1974
The day the gate closed
Thirty years after he arrived, the federal courts ruled that Curtis Springer had never had the right to stay.
The end of Zzyzx came through the courts, one ruling at a time. The opinions are public records and you can read them free online; quotations here come straight from them.
The record
- Dec. 15, 1970. The district court describes “four guestroom buildings aggregating 59 units, a dining room with kitchen facilities, an administration building, a chapel-meeting room, indoor and outdoor mineral baths” on the claims.
- June 18, 1971. A preliminary injunction bars renting rooms, packaging “Zzyzx” food products, printing literature and recording radio programs on the land.
- Nov. 14, 1972. The Interior Board of Land Appeals rules all ten claims invalid: no valuable mineral was ever discovered.
- Nov. 30, 1972. The Ninth Circuit affirms the injunction (478 F.2d 43). Rehearing denied Mar. 5, 1973.
- Mar. 6, 1973. Summary judgment: the Springers have no right, title or interest in the land and are to be ejected.
- Jan. 17, 1974. The Ninth Circuit affirms (491 F.2d 239); rehearing is denied Feb. 26.
- Apr. 11, 1974. Springer is removed from Zzyzx.
“These activities cannot by any stretch of the imagination be considered the mining of valuable minerals.” — United States v. Springer, 491 F.2d 239 (9th Cir. 1974)
After the gate
Springer moved to Las Vegas and kept arguing his case in print, including a 1984 essay in the Baker Valley News called “The Legal Rape of Zzyzx.” Back at the springs, the BLM weighed demolition. The historian Dennis Casebier said bulldozers stood ready. Instead, in 1976, the old resort became the CSU Desert Studies Center. Read the full eviction story →
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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.
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