Question of the Day - 13 February 2024

Zzyzx, as its former names of Soda Springs and Soda Station indicate, is the site of a spring near the mouth of the Mojave River, where mineral-rich spring water at a constant temperature of 76°F seeps into Soda Lake.

The spot, off an exit a little more than 10 miles west of Baker, has a long history as a rest stop and way station for travelers on the Mojave Road and in the 1860s was the site of a temporary stronghold, named Hancock's Redoubt, built by the U.S. Army. The area is subject to periodic severe flash flooding, however, and in the early 1900s, this led to its abandonment for almost a half-century, when floods and washouts put an end to the mining industry and railroad service.

The springs' new lease on life came at the end of World War II, when an eccentric radio evangelist and self-proclaimed medical doctor and Methodist minister (he was, in fact, neither) named Dr. Curtis Howe Springer filed a series of mining claims on public lands at Soda Springs.

Springer also fabricated numerous academic credentials for himself, often from non-existent colleges and schools, under the guise of which he would perform public lectures, where he asked for donations and offered private psychoanalysis sessions for the princely sum of $25. He described himself, apparently without irony, as the "last of the old-time medicine men" and in 1969 the American Medical Association dubbed him, appropriately, the "King of Quacks."

His first wife, Marilou, encouraged "Dr." Springer to get into the health-spa business, but a string of early attempts in the East and Midwest failed for various reasons, including non-payment of rent. Curtis and Marilou separated at some point and he got remarried to one Helen LeGerda, with whom he filed for the mining claims in California in 1944.

The good doctor dreamed up the name of Zzyzx for his new Mineral Springs retreat, so that it would be "the last word in medicine," or so the story goes. The couple had a grand vision for the 12,800 acres of federal land they laid claim to and over the next three decades, they modified the natural springs to make them guest-friendly, upgraded the road, planted rows of trees, built ponds, and constructed numerous buildings, including a 60-room hotel and church, even a castle, and a private airstrip (the Zyport).

However, the fad for natural health-spas had run its course and when Springer started selling off chunks of land for the construction of private houses in exchange for large donations to his ministry, it caught the attention of the government, which in 1974 finally realized that the couple in fact had no legal right to the land whatsoever. The Springers were summarily evicted and the business license for the Dr. Curtis Howe Springer Foundation was also permanently revoked. Springer himself spent several months in jail for food- and drug-law violations, stemming from his sale of quack remedies. The dream over, he and Helen retired to Las Vegas, where Curtis died in 1985 at the age of 88.

The land on which Zzyzx Mineral Springs was built reverted to the government and in 1976, the Bureau of Land Management granted permission to California State University to manage the former resort, which was converted into a facility called the Desert Studies Center that conducts research into the Mojave Desert environment.

Strangely, we could find no record of an obituary for Springer or Helen LeGerda, but his first wife, Marilou Springer Holcomb, died in Las Vegas in 2007 at the age of 96, having worked 26 years for the Las Vegas Telephone Company. 

The pronunciation places the emphasis on the first syllable with a long "i" sound for the the "y", followed by a short "ziks": ZIE-zicks.

According to one legend, Springer chose the vowel-less to represent the "z's" of sleep,” appropriate for his health spa. He was also counting on some publicity for the name being “the last word in the English language.” We've also seen a reference to the word sounding like carbonation, in reference to the water in Soda Lake. And you're not alone in your fascination with this name. Zzyzx has also been the subject of more than one song title, an album title, a movie name, a fictional company in a TV series, and even the name of a prison for demons in a series of novels.

One more late addition to this answer, which Anthony Curtis insists wouldn't be complete without. The Zzyzx exit has long been unofficially known as a stopping-off place for couples driving between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. They don't stop for gas or provisions, but we're told the average delay in the trip is about 15 minutes.

And a couple more late additions: a link to Curtis Howe Springer's gravesite on FindAGrave.com and an ad from a 1941 Pasadena newspaper for Springer's unique services, both courtesy of Joe D.