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Wonders of Hot Water–Lecture series on hot springs and geothermal energy
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The Wonders of Hot Water
A Weekly Lecture Series
on the Origins, Legends, and Uses
of the World’s Hot Springs
Tuesday Evenings
July 23 through August 20
7:00pm to 8:00pm
The amazing beauty and variety of uses of hot springs around the world will be the subject of a series of lectures at Lolo Hot Springs Resort in July and August.
Week 1
Tuesday, July 23
Montana’s Frontier Hot Springs 1880-1920
Montana’s hot springs and hot water resorts bubble with fascinating histories of Native American legends, isolated wilderness soaks, and glittering thermal water spas. Crude bathhouses built by early settlers in the 1800s gave way to ornate bathing resorts and social gathering centers. Montana’s most famous resorts – including Boulder Hot Springs, Hunter’s Hot Springs, Corwin Hot Springs, and Broadwater Hot Springs – flourished and then faded from Montana’s landscape.
Week 2
Tuesday, July 30
Life at High Temperatures in Yellowstone’s Hot Springs
Life on earth may have first appeared in hot springs—and now many plants and animals have adapted to live in hot springs in Yellowstone and beyond. There’s an amazing diversity of living inhabitants of hot springs, including cyanobacteria, fungi, protozoa, mosses, crustaceans, and insects.
Week 3
Tuesday, August 6
Medical Uses of Hot Springs in the Frontier West
Testimonials abound on the curative power of thermal water. This lecture will share many of these stories and examine current research on the use of thermal and mineral waters for treating diseases and improving mental health and well-being.
Week 4
Tuesday, August 13
Capturing the Earth’s Energy for Space Heating and Power Generation
Most of downtown Boise, Idaho, is heated with geothermal energy. And several of the buildings on the Bozeman campus of Montana State University are heated with geothermal energy. This session will examine these projects as well as dozens of other examples of capturing geothermal energy for heating buildings, downtown communities, and greenhouses. We will also explore how geothermal resources are converted to electrical power through innovative new technologies
Week 5
Tuesday, August 20
International Thermal Spas and Geothermal Energy Projects
This session will take a global tour of hot springs resorts and geothermal areas around the world, including the elegant spas of Central Europe, the historic onsen resorts in Japan, and the beautiful natural hot springs of Iceland.
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Jeff Birkby, Presenter
Jeff Birkby writes and lectures on the history and use of geothermal energy for electric power generation, space heating and hot springs tourism. He is the author of Geothermal Energy in Montana–A Consumers’ Guide, Touring Montana and Wyoming Hot Springs and Touring Oregon and Washington Hot Springs.
All lectures are free and open to the public. No reservations needed.
Come up to Lolo Hot Springs early for dinner and a soak, and then stay for the lectures starting at 7pm on Tuesdays.