It’s pool time

The Memorial Day holiday is just around the corner, and I am reminded that back in my youth, that meant it was “pool time.” In Nevada that weekend was always the traditional opening date for that wonderful swimming pool to open at Radio Springs.

The pool was a fixture for many of our “boomer” generation. If you want to see more of the history and pictures, there is a great website about Radio Springs Park. Go online and look for the park’s name at cotteyphile.com.

I have written about that pool in the past, but here are a few reminders about its unique features. The pool had a hexagon shape, which I have never seen in any similar pool design. The top of the hexagon faced north and was connected to the shoreline of Radio Springs Lake.

The other 5 sides of the pool were completely surrounded by the waters of the lake. Why the pool was built in this manner is a mystery that I have yet to uncover. My best guess is that the idea came from a prior swimming area in the lake waters.

To the east of the pool there was a large bathhouse. This bathhouse pre-dated the building of the pool. In those pre-pool days, the area was commonly used for roped off swimming, and the bathers dressed in the bathhouse.

In the park’s history, one notes that the lake was built out of necessity. The artesian springs kept the ground quite wet, and the railroad needed to address this issue. They built the lake to capture the runoff from the springs. The excess water from the lake was then drained through spillways into Birch Creek.

In my early youth, the pool did not have a filtration system. Each Tuesday the pool was entirely drained of water. The water had been in use with only the addition of a few chemicals for a week. By late Tuesday the water was in a simple word, rank!

In preparation for a busy weekend of swimming, the pool was filled each Wednesday from the deep artesian well. That made for another famous story. In the low north end of the pool, there was a stand-up metal pipe, that had a cross pipe open at each end. When the ice cold artesian water gushed out each end of these 4-inch pipes, it took most of the day to fill the pool. During many of these fill days, several of my boyhood friends and I would have contests to see who could stand under that frigid cold stream the longest. Yes I know what you are thinking, boys will be boys!

It was quite common for us to ride our bikes to the pool. When you entered the bathhouse, you paid your entry fee which was about a quarter. The attendants gave you a wire basket, which had a number and a safety-pin-like clip with the same number. You put your street clothes in the basket and clipped the number pin to your swimming trunks, so you could retrieve the correct basket at the end of the day.

The bathhouse had two sides; one for girls and women, the other for boys and men. As you exited the bathhouse to go to the pool, there were these square rubber mats with sides, that held a bluish liquid. This liquid was supposed to be some type of disinfectant, and you were not allowed in the pool without stepping into the liquid.

There was a long wooden staircase that led down from the bathhouse to the pool. All around the hexagon shaped pool there was about an 8-foot wide concrete walkway. On the five sides that bordered the lake, there was a wooden railing, which was, in theory, to keep people from entering the lake.

At the low northwest corner of the land side of the pool, there was portion of the pool sectioned off with metal railings. This was what we called the “baby pool.” It was shallow and mothers and older siblings could easily keep watch on the little ones there.

The pool gradually deepened from about 3 feet to near 9 feet deep at the south end. There was a rope with floating buoys at the midpoint of the hexagon that ran across the pool from east to west. North of that rope the water was only deep enough for wading and safe for nonswimmers. From that point on southward, the depth gradually increased. Lifeguard towers were located in line with each end of that rope.

At the far south deep end of the pool there were two diving boards. One was the low dive, the other was what we called the high dive. If I had a dime for every jump I made off of those boards, I would have quite a nest egg.

As I near the end of this trip down memory lane at the Radio Springs Pool, I recall a few final thoughts. That first Memorial Day at the pool each year predictably brought with it a new season’s exposure to the sun. As a fair skinned redhead, I assure you I experienced some painful burns.

Most of us had a few small coins that allowed us to cross the bridge to the island at the lake. There was a canteen on the side of the famous pavilion nightclub. You could buy sodas, chips and candies through an outside window. Inside they still served beer and we always were intrigued to gaze inside at some of the adult patrons at the bar.

As we crossed the bridge we often dropped pieces of our snacks to the fish in the lake. Then we faced another bike ride up the steep hill to College Street. Oh, how I wish I could go back just one more Memorial Day opening weekend for Radio Springs “pool time!”