[3][4] The hotel received its namesake from the thermal spring on the property, and operated as a luxury resort and sanitorium during the turn of the century, advertising the medicinal attributes of the mineral water and drawing visitors worldwide.

[5] After a fire burned down over half of the hotel in 1934, the remaining building was used for various purposes, including a retirement home, and a nurse's training school during World War II.

[9] Irving wrote in his record: Emerging from the chain of Blue Mountains, they descended upon a vast plain, almost a dead level, sixty miles in circumference, of excellent soil ...

In traversing this plain, they passed, close to the skirt of the hills, a great pool of water, three hundred yards in circumference, fed by a sulphur spring, about ten feet in diameter, boiling up in one corner.

The place was much frequented by elk, which were found in considerable numbers in the adjacent mountains, and their horns, shed in the spring-time, were strewed in every direction around the pond.

[10]After the Oregon Trail expedition brought settlers into the area, the land surrounding the lakes was utilized as a cattle ranch, and was purchased by a sailor named Tommy Atkins.

[11] An apocryphal story claiming that Atkins was cured of numerous health ailments after falling into the spring was published in The Oregonian in 1914 in a piece detailing the hotel's history.

[13] The resort featured state-of-the-art soaking tubs supplied by the spring water, as well as an operating room complete with an elevated observation deck, and a 1,500-guest dance hall.

[17] The hotel came to be known by locals as "The Town Under One Roof," and was a mostly self-sufficient property, producing its own vegetables, dairy products, meats, and eggs.

[18] Staffing fifteen nurses, four physicians, an X-ray technician, and a bacteriologist, the hotel garnered a reputation as "The Mayo Clinic of the West.

"[20] A promotional advertisement from the Oregon Pacific Railroad promoted the purported healing properties of the waters, stating: [Hot Lake Springs Resort] is the largest, hottest, and most curative springs known; best bathing facilities, most courteous attendants; first-class medical and surgical conveniences; finest operating room in the west; steam heat, electric lights; hot and cold water throughout the building[20]Other advertisements touted the drinking of the water as relieving a variety of ailments, as well as claiming mud baths and poultice made with lake sediment as being beneficial for treatment of rheumatism.

[24] During this period the building was heavily vandalized with all 250+ windows broken, parts of the roof and floor missing, and it was completely abandoned.

New features included a pub, upgraded rooms, a hot springs soaking area, and even a 60-seat movie theater.

[30][31] In addition to its appearance on The Scariest Places on Earth, the hotel was also used as a shooting location for a music video by musician Laura Gibson.