Agua Caliente
Caliente Mineral Water Company sponsored team in early 1900s.
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Caliente Mineral Water
Area: Sonoma (Agua Caliente)
Year: circa 1910
Caliente Mineral Water
Area: Sonoma (Agua Caliente)
Year: circa 1880
Description: Main entrance to Agua Caliente Springs
Contributor: Sonoma Valley Historical Society/Depot Park Museum.
Feel the heat of Agua Caliente’s mineral waters
Friday, March 23rd, 2012
Ladies do aqua aerobics in the 90-degree indoor pool at the Sonoma Aquatic Center. (John Burgess / Press Democrat)
By SUZIE RODRIGUEZ / Sonoma Valley Correspondent
On a recent weekday morning, a dozen Valley residents gathered in the 90°F thermal mineral waters of the Sonoma Aquatic Club for an hour-long aqua aerobics class.
Outside, in the 82-degree waters of the Olympic-sized pool, lap swimmers moved rhythmically back and forth in lanes.
And in the 102-degree waters of the large outdoor covered Jacuzzi, a client from the adjoining Caliente Springs Physical Therapy center ran through a series of gentle exercises under the supervision of a physical therapist.
The three pools shared by the aquatic club and the physical therapy center are part of a tradition that dates back for countless centuries: hanging out in the thermal mineral waters of Agua Caliente.
Evidence suggests that long before Europeans set foot in the Valley of the Moon, Native Americans from around Northern California used these waters. The springs were believed to hold curative powers, and members of distant tribes traveled days to bathe in them.
“The Native American name for the waters was wukilawa,” said ecological historian Arthur Dawson. “That means ‘hot water.’ Then the Spaniards came along and named the waters agua caliente, which means the same thing.”
In 1890, General Mariano Vallejo’s grandson Guadalupe wrote about going to Agua Caliente as a child on “wash-day expeditions.” With carts hitched to oxen and lunch stored in big baskets, a caravan of mothers, children, washerwomen and horses left Sonoma with dirty laundry before sunrise and headed to the springs.
Vallejo described the water as sulphurous. The washerwomen “put home-made soap on the clothes, dipped them in the spring and rubbed them on the smooth rocks. … Then they spread them out to dry on the tops of low bushes.”
Other nearby underground hot springs included Agua Rica (later Boyes Hot Springs) and Elden Springs (later Fetters Hot Springs). For decades, beginning in the late 19th century, they attracted tourists and became popular resort destinations. The 1930s Depression brought an end to the glory years of “The Springs,” and gradually the resorts closed.
But Agua Caliente managed to survive by bottling and selling its waters for drinking purposes. Touted as a “remedy for rheumatism, kidney, liver & stomach troubles,” the bottled water was marketed until 1942.
In 1950, Anthony Valietti purchased Agua Caliente Springs and renamed it Valietti’s Hot Springs. Wanda Bottom and Dominick Sposeto purchased the land in 2000, demolished the old pools and buildings, and put in the modern Olympic pool, indoor pool and covered outdoor spa. All pools are filled from the underground thermal mineral waters of Agua Caliente.
The facilities now are leased to Caliente Springs Physical Therapy and Sonoma Aquatic Club, owned by Jane Hansen. Everybody “from babies to people in their 90s use the pools for recreation, lap swimming, lessons, water yoga and much more,” she said. “Water polo is played in the outdoor pool, and Sonoma Valley High School’s swim team practices here.”
Club facilities include a workout room with cardio machines, free weights and a universal weight machine. Classes that range from Masters swimming to an arthritis class are free to members.
The outdoor pool is surrounded by lawn and chaises. “In summer,” Hansen said, “families come out in early afternoons. We’ll take down a line so there’s more room for people to hang out in the pool, while lap swimmers continue doing their thing.”
Caliente Springs Physical Therapy uses the waters in the age-old curative sense, treating pre- and post-operative patients as well as those with neuromuscular diagnoses, sports injuries and other problems.
“Sometimes after surgery, people have pain or trouble walking or standing,” said owner Michael Kelly, a registered physical therapist.
“Water is good for weight bearing exercise because it eliminates gravity as a component. People can work in water for an hour, when on land they would be exhausted or in pain after 15 minutes.”
The pressure of the water against skin also helps reduce swelling, and the Jacuzzi’s warm thermal water “is good for chronic conditions like arthritis,” said Kelly. “It increases the blood supply to injured areas, and relaxes muscles.”
Kelly recalls seeing a photograph of Agua Caliente that dated back to the late 1800s.
“There was a sort of low boardwalk surrounding a pool of surface thermal water,” he said. “All sorts of people, Native Americans and others, were sitting on the boardwalk with their feet in the water. They looked happy.”
The same thing could be said for Agua Caliente swimmers and therapy clients today.
Caliente Mineral Water
Area: Sonoma (Agua Caliente)
Year: circa 1890
Description: A summer day on the dance floor.
Contributor: Sonoma Valley Historical Society/Depot Park Museum.
Caliente Mineral Water Spring
Area: Sonoma (Agua Caliente)
Year: circa 1920
Description: Bathers frolicking in the waters of Agua Caliente Springs.
Contributor: Sonoma Valley Historical Society/Depot Park Museum.
Caliente Mineral Water
Area: Sonoma (Agua Caliente)
Year: circa 1910
Caliente Mineral Water
Area: Sonoma (Agua Caliente)
Year: circa 1880
Description: Main entrance to Agua Caliente Springs
Contributor: Sonoma Valley Historical Society/Depot Park Museum.
Feel the heat of Agua Caliente’s mineral waters
Friday, March 23rd, 2012
Ladies do aqua aerobics in the 90-degree indoor pool at the Sonoma Aquatic Center. (John Burgess / Press Democrat)
By SUZIE RODRIGUEZ / Sonoma Valley Correspondent
On a recent weekday morning, a dozen Valley residents gathered in the 90°F thermal mineral waters of the Sonoma Aquatic Club for an hour-long aqua aerobics class.
Outside, in the 82-degree waters of the Olympic-sized pool, lap swimmers moved rhythmically back and forth in lanes.
And in the 102-degree waters of the large outdoor covered Jacuzzi, a client from the adjoining Caliente Springs Physical Therapy center ran through a series of gentle exercises under the supervision of a physical therapist.
The three pools shared by the aquatic club and the physical therapy center are part of a tradition that dates back for countless centuries: hanging out in the thermal mineral waters of Agua Caliente.
Evidence suggests that long before Europeans set foot in the Valley of the Moon, Native Americans from around Northern California used these waters. The springs were believed to hold curative powers, and members of distant tribes traveled days to bathe in them.
“The Native American name for the waters was wukilawa,” said ecological historian Arthur Dawson. “That means ‘hot water.’ Then the Spaniards came along and named the waters agua caliente, which means the same thing.”
In 1890, General Mariano Vallejo’s grandson Guadalupe wrote about going to Agua Caliente as a child on “wash-day expeditions.” With carts hitched to oxen and lunch stored in big baskets, a caravan of mothers, children, washerwomen and horses left Sonoma with dirty laundry before sunrise and headed to the springs.
Vallejo described the water as sulphurous. The washerwomen “put home-made soap on the clothes, dipped them in the spring and rubbed them on the smooth rocks. … Then they spread them out to dry on the tops of low bushes.”
Other nearby underground hot springs included Agua Rica (later Boyes Hot Springs) and Elden Springs (later Fetters Hot Springs). For decades, beginning in the late 19th century, they attracted tourists and became popular resort destinations. The 1930s Depression brought an end to the glory years of “The Springs,” and gradually the resorts closed.
But Agua Caliente managed to survive by bottling and selling its waters for drinking purposes. Touted as a “remedy for rheumatism, kidney, liver & stomach troubles,” the bottled water was marketed until 1942.
In 1950, Anthony Valietti purchased Agua Caliente Springs and renamed it Valietti’s Hot Springs. Wanda Bottom and Dominick Sposeto purchased the land in 2000, demolished the old pools and buildings, and put in the modern Olympic pool, indoor pool and covered outdoor spa. All pools are filled from the underground thermal mineral waters of Agua Caliente.
The facilities now are leased to Caliente Springs Physical Therapy and Sonoma Aquatic Club, owned by Jane Hansen. Everybody “from babies to people in their 90s use the pools for recreation, lap swimming, lessons, water yoga and much more,” she said. “Water polo is played in the outdoor pool, and Sonoma Valley High School’s swim team practices here.”
Club facilities include a workout room with cardio machines, free weights and a universal weight machine. Classes that range from Masters swimming to an arthritis class are free to members.
The outdoor pool is surrounded by lawn and chaises. “In summer,” Hansen said, “families come out in early afternoons. We’ll take down a line so there’s more room for people to hang out in the pool, while lap swimmers continue doing their thing.”
Caliente Springs Physical Therapy uses the waters in the age-old curative sense, treating pre- and post-operative patients as well as those with neuromuscular diagnoses, sports injuries and other problems.
“Sometimes after surgery, people have pain or trouble walking or standing,” said owner Michael Kelly, a registered physical therapist.
“Water is good for weight bearing exercise because it eliminates gravity as a component. People can work in water for an hour, when on land they would be exhausted or in pain after 15 minutes.”
The pressure of the water against skin also helps reduce swelling, and the Jacuzzi’s warm thermal water “is good for chronic conditions like arthritis,” said Kelly. “It increases the blood supply to injured areas, and relaxes muscles.”
Kelly recalls seeing a photograph of Agua Caliente that dated back to the late 1800s.
“There was a sort of low boardwalk surrounding a pool of surface thermal water,” he said. “All sorts of people, Native Americans and others, were sitting on the boardwalk with their feet in the water. They looked happy.”
The same thing could be said for Agua Caliente swimmers and therapy clients today.
Caliente Mineral Water
Area: Sonoma (Agua Caliente)
Year: circa 1890
Description: A summer day on the dance floor.
Contributor: Sonoma Valley Historical Society/Depot Park Museum.
Caliente Mineral Water Spring
Area: Sonoma (Agua Caliente)
Year: circa 1920
Description: Bathers frolicking in the waters of Agua Caliente Springs.
Contributor: Sonoma Valley Historical Society/Depot Park Museum.
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