A local Indian legend explains how Olympic and Sol Duc Hot Springs were created. There were two dragons. One lived in the Sol Duc Valley and the other lived in the Elwha Valley. One day they came face to face on top of the ridge separating the Elwha and Sol Duc Valleys. They exploded with anger as each accused the other of invading its territory. The fight was brutal as the dragons thrashed and ripped at each other to win back their territory. Their strength was evenly matched and neither could win. The dragons both admitted defeat and crawled back to caves in their respective valleys, crying. The dragons' hot tears are the source of the hot springs in the Elwha and Sol Duc Valleys.

Natural hot springs in the upper drainage of the Soleduck and Elwha Rivers prompted resort development in the interior Olympic Mountains in the early 1900s. Although originally developed to appeal to a vastly different clientele, the professed therapeutic waters at both Sol Duc Hot Springs and Olympic Hot Springs drew large numbers of people.

Michael Earles bought the property, and in 1907, he organized the Sol Duc Hot Springs Company. Sol Duc Hot Springs soon became one of the most well-known health resorts on the Pacific Coast. Michael Earles' grand creation ended abruptly and harshly when fire ravaged the buildings just four years after the formal opening of the resort. Sparks from a defective flue initiated an intense blaze that completely leveled the main hotel, sanitorium, bathhouse, powerhouse, laundry room, ice plant, engine room, seven cottages and tent frames. The health house and the dance hall were all that remained standing. Michael Earles died in 1919, and in 1935, the Sol Duc Hot Springs Company was dissolved for nonpayment of the annual license fee.

Credits and Sources:

National Park Service. "Historic Resource Study 1983." NPS.gov. http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/olym/hrs/contents.htm (accessed June 20th, 2015).

National Park Service. "Olympic: Sol Duc Area." NPS.gov. http://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/upload/Sol%20Duc.pdf (accessed June 19th, 2015).