms (i.e., kept in the dark and fed crap).

Current 'owners' do seem obtusely determined to play out their wonky, tone-deaf fantasy diversion from place that had served as a healing and rejuvenation retreat, wide open to general public for the better part of almost a century and a half.

As most surely know by know, as of May, 2020 they whittled down operations to lodging and workshops and events only, no doubt hoping through them to replace the flood of lost spa revenue. How long can that go on before they conclude they'd be better off letting go of place entirely?

They'd let go and sign over to a new, ideally blissfully appropriate new legal steward(s) interested in making place an altruistic, happy, healing retreat once again...given current 'owners' are gracious and mindful enough to seek out the right person or group to transfer to, thereby redeeming their now much-tattered integrity and ultimately carving an offhandedly positive legacy in the place's evolution...plus assuring their own continued enjoyment of it in the future, should they so chose (assuming they can ever grow to accept mindful, simple nudity). 

With Springs aficionados visualizing a positive future transformation of  the place with well-matched future stewardship, management, and staff,  they can manifest a springs the way every aware and mindful person who's ever known and loved it in earlier times wants to see it become. Making operation a well thought out, legally nonprofit healing retreat in perpetuity would guarantee it.

With such new stewardship following universal passion to heal and enlighten and keep that green energy known as money working intentionally and plowed back locally, place would thrive again, regaining its rightful place in peoples' hearts around the world.

The all's-well quote that ended Emile Frank's 1984 article,  as it turned out not fully deserved then and definitely still premature, is perhaps as good a way as any to end this endless rambling...to reinforce the vision of a future, enlightened stewardship once again shepherding one of our planet's beloved healing realms:

Writer Stuart Ward was intimately involved with Springs for better part of 20 years, including work-trade assist to late manager Mary Hildebrand while living on grounds. He built up and maintained bathhouse cold-plunge for 16 years and successfully rallied for a new clothing-optional policy in 1999