- By Ray Holt -
The small stream of water released onto the bluff’s sandy soil by the drill 400 feet below the nearby placid Pacific pleased landowner John Frazier that lucky day in 1884. It ended the need to laboriously carry water from three miles away. But, Frazier wondered if even more water might be found at greater depths. Sure enough, only fifty feet deeper more water surfaced, this time with a mineral taste.
Frazier constructed a tall tower topped by a prominent windmill to encourage visitor recognition and drinking water from the well. Spas were added soon after research confirmed Frazier’s suspicion that his well’s mineral water and its medicinal properties was similar to that of the famous Karlsbad Bohemia Spa Well Number Nine in Czechoslovakia. A replica of the mineral well and spa known as Alt Karlsbad is located on the original site at 2803 Carlsbad Blvd.
Developers formed the Carlsbad Land and Water Company in 1886. They purchased Frazier’s well and nearly 400 acres of surrounding land. Frazier was put in charge of water development and a town site planned. Then waterlines ran to each lot. The new town was named Carlsbad, this being preferable to Agua Hedionda (smelly water) by which it had been known. Thus began the city we are fortunate to call our “home town.”