RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY
Mountain Historian
Now that school has just begun, let explore some nearby spots of historical interest that you can visit in your free time. On the way up the mountain, the Indian statue created by Joseph Leeland Roop in 1920 is just 300 yards to the north of the traffic signal at the base of Highway 18/ Turn north on Waterman Canyon Road – it’s at the entrance to the closed Arrowhead Springs Hotel and Resort.
Joseph Leeland Roop’s 1920 Indian statue on the archway prior to 1960s.
Until the mid-1960s, Highway 18 was a two-lane road and the statue was originally placed on a pedestal on the stone archway to the hotel at the mouth of Waterman Canyon. During the widening of the highway in the 1960s, the highway department carefully removed the massive statue and archway so they would not be damaged by the construction.
For many years, the cement statue was ignored by all as it lay in a ditch next to the new highway. In 1975, its deplorable condition was realized by Crestliners. Its outstretched arm had broken off, the Indian’s proud nose and feathers were broken and a hive of bees had invaded the hollow body cavity.
Because Roop’s statue appeared to be totally abandoned, the Crestline community, encouraged by football legend Andy Fletcher, proposed bringing it up the mountain to install in the newly restored Triangle Park.
That proposal led to an article in The Sun newspaper, reminding the San Bernardino community about the statue and its wonderful history, advocating it should be returned to its “rightful place,” pointing at the 7½-acre Arrowhead landmark on the side of the mountain.
The first Arrowhead Springs Hotel by D. N. Smith.
A renewed interest in history was occurring nationally, because of the upcoming U.S. bicentennial. A public outcry rallied the citizens to the outrageous treatment this historical artifact had received. This resulted in the Native Sons (#110) and Daughters (#241) of the Golden West Parlors, in cooperation with Campus Crusade for Christ who owned the Arrowhead Springs Hotel, to restore the statue. It was dedicated on March 27, 1976.
On the base it states: “In the 1920s this Indian originally stood 300 yards south, at the previous entrance of Arrowhead Springs. He points to the natural landmark, hot springs and sites of the various hotels built since the first spa in 1863.”
For the past 50 years, the statue has pointed at the fourth hotel built in 1939, built next to the hot, mineral springs. The hotel can be seen in the foothills below the Arrowhead landmark when traveling up or down the mountain.
Actually, two sets of hot springs were formed at the 2,035-foot elevation above the San Andreas Fault that runs along the base of the mountain. The various hot springs that bubble up there are between 170 and 196 degrees and contain the minerals lime, gypsum, sulfur and Epsom salts. Native Americans used the hot springs for the medicinal qualities the water was believed to contain.
David Noble Smith constructed a consumption (TB) clinic at the eastern hot springs in 1863. After reading some books, “Dr. Smith” proclaimed the waters had curative powers. He then purchased 320 acres around the hot springs and built a two-story hotel/sanitarium, (the first hotel) which, although popular, used quackery for medicine. Several died after using his treatments, including his first wife and daughter. It burned down in 1885.
The third Arrowhead Spring Hot Springs Resort by Seth Marshall.
Soon afterward, Darby and Lyman built a 40-room, three-story hotel there (second hotel). Under the guidance of a real doctor, the popular resort was expanded to three buildings and 120 rooms. Then on July 4, 1896, during a fireworks show shot from the roof, the hotel again burned to the ground.
The “Panic of 1895” was causing an economic depression and slowed everything, including the construction of the Little Bear Reservoir Project (Lake Arrowhead), so the hotel was not rebuilt.
Around 1903, Seth Marshall and Dr. G. W. Tape raised $1 million and bought the area, building the successful, luxurious, three-story, stucco Arrowhead Hot Springs Hotel (third hotel), which opened in 1905. It was promoted as one of the most beautiful hotels in California.
After World War I, the Department of Veterans Affairs used the hotel as a recovery and rehabilitation center. Marshall sold the facility in 1925 and Hollywood investors bought it in 1930, leading to the Hollywood elite beginning to winter at the resort, often while filming movies in the mountains. In November 1938, during Santa Ana winds, a wildfire destroyed that luxurious third hotel.
A year later, the current $1.5 million Georgian style resort hotel was constructed by the movie studios, designed by Paul Revere Williams with interior designs by Dorothy Draper. It again became very popular. During WWII the U.S. Navy commandeered the facility so, from 1944 to 1946, 6,600 Navy veterans used it as a post-injury medical treatment center.
Nicky Hilton bought the hotel in 1951, remodeled it and even spent his honeymoon with Elizabeth Taylor there, in the top floor suite.
In 1962, William Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ bought the 1,900-acre Arrowhead Springs facility for its international headquarters. It was featured on Huell Howser’s PBS California Gold TV series. They moved their international headquarters away from the site in 1991. The fourth hotel and surrounding lands were purchased in May 16, 2016, by the Yuhaaviatam Nation of San Manuel.
The Roop statue was rehabilitated last summer by the Yuhaaviatam with a beautiful new coat of beautiful bronze covering. It is located just up Waterman Canyon from the traffic signal, still pointing at the Arrowhead on the hillside. Drive by, or stop and inspect it yourself, sometime on your way up the mountain.
The fourth Arrowhead Springs Resort as it looked while owned by Campus Crusade for Christ.
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