Who ruined Hobo Hot Springs? Ministry investigates as mystery roils Harrison, B.C.
Stories passed down from elders tell how First Nations from afar would paddle their canoes to bathe in the hot springs on the territory of the Sts’ailes First Nation.
They believed the water contained medicine, said Sts’ailes Grand Chief William Charlie.
“Our people have been using it for tens of thousands of years,” he said of the springs he called Qwólts, meaning boiling medicine water.
The steaming waters in the Village of Harrison Hot Springs, 130 kilometres east of Vancouver, could once be enjoyed in pools known as the Hobo Hot Springs for free — unlike the neighbouring Harrison Hot Springs Resort where users of its pools must be resort guests.