Wilbur has a long history as a hot-springs retreat, dating to when the Wintun Nation used it as a healing ground. It was the water at Wilbur that first drew Miller as well. “It was the right thing to do,” Miller said. ![]() He was able to be swayed by those in favor of the reconfiguration, instead of identical restoration, of Wilbur. He is 6-foot-5, without his fedora, but comes off as avuncular rather than imposing. One initially balking at the change turned out to be Miller himself. ![]() The kitchen, dining room and refrigeration area has greatly expanded to better suit the resort’s popular Guest Chef’s Weekends and give more room to guests who bring their own food to prepare. Four private massage rooms, overlooking the creek next to the fluminarium (water flumes 20 feet long and 4 feet wide of increasing temperature, 98, 105 and 110 degrees), have been added. Replacing the rooms are stand-alone cabins a stone’s throw away. The hotel is now one story, its library and reception area reconfigured. There are noticeable changes, initially a shock to some longtime Wilburites who pretty much considered the place darn near perfect in its previous incarnation. But it wasn’t until Ma– the symmetry entirely intentional – that construction was completed on the restored hotel and grounds and life, Wilbur-style, returned to normal. Six weeks later, with no fewer than 180,000 pounds of debris hauled away, the wrought-iron gate to this Colusa County resort re-opened, and guests once more could soak in the soothing springs, a natural mineral bouillabaisse of sulphate, chloride, sodium and mood-stabilizing lithium. “There was never any doubt in my mind,” Miller recalled. Little matter – they started rebuilding, almost immediately. They figured out how much money they’d need to rebuild, and how much money they had in the bank. Losses were big, and they were uninsured. That same day, Miller and family took stock. The fire, which burned well into the evening and was believed to have been caused by a heater failure in a guest room, gutted the main building but mercifully spared the bubbling hot-spring pools and the 1,570 oak-studded, hilly acres where people have long flocked for rest, rejuvenation and refuge. No life was lost, and it’s still my birthday, so you know, let’s just sing and be grateful.’ It was a poignant moment, very bittersweet.” “I remember,” Jolee said, “that Richard had the presence of mind and heart to say, ‘It’s just a building. Miller, owner of the popular Wilbur Hot Springs resort, decide to gather guests and staff, including his wife, Jolee, and daughter, Sarana, in a circle. Only then, on the bright, brisk morning of March 29, 2014, the occasion of his 75th birthday, did Richard L. And, wait, were two guests missing? They couldn’t still be inside, could they? No, he soon learned, they were just out hiking in the nature preserve. Distraught guests, their Saturday brunch interrupted, milled and fretted outside, fortunate to be safe, certainly, but saddened to see their possessions and peace of mind lost. Firefighters worked to douse the blaze, which already had taken the second and third floors and threatened to spread. The resort is 83 miles northwest of Sacramento.įlames engulfed his building, his passion, essentially his life’s work. ![]() Malia Elsner of Santa Rosa relaxes in one of three flumes at Wilbur Hot Springs early this month.
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