Page 41 - 1915, Springs of CA.

HOT SPRINGS. dU
RITCHEY HOT SPRINGS (RIVERSIDE 10).
Ritchey Hot Springs, about 5 miles southeast of the San Jacinto
springs, are also situated near the base of the mountains, but they
issue along the side of a ravine. Six springs, which range in tem-
perature from 70° to 111°, furnish water for domestic use and irrigation.
Although in 1908 the place had not yet been opened as a public
resort, a few guests were taken care of during the summer, and sev-
eral tubs were provided for bathing. In a tunnel that has been
driven into the hillside for a distance of 55 feet a temperature of 82°
was registered. This unusually high temperature has led to the use
of the tunnel as a sweat chamber. Gypsum and efflorescent alum
salts form on its walls and indicate that the tunnel water may be
mineralized to a notable extent by acid constituents. There was
formerly a sour spring in the ravine above the main group, but at
the time the place was visited it either had been covered by a land-
slide or overgrown by vegetation.
Water from one of the springs was formerly marketed as a table
water as ''Soboba Lithia Water." Its sale was discontinued when
interrupted by the high-water stage of San Jacinto River in 1904,
but it was placed on the local market again in 1909.
The f olio wing analysis of this water has been published:
Analysis of water from " lithia " spring at Ritchey Hot Springs, Riverside County, Cal.
[Analyst, L. J. Stabler. Authority, advertising matter. Constituents are in parts per million.]
Properties of reaction:
44
0
0
54
2
Tertiary alkalinity ............................................................. 18
By Reacting
Constituents.
weight. values.
Sodium (Na) ....................................................................... 55 2.37
71 1.81
Lithium (Li) ....................................................................... Trace.
1.7 .08
Trace.
Trace. Trace.
Sulphate (SO-i) ..................................................................... 52 1.08
Chloride (Cl).. ...................................................................... 28 .79
Carbonate (CO3) .................................................................... 72 2.40
Silica (SiO2) ........................................................................ 23 .76
302.7
Primary alkalinity is the dominant property, and its high percent-
age is specially noteworthy. Primary salinity and tertiary alkalinity
are also prominent, though the latter is not fully reported. The rela-
tively high proportion of potassium is unusual and in the absence of
confirmation by other analyses should not be given weight.