Sulphur Works
In September 1865, the Red Bluff Independent reported that T. M. Boardman and some partners had made arrangements with Dr. Mathias B. Supan of Red Bluff to develop one of these sulphur deposits into a working mine. Supan, a medical doctor and chemist, apparently had a plan for refining the sulphur ore. The Red Bluff Independent stated, “We may expect in a short time that Red Bluff will be shipping sulfur to the San Francisco market.”
Supan apparently worked his sulphur works claim each summer for about 20 years, hauling the material by pack train to a furnace and retort on Paynes Creek. He used his knowledge of chemistry and medicine to experiment with various products that he dispensed in his drug store in Red Bluff. Cooking the sulphur in kilns, he made bricks and various kinds of earthenware products. Using the ferrous salts that formed a crust at the edge of the hot springs, he produced dyes and printers’ ink, which he sold in San Francisco.
The Supan family’s claim to Sulphur Works and Little Hot Springs Valley sometimes limited public access to the popular volcanic phenomena, and for this reason, the Supan inholdings always topped park administrators’ acquisition wish list. Acquisition proved more difficult as ownership of the Supan properties fragmented. The senior Supans, Mathias and Angeline, died before the park was established, but several of their nine offspring and numerous grandchildren retained interest in Sulphur Works. Both the Supans and park officials pondered the development potential of these two properties and their abundant thermal features. In 1929 Milton Supan counted 204 hot springs on his homestead alone. The steep terrain of the inholdings contained few practical building sites but the topography was perfect for skiing. The Supans’ lawful possession of Sulphur Works was up in the air for a number of years. In 1927, when Milton proposed building a gas station there, the superintendent questioned the validity of the Supans’ mining claim. After the mining claims were claimed null and void by the government, the land reverted to federal ownership.
