Curtis Howe Springer
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Curtis Howe Springer (December 2, 1896 - August 19, 1985) was an American radio evangelist, self-proclaimed medical doctor and Methodist minister best known for founding the Zzyzx Hot Springs resort. In actuality, Springer was neither a doctor nor a minister.
In 1944, he and his fiancée filed a mining claim on federal land to 12,800 acres (51.8 km²) of desert, claiming a tract about 8 miles (13 km) long and 3 miles (4.8 km) wide. The land contained the remains of an 1860 Army post and a railroad station. On this land, Springer erected a sixty-room hotel, a church, a cross-shaped health spa with mineral baths, a radio broadcast studio, a private airstrip dubbed "Zyport" and several other buildings which included a castle. The "Boulevard of Dreams" was a divided parkway leading to an oasis on Lake Tunedae, later identified as the habitat of the endangered Mohave chub.
By the late 1960s, Springer had begun marking lots on the land and allowing donors of large sums of money to his ministry to build homes on the lots. This caught the attention of federal officials. While Springer had posted a claim, it was still public land.
Springer broadcast a syndicated radio program via 221 stations in the US and 102 more abroad combining his mix of folksy religion and health philosophy. He urged his listeners to send him donations for miraculous cures via "magic potions" which were actually little more than a blend of celery, carrot and parsley juices. Ironically, today, these juices are widely available in dedicated "juice bars" and in grocery stores.
He was arrested for making false claims about his products. He was represented in court by criminal attorney Gladys Towles Root. In the trial, he was convicted of false advertising. He filed several appeals on this conviction and two years later served 49 days of a 60 day sentence.
The federal government took Springer to court claiming he was squatting on federal land. In 1974, he was found guilty of the crime. He offered to pay $34,187 in back rent on the land to the Bureau of Land Management. The government refused the payment and evicted him and his followers from the land.
Springer died in Las Vegas in 1985 at age 88.
