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Show Page 10 The Ogden Valley News Volume I, Issue X July 1999 A Brief History of Rainbow Gardens Compiled by Shanna Francis 3675 Riverdale Road - South Ogden 3675 Riverdale Road - South Ogden $10 off $600 ANY BRAKE SERVICE FLAT REPAIR Not valid with any other offer. South Ogden Big-O only. See store for details. Good until 8/30/99. Not valid with any other offer. South Ogden Big-O only. See store for details. Good until 8/30/99. 3675 Riverdale Road - South Ogden 3675 Riverdale Road - South Ogden $5 off $5 off SAFETY & EMISSIONS OIL CHANGE Not valid with any other offer. South Ogden Big-O only. See store for details. Good until 8/30/99. Not valid with any other offer. South Ogden Big-O only. See store for details. Good until 8/30/99. 394-2647 394-2647 394-2647 Regularly $10.00 394-2647 mineral water, not unlike the actions Rainbow Gardens sprang up with of visitors to Baths in England. In 1919 the hot mineral springs that still mark a dance hall and lunch room were built the area today, a group of many that adjacent to the sanitarium. Financial dot the Wasatch Front. problems followed the resort, and the Historically,these springs nurtured all-wooden building was eventually Shoshone tribes that traversed the area– destroyed by fire about twenty years the springs providing favorite camp later in 1927. sites for the Native Americans. A.V. Smith purchased the land in Members of a U.S. Geological 1928 and rebuilt the resort in brick, Survey made the first scientific renaming it El Monte Springs(the analysis of Mountain). the hot Wrestling, springs at swimming, the mouth of private O g d e n mineral Canyon in b a t h s , 1872. The boating, water was marathon documented ballroom to be 121 dancing degrees a n d Fahrenheit. motorcycle Soon after, a climbs m i n e r were all claimed the offered. rights to the However, hot springs. the Great A local Rainbow’s swimming area, about 1957. Depression businessman hit, and the Fred J. resort closed in 1932. It sat idle for Kiesel purchased the property in the ten years after its closure. 1870s and offered free mineral baths. Harman W. Peery, Ogden City’s In 1890, an electric power plant was “Cowboy Mayor,” purchased the built at the mouth of the canyon. A property in 1942. He renamed it resort was planned, to be called the Riverside Gardens, and billed the resort “Power Place,” but a financial scare in as the “Kochbrunnen of America,” 1893 put a stop to the proposal. A after the famous mineral spring spas Victorian building that became the in Germany. The resort also featured Ogden Canyon Sanitarium was swimming and dancing. constructed between1904-06, which featured a hotel, dining rooms and, of The resort was turned over to course, the therapeutic mineral baths. Peery’s son-in-law, Robert W. “Bob” It was opened by G. W. Perkins and King and his daughter, Rosanne Peery John D. Carnahan. King, in 1946. They renamed it Rainbow Gardens, and made numerous Trolley and wagon service was improvements. The bowling alley was offered to the resort in 1906 by the added in 1961. Ogden Rapid Transit Company. Visitors claimed that their bodies were Today the bowling alley has, relieved by soaking in the mineral partially, been replaced with the Book waters of the thermal springs. They Nooks book, gift and souvenir shop, also purged their bodies by drinking the the natural spring swimming area, part of Rainbow’s famous gift emporium, advertised as the largest in the western United States, and the former entry way, the classic Greenery Restaurant. When you visit Rainbow Gardens, amidst all of its more modern flavor and flair, you still can find a sense of its soul that echos from its ancient, and not so ancient, past. |