Ainsworth Hot Springs

I consider the hot springs I was involved with as a major accomplishment. I was hired to work on

the Ainsworth Hot Springs because the owner was a native Finlander, and I am a Finlander, too.

Both of my parents were Finnish. I was born on the Prairies, but I have always considered myself

to be a Finlander. This fellow married the daughter of the original owner of Ainsworth Hot

Springs Resort. His father-in-law had purchased the property from a mining company, which had

mined into the mountainside and ran into hot water—a very strong stream of hot water. The

mining company had created a pool for staff. The father-in-law had enlarged the pool and created

a small resort.

I was hired to advise the Finnish fellow on expanding the resort. When I started the work, there

was only a small townsite created at the turn of the century and no real plan that would allow

everyone to soak in the hot springs.

I had the responsibility of deciding what should be done with a property. A lot of planning went

into it. I took some thirty to forty parcels of land, got rid of roads, and jiggled the land around,

finally putting it back into a single parcel of land, big enough to house an expanded resort.

It took quite a few years, probably ten years in total, before I was done. Shortly thereafter, the

people that owned it sold it to a First Nation out of Creston.