History

Hospital Bar Hot Springs

River mile ~52.5 — Guides ~52.1–52.9; GPX C-HOSPITAL (HS) ~RM 52

Mapped at 44.8339, -114.7896.

Hospital Bar Hot Springs on river left near mile 52–53 is generally the last hot-spring stop on a Middle Fork float, with a small riverside trickle that can form a soak pool at low water and wash out at high flows. It is paired with Hospital Bar Camp and often accessed together with nearby Cave Camp. Published sources emphasize recreational use; no separate homestead or NRHP narrative specific to Hospital Bar was found beyond its role as a named thermal feature. A popular river story links the name to wounded U.S. Army troops from the 1879 Sheepeater Campaign, but that etymology is not corroborated in Col. W.C. Brown’s 1926 campaign history, USFS Cultural Resource Report No. 6 (Rossillon 1981), or the Salmon National Forest place-name appendix. The campaign’s documented “Bar” camp is Soldier Bar on Big Creek, not Hospital Bar. There is no primary evidence for an Army field hospital or winter camp at Hospital Bar.