The Dead Indian Soda Springs were discovered by European settlers around 1871, when a man named John Tyrell stopped for a drink while chasing an elk.

Shortly after 1900, Charles Wiltkinson built a home and several rental cabins near the mouth of the creek, which are now part of Camp Latgawa.

Men hired during the Great Depression to work in the woods for the Civilian Conservation Corps built a fountain and rockwork path around one of the springs in 1935–1936, but they were gradually washed away during floods in 1955, 1964, and 1997.

All that remains today are the trace ruins scattered about the site and a few stone steps that lead from the trail down into the creek.

On December 29, 2000, the Dead Indian Soda Springs Shelter was added to the National Register of Historic Places.