HISTORY AND TECHNICAL REPORT OF KILAGA SPRING

In 1939 a Chemist named Otto C. Radley was asked to do a chemical analysis of the “Kilaga Springs”, located North of Lincoln.  The following is a short excerpt from this report:

The great Creator in His benevolence to mankind, created in this earth a rare collection of chemicals and minerals.  These chemicals and minerals were distributed in minute amounts in every nook and cranny of this great universe.  But very rarely indeed were they sufficiently concentrated to be of use to humanity.

Ages ago, near Lincoln, California, in the foothills of the west slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, a series of great volcanic disturbances occurred.  During one of these upheavals which erupted, tore asunder and shook the world, there were opened up countless cracks, crevices and seams in the earth’s surface.  The volcanoes at last quieted down and then came the descending rains.  Which trickled and filtered down and down through the seams and cracks, slowly but surely, dissolving the minerals so useful to the health of man.  Far beneath the surface in nature’s great caldron the water with its precious cargo of minerals found a haven of rest where it slowly accumulated through the ages, until the cavern was full to overflowing.  The water came bubbling back up through one of these crevices, sparkling and trickling down through the beautiful green grassy mountain ravine to become a mineral spring.

Centuries ago a primitive Indian with bow and arrows wandering through the shady nooks and vine covered dells in search of game, came by chance to this wonderful spring bubbling forth in all its grandeur.  Seeking to rest his tired body and quench his thirst, he lay down and sipped of the water.  Much to his chagrin the water had a very peculiar medicinal taste.  He uttered a grunt of disapproval, arose disgusted, and washed his briar torn and poison oak tormented hands.  Immediately the burning and itching ceased, causing him to return later, believing, in his primitive imagination, that this spring was bewitched by the Divine Being.  His good fortune was passed along to the rest of his tribe until throughout the west the Indian tribesmen hailed it as the “Magical Healing Water.”

Chief Nishinan, the last head of a once great tribe of Indians, will tell you how his father and his father’s father used to camp beside the spring, bathe and wash their stubborn wounds to heal them.  He will tell you of the great California Gold Rush, of the eager miners, of the colorful rock formations about the spring.  He will tell you of the gold seekers in their mad desire for gold, tearing asunder this magical work of nature and laughing to scorn the Indians’ protests at this desecration.  Great mine buildings arose, shafts were sunk, and a teeming ’49 village sprung up while the precious waters ran to waste.

One beautiful spring morning a few years later, a miner by the name of Gaylord had accidentally suffered a severe wound upon his hand.  The wound had become badly infected, and he had been transferred from his regular miner’s duties to pump tender.  In his routine work at the pumps his bandaged hand became saturated with the so-called “Magic Water.”  The swelling began to recede, the inflammation to scatter and the wound heal.  His curiosity aroused, he continued to apply the water and, though not understanding why, he was utterly amazed at the wonderful result.

This led others of the little Settlement to try the water on minor cuts and bruises, slow healing wounds.  And then the more venturesome began to use it for the burning scourge of poison oak, the maddening torment of eczema, and other skin diseases.  The results were so astounding, and so far above those secured by man-made chemicals, that soon white men were coming in great numbers from all parts of the state of California to bathe in the water and carry it away.

The white man had rediscovered this wonderful blessing of nature and it is now known as Kilaga Spring, “Nature’s Own Antiseptic.”  This remarkable epoch of healing continued for fifteen years, when the writer, with the aid of a few prominent physicians, set about in research to discover the magical healing powers of the water.