CORINNE — Stinky Springs has been closed to bathers pending further tests of carbon dioxide levels.
The hot sulfur springs near Little Mountain in west Corinne, also known as Indian Springs, have long served as a soaking spot for people with achy joints and cold feet.
In August, a 66-year-old Oakland, Calif., man died in the springs.
Box Elder County Chief Deputy Sheriff Lynn Yeates said the drowning prompted an investigation into a recently constructed bathhouse at the site.
After reading a news article about similar springs in California, Yeates decided to check carbon dioxide levels at Stinky Springs. He found toxic levels where the green water comes out of PVC pipe into the bathhouse.
Levels of 5,000 parts per million of carbon dioxide are considered toxic. Yeates said he found levels at 6,000 parts per million at the source and levels in the thousands nearly every place else in the building.
The Bear River Health Department and the Department of Environmental Quality will conduct a thorough study later this week.
Ben Ferry, who owns the land where the springs are located, said he tried to close them after he learned they might be a danger.
"Some people ask permission, like my neighbors. But, rarely do they ever ask permission," he said of the springs' regular visitors.
He posted "no trespassing" signs around the property Friday and placed fence posts in the driveway into the area. Ferry said his efforts have already been destroyed once. He said barbed wire was cut and fence posts and signs torn down.
Ferry said he will try to keep the placed closed until he receives a recommendation from the Health Department.
Yeates said if carbon dioxide levels are found to be a danger, the Health Department may recommend tearing down the bath house and rerouting the spring water.
Herman Santifer died at the springs Aug. 20. Yeates said Santifer visited the springs with Ogden friends. Santifer got in to soak while his friends walked around. They later found him floating face down.
This was only the second death at the springs that Yeates could remember. He said the official cause of death is drowning. But that can occur from the individual first passing out from heat exhaustion, heat stroke or possibly carbon dioxide poisoning.
The current bathhouse has been on the site for about six months. Ferry said various bathhouses have been constructed and vandalized over the years, without the landowner's permission.