P a g e 6 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r that his wife had “been on terms of intimacy with a man in Livingston” and alleged, “that she has threatened to ‘bust’ him and ‘break’ him by securing all his property through a divorce.” Apparently Lena LaDuke followed through on her threats and it was claimed that Julius lost most of his savings and all his residential properties in the divorce. A seemingly broken, embittered, and disillusioned man, Julius eventually became poverty-stricken and was forced to move to the county Poor House where he died December 8, 1927. Aged between 78 and 85, depending on the birth source used, Julius LaDuke was buried in Livingston’s Mountain View Cemetery. Few traces of LaDuke Hot Springs and other early Park County spa resorts remain today. In 1936 Highway 89 was extended to Gardiner along the east side of the Yellowstone River, paving over and forever erasing almost all signs of the short-lived resort. The “new” bridge at Corwin lasted for a century before it was torn down in 2006-07 and replaced by an unimposing concrete structure. The Corwin Hot Springs Resort, which had taken over the water rights from LaDuke Hot Springs, suffered an infernal fate a mere seven years after its establishment, when a fire burned the hotel to the ground on November 30, 1916. The plunge and a few cabins were spared and continued to be used for some years afterwards, but the hotel was never rebuilt. The plunge, unused for many years, with its adobe, fort appearance, still stands, causing passing motorists to wonder about it origins. Hunter’s Hot Springs, located along a dirt road off the beaten path just a few miles north of Springdale, Montana suffered a similar fate. On November 3, 1932, the grand Hotel Dakota, built in 1909, was struck by an inferno that completely destroyed the edifice. Stone walls lining the road that once announced one’s arrival to the posh hotel are the few remaining vestiges of the “hot spot” that was popular for half a century. However, Chico Hot Springs, built around 1900 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, has continued to expand and today provides the sole commercial spa in Park County where visitors can still “Take the Cure.”- Contributed by Robert V. Goss Geyser Bob was a stagecoach driver for 30 years (1883-1913) in Yellowstone National Park. He was known as a teller of tall tales and a prevaricator extraordinaire, with just enough truth thrown in to cause many greenhorns, pilgrims, etc., new to the West, to actually believe him. You can read more of his amazing stories and work at geyserbob.com, his new book, YELLOWSTONE JACK is now available, check that out here: https:// www.geyserbob.com/yellowstone-jack-book Sources: Anaconda Standard, 6/29/1903; 7/2/1903; 4/12/1904; 6/8/1904; 12/22/1908; 4/29/1914. Gardiner Wonderland newspaper, 7/2/1903; 7/27/1903; 7/27/1905..
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