Timeline
From soldiers’ redoubt to field station
Every date below links to its source. Court dates come from the published federal opinions.
- Before Springer
- 1860
Hancock’s Redoubt
Men of the 1st Dragoons build a small camp at Soda Springs to guard travelers on the Government Road.
Source: Hart / Digital-Desert
- 1867–68
“Fort Soda”
The Army keeps an outpost of Camp Cady at the springs from Aug. 21, 1867, to May 23, 1868, then leaves for good.
Source: Hart / Digital-Desert
- 1896Dec. 2
Curtis Howe Springer is born
He will later sell sheet music at Billy Sunday revivals and drum up crowds for William Jennings Bryan.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1907–40
The Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad
The borax railroad runs past Soda Lake. Its grade still crosses the site.
Source: Wikipedia
- The radio years
- 1934
Turned away by WGN
Chicago’s WGN checks with the AMA and declines him. He broadcasts twice daily on WCFL instead.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1935Sept. 14
“A Quack and His Nostrums”
The AMA’s Bureau of Investigation profiles Springer in JAMA: no degree found, Re-Hib mostly baking soda.
Source: JAMA 105(11):900
- The kingdom
- 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
- 1944–74
Building the kingdom
Four guest buildings with 59 units, a chapel, indoor and outdoor mineral baths (small soaking pools laid out in a cross), a recording studio, the Zyport airstrip and Lake Tuendae.
- 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
- The reckoning
- 1967July 14
“Super squatter”
The BLM seeks $34,187 in damages and back rent, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Source: The Mojave Project
- 1968Nov.
Arrested
California charges false advertising. The Ninth Circuit later lists eighteen counts of false advertising among his convictions, some on guilty pleas (The Mojave Project says eight).
Source: 478 F.2d 43, 46 n.2
- 1970Oct. 13
An endangered fish
The Mohave tui chub is federally listed as endangered. Its last pure populations live at Soda Springs.
Source: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
- 1970Dec. 15
The district court rules
A federal judge finds the resort, with 59 guest units, can’t be justified as mining (321 F. Supp. 625).
Source: 478 F.2d 43
- 1971June 18
Injunction
The court bars renting rooms, packaging “Zzyzx” foods, printing literature and recording radio shows on the land.
Source: 478 F.2d 43
- 1972Nov.
Claims invalid
Interior’s land appeals board voids all ten claims (Nov. 14). The Ninth Circuit upholds the injunction (Nov. 30).
Source: 478 F.2d 43
- 1973Mar. 6
Ejectment ordered
Summary judgment: the Springers have no right, title or interest in the land.
Source: 491 F.2d 239
- 1974Jan. 17
Affirmed
“Cannot by any stretch of the imagination be considered the mining of valuable minerals.” Rehearing denied Feb. 26.
Source: 491 F.2d 239
- 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
- After
- 1976
The Desert Studies Center
The BLM and the California State University agree to run the site as a field station.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1984June 14
Official at last
The U.S. Board on Geographic Names approves “Zzyzx” as a place name.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1985Aug. 19
Springer dies
He dies in Las Vegas at 88 and is buried at Riverside National Cemetery.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1994
Mojave National Preserve
The California Desert Protection Act creates the preserve; Zzyzx sits on its western edge.
Source: Wikipedia
- Today
Lake Tuendae
A quarter-mile public trail circles the lake Springer dug, still home to the endangered tui chub.
Source: National Park Service
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.
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