Saratoga, Wyoming

The Platte Valley city is a hotbed destination of Old West history and culture.

- Leo W. Banks

The name Fenimore Chatterton doesn’t ring many bells in Western history, but it does around Saratoga, Wyoming. The businessman and politician renamed the town, called Warm Springs until 1884, after an Iroquois Indian word Sarachtoue, which translates to a “place of miraculous water in the rock.”

Indians, trappers and mountain men have long been drawn to central Wyoming for its mineral hot springs, and two decades into the 21st century, they’re still coming.

At the Saratoga Hot Springs Resort, visitors can sit beneath teepee-covered hot pools to learn if the Indians and trappers were onto something about the healing waters.

If the water doesn’t do the trick, the resort’s amenities might. These include a restaurant, spa and bar, with overnight stays in a beautiful setting between the Snowy Range and Sierra Madre.

Hobo Hot Springs downtown offers a free and public natural mineral pool with water ranging from 101 to 110 degrees. The site is busy in summer, but Joe Elder, executive director of the Platte Valley Community Center, says his favorite time is winter.