The Gaines and Brown Families of Carbon Canyon, Part 9: La Vida Mineral Springs Photos

With thanks again to Joyce Harrington for sharing photos and documents related to her ancestors in the Browns and Gaines families, who lived in the Carbon Canyon area for many decades with the former heavily associated with the Olinda oil fields and the latter owning the Flying Cow Ranch where Olinda Village and the Hollydale Mobile Home Estates are located.

The photographs shown here are some great early views of the La Vida Mineral Springs resort, which was located just east of the Gaines family's ranch.  The first shows a group of six females standing next to a pipe descending from the hills on the north side of the property with the one at the far left holding a glass of water filled with the hot mineral water coming out of the pipe.  On the ground in front of the group is an wooden tub that received water.  The sextet stands at the edge of Carbon [Canyon] Creek and some of the chaparral-covered hills are in the background with the view looking east.

View number two shows five different women seated and standing next to a clapboard structure with a tin roof and this was identified as being the bath house at La Vida.  This and the other photos are from around 1910, judging from the clothing and hair styles and this was before the resort was expanded with a fancier bath house (earlier posts on this blog show the 1920s bath house, which stood until a boiler explosion destroyed it in the late 1950s).

Finally, there is the third image shows a couple of women standing near a large eucalyptus tree, which was painted with whitewash at the lower part, perhaps to keep critters from climbing into the tree and doing damage  To the right is what appears to be a simple wooden structure with a canvas roof and lowered sides.  A man is seated at the opening at the end.  The stand of trees appears to be in the same spot where some eucalyptus trees are still located (despite damage from the November 2008 fire) at the widest spot on the resort.  Again, the view here is looking east.

Check back later for more great photos of the Brown and Gaines families, including more of the old Olinda School.