Harbin Hot Springs facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Harbin Hot Springs
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Retreat
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Harbin Hot Springs in 1915
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 Harbin Hot Springs
Location in California
Harbin Hot Springs
Location in the United States
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| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| County | Lake County |
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Harbin Hot Springs is a hot spring retreat and workshop center situated at Harbin Springs (formerly, Harbin Hot Springs and Harbin's Springs) in Lake County, Northern California. Operated by Heart Consciousness Church, a non-profit, it is named after Matthew Harbin, a pioneer who settled in the Lake County area. Located approximately two hours north of the San Francisco Bay Area, in the United States, the facility suffered partial destruction in the Valley Fire in September 2015, resulting in its temporary closure. It partially reopened in January 2019, including the main pools and sauna, along with a limited cafeteria service.
Contents
Location
The springs are 20 miles (32 km) north of Calistoga, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) northwest of Middletown, and ten miles south of Clear Lake. They are at an elevation of about 1,568 feet (478 m). Three springs, known as the Arsenic, Iron and Sulphur springs, rise close together in a ravine on the west of a branch of Putah Creek. The hills near Harbin Springs have steep slopes of exposed shale, but there is a belt of amphibolite schist starting about 25 yards (23 m) above the springs.
Springs
A 1909 report said the Arsenic, Iron and Sulphur springs yielded water at temperaturesof 90 °F (32 °C), 116 °F (47 °C) and 120 °F (49 °C) at rates of 1 US gallon per minute (230 L/h), 1⁄2 US gallon per minute (110 L/h) and 8.5 US gallons per minute (1,900 L/h) respectively. A 1914 report listed the springs and their temperatures as: Hot Sulphur, 120.5 °F (49.2 °C); Iron, 118 °F (48 °C); Magnesia, 66 °F (19 °C); Cold White Sulphur, 76 °F (24 °C); Mud Foot Bath, 101 °F (38 °C) in the water on top and 121 °F (49 °C) in the mud and fine rocks below. The flow from Hot Sulphur was said to be 1,500 US gallons per hour (5,700 L/h). A fresh water spring filled a 30,000 US gallons (110,000 L; 25,000 imp gal) tank in two days, which was used for fire purposes.
History
The baths were commercially developed by settlers in the 1860s, when buildings were erected on the site. The region is prone to wildfires, and over the years, successive lodges have been rebuilt when they burned down. Harbin Hot Springs issued several postcards advertising the resort in the 1920s and 1930s. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the property was run as a commune with the name Harbinger, "centered around a man named Don Hamrick, a charismatic fellow who wore business suits and combined science with spiritualism in his lectures/sermons". In 1969, Harbinger had about 120 people, but ultimately, the community did not thrive.
The resort was evacuated because of the Valley Fire on September 12, 2015. By September 14, Harbin was almost completely destroyed by the fire with only the pool complex largely intact.
Modern establishment
Robert Hartley (also known as Ishvara) bought the land in 1972 to be a Gestalt center. Sold to the Heart Consciousness Church (HCC) in 1975, Harbin/HCC operates as a Retreat Center. Harbin/HCC maintains a more specifically religious organization, the New Age Church of Being, incorporated in 1996. Harbin is a center for the expression of New Age beliefs. Harbin's clothing-optional policy, its pools, and the natural beauty of the local landscape are part of Harbin's appeal to visitors, who must agree to membership, if only temporarily, for admission.
Harbin has been a center for the development of new modes of healing and personal development, including Watsu (water shiatsu), a massage technique created by Harold Dull at Harbin in the early 1980s. Watsu, based on gently moving the body through water, is now practiced in spas throughout the world.
