A true story of the Mojave · by C. V. Wooster
TheKing of Quacks
How Curtis Howe Springer Stole the Desert, Built Zzyzx, and Sold It All as a Miracle.
The last word
No medical degree. Hundreds of radio stations. A desert he never owned.
In 1944, a radio preacher who called himself “Doctor” drove into the eastern Mojave, filed mining claims on a spring-fed oasis and gave it a name built to be the last word in the dictionary: Zzyzx. For thirty years he sold teas, salts and hope by mail, until the federal government took it all back.
The voice
Salvation, by mail
From a studio in the desert, Curtis Howe Springer’s sermons, songs and sales pitches reached radios across America. Listeners sent donations; tins came back. The Park Service says he shipped more than four million packages.
The radio empire →The kingdom
An oasis built on a loophole
Mining claims let him occupy federal land. He used them to build guest wings, a chapel, mineral baths laid out in a cross, an airstrip and a palm-ringed lake, and did “almost everything but mine.”
The 1872 loophole →Tune the dial
What he sold vs. what the record shows
The reckoning
April 11, 1974
After a decade of hearings, injunctions and appeals, the Ninth Circuit ruled his salt business could not “by any stretch of the imagination” count as mining. The gate closed on the King of Quacks.
The eviction →The last word
Saved by a fish
The lake he dug for his guests became one of the last refuges of the endangered Mohave tui chub. Today the resort is a university field station, and anyone can walk the shore.
Visit Zzyzx →Mood board
The place, then and now
Real photographs of Zzyzx and Soda Lake, credited to their photographers. Hover or tap for credits.
Timeline
Thirty years in five moments
- 1944
The last word
Springer files mining claims at Soda Springs, by his account on 12,800 acres, and renames the place Zzyzx.
Source: The Mojave Project
- Peak
221 stations
His program airs on 221 U.S. stations and 102 abroad. The NPS puts it at over 300 worldwide.
Source: Los Angeles Times
- 1967July 14
“Super squatter”
The BLM seeks $34,187 in damages and back rent, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Source: The Mojave Project
- 1974Apr. 11
The gate closes
Springer is removed from Zzyzx and, by The Mojave Project’s account, given 36 hours to clear out.
Source: The Mojave Project
- 1976
The Desert Studies Center
The BLM and the California State University agree to run the site as a field station.
Source: Wikipedia
From the blog
Stories from the last word
5 min read
How Do You Pronounce Zzyzx? The Story Behind the Last Word in the Atlas
Zzyzx is pronounced ZY-zix. Here is why a radio preacher invented the name in 1944, how it got onto maps, and when the federal government made it official.
5 min read
Antediluvian Tea, Re-Hib and Mo-Hair: What Was Actually in Curtis Springer's Cures
Curtis Howe Springer sold tins and tonics by radio for decades. Here is what he claimed, and what the AMA, state investigators and his own employees said was really inside.
5 min read
221 Stations and a Microphone: How Curtis Springer Built a Radio Health Empire
At his peak, Curtis Howe Springer's program ran on 221 U.S. stations and 102 abroad. How a radio evangelist turned airtime, a newsletter and a free bus into a desert empire.
7 min read
The 1872 Mining Law Loophole: How One Man Ran a Resort on Federal Mining Claims for 30 Years
Curtis Springer built a hotel, chapel and airstrip on mining claims. How the General Mining Act of 1872 let him stay for three decades, and what the federal court record says ended it.
5 min read
April 11, 1974: The Day the Government Closed Zzyzx
After a decade of federal litigation, Curtis Howe Springer was removed from Zzyzx on April 11, 1974. What led up to that morning, what happened after, and why the buildings survived.
4 min read
The Mohave Tui Chub: The Little Fish That Outlasted the King of Quacks
The only fish native to the Mojave River nearly vanished. Its last pure populations held on at Zzyzx, including in the lake Curtis Springer dug for his resort.
Be first to read it
The King of Quacks by C. V. Wooster is the true story of the radio preacher who claimed a desert, named it the last word in the dictionary and sold it all as a miracle.
One email on release day, plus occasional notes from C. V. Wooster. Unsubscribe anytime. See our privacy policy.