The History of Roystone Hot Springs
Early Inhabitants
Native Americans were the first people to enjoy Roystone Hot Springs, choosing the site to winter every year and using the thermal waters for warmth and therapy. They pitched their teepees along the banks of Squaw Creek, right where the warm water naturally seeped to the surface.
The creek was central to their way of life. They set up fish camps to harvest the homecoming salmon. These camps buzzed with activity as people worked to spear, smoke, and dry their annual supply of great Silver salmon. Evidence of their efforts remained long after they were gone. The women, for instance, constructed cleaning stations by attaching flat boards to logs anchored mid-creek. After catching the fish, they cleaned them right in the current, letting the stream efficiently carry away the mess.
Further up the hill from Squaw Creek, just above the current location of Roystone Hot Springs, the Native Americans enjoyed mud bathing. They had discovered a place where two hot springs bubbled up into the rich earth. Here, they built simple steam huts from willow branches and soaked in the muddy pools for therapy and healing.
George Croats: The First White Owner
The first white owner of the Hot Springs was George Croats (also known as George Coats), a German immigrant who homesteaded the land in 1889. He shrewdly farmed the fertile ground surrounding his mineral springs, leveraging the warm water for irrigation to develop a superior vegetable and fruit farm. Known for being “clever and industrious,” he successfully turned the springs into a sustainable operation.
Above the modern RV Park at Roystone, a lone, century-old pear tree is all that remains of his orchard, and it almost always bears a fruit or two.
For many years, Croats traveled regularly to the towns of Boise Basin to sell his delicious watermelons, muskmelons, and grapes. He was especially popular with local children, who loved to visit him and were thrilled when he sent them home with fresh, hot-springs-grown produce. Croats died in 1906 at age 66 and was buried in the Sweet Cemetery, where his fine headstone is still visible.
Brian Neilson and Early Development
Brian Neilson appears to be the next owner of the Hot Springs. During his time, Neilson focused on controlling the spring flow, building several cisterns to centralize the water. He eventually cemented a large catch basin, later nicknamed “the Hot Hole,” and built the first swimming pool. This is the very same pool still in use today. The many rocks patched with mortar remain plainly visible in the dressing rooms at the pool’s base, holding strong over a century later.
People came not just to swim, but also to save time by doing their laundry in the hot water. A 1909 photograph shows the west side of the pool area equipped with washing barrels, a clothesline for drying, and a homemade wheelbarrow (still in existence) for hauling the heavy wash. Neilson also oversaw the construction of a house and a large screened summer home.
Dr. Alfred Skippen: A Quest for Health
The Hot Springs changed hands again in 1914, purchased by Dr. Alfred Skippen (related to the local Skippen family in Sweet). His life story is truly remarkable:
Alfred Skippen, the twelfth of thirteen children, was born in 1859 on the Canadian side of Lake Huron. As a toddler, he accidentally stepped into a pile of ashes removed from a woodstove, suffering burns so severe that his heels and toes were completely burned off, leaving only bone. This horrible accident prevented him from walking until he was 17 years old, and even then, he required special shoes with the softest lining. Once mobile, he finally began school, starting first grade at age 17. He proved an exceptional student, eventually becoming a country school teacher and then a doctor.
Later, while raising a wife and four children, Skippen contracted the dreaded consumption (tuberculosis). Doctors advised him that moving to a higher, dry climate might extend his life by a few years. Having heard of another man’s recovery in a distant place called Payette, Idaho, Skippen immediately boarded a train, forced to leave his family behind.
The -mile journey was brutal. He was suffering so terribly that train attendants, fearing he would die on board, abandoned him at a stop in Nebraska. An unknown stranger found Skippen and brought him to a hotel, where he recovered enough to continue his trip. He arrived at the Payette train depot in 1899 and was met by a woman. He wasn’t the consumptive relative she was expecting, but when the other relative failed to appear, she kindly took him home to recover in a tent in her backyard. The high, dry air proved beneficial, and he soon sent for his family to join him.
He quickly built a booming medical practice. However, the numerous river mosquitoes gave him Malaria, prompting him to seek even higher, drier air. He ultimately settled in the Sweet/Ola area, homesteading acres and purchasing Roystone Hot Springs in 1914.
An 1919 advertisement placed by Dr. Skippen and W.H. Day (now unknown) in The Hotel and Travelers Journal revealed his grand vision for the resort:
“Montour Idaho – Dr. A Skippen and W.H. Day have had plans drawn for a 25 room hotel, together with a number of cottages, for both recreation and a health resort… One building containing plunge, showers and tub baths and dressing rooms has been erected and in successful operation for some time.”
Tragically, that same year, Skippen had a near-fatal reaction to poison ivy. Forced once again to leave his family, he was sent to a sanitarium in Portland, Oregon, to save his life. During his recovery, he resolved to sell his Idaho holdings and move his practice and family to Portland. In the Fall of 1919, he sold the Hot Springs to a fellow patient at the Portland Hospital: Roy Stone.
Eva Stone and the Sweet Sanitarium
Little is known about Roy Stone except for his poor health. At the sanitarium, he fell in love with his nurse, Eva Roper, and they married. As his condition worsened, they grew desperate for a cure. Hearing of the healing hot springs in Sweet, Idaho, they quickly bought the property. They prepared to move, hoping the thermal waters would provide what Roy needed. Sadly, Roy passed away just before their departure, leaving Eva and her son heartbroken. They made the journey alone and named the springs after the man who would never get to see them.
Soon after their arrival, the main house burned down. In its place, Eva built a 7,000 square foot sanitarium. This building stands today as the main house at Roystone Hot Springs.
Dubbed the “Sweet Sanitarium,” it featured a living room, typically filled with guests socializing or playing cards. The upstairs was structured like a modern hotel, with a long central hall and numbered bedrooms. A single shared bathroom was located mid-hall. For guests’ convenience, a chamber pot was placed under every bed. A young neighbor, Jamie Chilcot, was hired as the “Sweet chamber maid.” Each morning, she would clean the rooms, empty the pots into the hall bathroom, sanitize them, and return them beneath the beds. She was also responsible for maintaining Eva’s prized hardwood floors.
When the town of Sweet suffered its first fire, the dance hall was destroyed. Eva responded by offering her spacious living room for dances. However, the very first night’s dancing scuffed and dulled her beautiful floors. Her immediate solution was to move the dances to the large screened summer house. This worked well for a while, but since it was lit only by kerosene lanterns, the summer house eventually burned down too.
Eva was known as a wonderful hostess who enjoyed her sanitarium being a social center for the community. In 1929, she placed an advertisement in the Idaho Statesman that boasted famous chicken dinners and mineral waters capable of curing everything from rheumatism to stomach trouble.
An obituary from the December 1933 Index Newspaper reads:
Mrs. E. A. Stone Passes. A heart attack caused the sudden and unexpected death of Mrs. Eva A. Stone, owner of Roystone Hot Springs near Sweet. Friday morning, soon after awakening from her slumbers, she called her son and requested him to bathe her throat with hot water to relieve her of a choking sensation. He left her to get the water from the kitchen. When he returned he found that life had flown. She had been a sufferer from heart trouble for many months. Mrs. Stone came to Idaho from Portland almost ten years ago and purchased the hot springs sanitarium. The building was improved and completely furnished. Soon afterward fire destroyed the building and its contents. A new building was then erected. The medical qualities of the spring drew many seekers after health in its waters. Mrs. Stone was 65 years of age. She is survived by one son, William Roper. Funeral services were held Tuesday and burial was in the Sweet Cemetery.
A Gap in History
A significant gap of about 50 years now follows in the recorded history. We know Eva owned Roystone Hot Springs until her death in 1933. We’ve also heard many Baby Boomers recount the fun they had swimming at the springs as children. However, we have been unable to find the names of the owners during this period, though we know the property changed hands frequently. While the pool remained operational, everything else, especially the Sanitarium, fell into great disrepair.
The Johns Family Era
In 1979, CPF-3 Incorporated purchased Roystone and the surrounding 23 acres. They initially planned to develop a commercial-sized alcohol plant but soon pivoted, realizing a state-of-the-art Geothermal power plant would better utilize the low-cost geothermal energy.
Around this time, Louis and Ella Mae Johns became interested in the property. They invested in CPF-3 and, along with five others, worked to secure grants for drilling geothermal wells. Their plans looked promising with the discovery of springs nearly degrees. Unfortunately, funds ran short, and Roystone Hot Springs was eventually put up for auction at a Sheriff’s sale.
Louis, determined not to lose his investment, bought the property with the assistance of his business, Johns Plumbing. It has been family-owned and operated ever since.
Check out this video to see how the Johns Family has made Roystone what it is today
