Lyons Springs, sometimes Lyon Spring, originally Nogales Hot Springs, was a naturally occurring sulphur spring and associated resort in

Matilija Creek Matilija Creek ( ) is a major stream in Ventura County in the U.S. state of California. It joins with North Fork Matilija Creek to form the Ventura River. Many tributaries feed the mostly free flowing, creek,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydr ...

Canyon, near

Ojai Ojai ( ; Chumash: ''’Awhaỳ'') is a city in Ventura County, California. Located in the Ojai Valley, it is northwest of Los Angeles and east of Santa Barbara. The valley is part of the east–west trending Western Transverse Ranges and is ...

Ventura County, California Ventura County () is a County (United States), county located in Southern California, the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, Ca ...

. Located between Vickers Springs and

Matilija Hot Springs Matilija Hot Springs is a thermal spring system of 22 hot and cold springs, and is a former resort located northwest of the town of Ojai, California. The site was designated a Ventura County Historical Landmark (#25) in 1972. History Indigenou ...

, the Lyon Spring resort was established in the 1880s.

History

The retreat was known as Nogales Hot Springs when it was first opened in 1887. The location is named for owner Gertrude A. Lyons. Another account says the Springs belonged to the "imfamous Robert Lyon and his '

mountain lion The cougar (''Puma concolor'') (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, KOO-gər''), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount and panther is a large small cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North America, North, Central America, Cent ...

-chasing daughters'". The springs were part of a larger "popularity of mineral hot springs as places for recreation and restoration of health in the early 20th century". The resort was seasonal, open only in summer. According to a U.S. government geologist who visited circa 1908, the resort accommodated about 50 people in tent houses. A 1910s-era postcard held at the Ventura Museum shows a "campsite of simple white tents, a trail head marked by wood posts in the foreground heads off into the trees." At that time water was piped "to a small stone reservoir on the grounds. It is thence piped to a boiler and heated for bathing. It is soft and mildly sulphureted, being known as a ''white-sulphur water'' from the slight milkiness that is produced by

sulphur Sulfur (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundance of the chemical ...

in suspension." Fishing for

rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

and

steelhead trout Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or Columbia River redband trout (''O. m. gairdneri'', also called redband steelhead). Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacif ...

in the nearby stream was a popular pastime for visitors. A California State Mining Bureau report of 1917 described the mineral qualities as similar to those of Matilija and Vickers. At that time the property had been "idle for several years". 1905 map of Lyons or Lyons Springs Ventura County California

1905 map of Lyons or Lyons Springs Ventura County California

The spring vent is said to be submerged underwater, within what is now the

Matilija Dam Matilija Dam is a concrete arch dam in Ventura County, California, completed in 1947. Designed for water storage and flood control, it impounds Matilija Creek to create the Matilija Reservoir in the Los Padres National Forest, south of the Mat ...

reservoir, and the temperate averages or "not hot enough to be interesting".

References

{{VenturaCountyCA-geo-stub Springs of Ventura County, California