Lakelse (Mount Layton) Hot Springs

The Haisla and Tsimshian people used the hot springs for therapeutic purposes before European contact. In 1904 and 1905, a trail through the valley was rebuilt as a wagon road, but the railway project it was intended to supply was never completed. The land around the hot springs was acquired by Bruce Johnstone, who built a hotel in 1910 and made the Lakelse Hot Spring a successful business by advertising widely in the United States. However, the original hotel burned down in 1936 and the resort changed hands multiple times, eventually deteriorating and ultimately destroyed by a flood in 1978.

The land was eventually acquired by Bert and Marlene Orleans in the late 1980s and developed into the Mount Layton Resort, but the development involved capping natural springs and damaging the spring system's ecology. This resort has since been closed down and can be seen from the road as an abandoned water park with slides. The original source of the springs can be found near a large boulder close to the 38km sign.

photos courtesy of Melissa Beaupre