SUS TAINABLE BUILDIN G


I knew I would ’know’ when it was right. Sometime later, the realtor called and


said, “The old Boulder Hot Springs Hotel is in receivership and just went on the market. Do you want to see it?” “Yes,” I said. “I went to the high school


in Boulder and used to soak there. I’ll be right up.” It turned out that Boulder Hot


Springs Hotel had been through many incarnations since I had known it. The owners who currently owned it just wanted to get rid of it. I looked at it with heart, spirit and


mind – in that order. The first thing the current owner said


to us (I had asked a woman friend to go with me to look at it) was, “You girls don’t want this. It should be bulldozed.” These words struck terror in my heart.


Boulder Hot Springs belonged to the many generations of Montanans who had known and loved it, starting with the Native people of the land who believed that this was a sacred healing place and should be protected. Even normally hostile tribes would not fight there. They came for healing, trading and ceremony and called the valley ‘Peace Valley’. This was a place to do healing work


and it needed to be protected. As the owner showed us through the


building, the first place he took us was a first-floor room, where there was a heavily flowing ‘waterfall’ cascading from the third floor.


36 APRIL 2017


“You girls don’t want this,” was the


mantra for the whole tour. We saw a claw-foot bathtub in the


basement with a hundred pipes running in and out of it. “This is what runs the whole thing,


with gravity from the reservoir on the hill.” the owner said. “Cheap energy,” I thought, “and not


too efficient – especially with that waterfall.” After an hour and a half tour, with a


constant repetition of “You girls don’t want this.” and “It should be bulldozed.” we thanked him for the tour and, with the realtor, retired to the local café to discuss it. The realtor was skeptical. The price was $275,000 for the


building and 200 acres. (It had originally been 600 acres and some had been sold off. I secretly started plotting to get the original acreage back to protect it). I sat and listened as the agent and


my friend discussed the pros and cons (mostly cons) of the place. When it became my turn, I said, “I’ll take it.” I pulled out my savings account


checkbook – which had about $5,500 in it – and wrote out a check for $5,000 for earnest money and asked my realtor to have the papers drawn up. I had no idea what was next but I knew


that this was the next right thing. Sometimes clarity and faith are the only thing we have to go on. And


sometimes, we confuse desire and will as clarity. After years of doing my own work, I am pretty sure when I am clear.


“Sin bravely so that grace may abound” [Martin Luther], is a saying that has always served me well.


And so began our history of learning and healing with Boulder Hot Springs! I had a men’s intensive scheduled and I invited the men to come to BHS. I decided I would not charge them for the intensive – we would do our meals together (there was a working kitchen), we would meet together for half a day, and clean up the building the other half. All agreed! Early on, it became clear to me that we


had to heal the building before groups and the public could come to the healing waters.


You can’t heal the people unless you heal the building.


Clearly, the reason there were broken pipes was that over time, with the mineral water running in the pipes, minerals accumulated and the radiators seized up. Thanks to what my engineer father


taught me, I realized that we needed a heat exchanger. (It was prohibitive to heat this old place without using the mineral water.) I contacted an innovative technology company in Butte and the


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