Route 66 time capsules are to be found all along Route 66 between Chicago and Santa Monica. A few are truly diamonds in the rough. Some are little more than picturesque ruins. Then there are the revered icons, survivors unchanged from when the doors opened 50, 60 or even ninety years ago.

There are also gems that have been resurrected. Often these treasures are like the mythical Phoenix. The literally rose from the ashes. One of these is Cool Springs, subect of the Februay 11 episode of Coffee With Jim, the podcast from Jim Hinckley’s America.

Route 66 Time Capsule

Cool Springs on the east slope of the Black Mountains in western Arizona is more than a Route 66 time capsule. It is a tangible link to the highways origins, its infancy, the boom years, the end, and the renaissance.

For centuries travelers overlooked the steep grades in Sitgreaves Pass. Scattered throughout the pass are numeorus springs that provide a dependable source of water in any season.

A Native American trade route that connected the villages of the Zuni, Hopi and other tribes with villlages on the coast of California passed through the pass. Father Garces traveling with an expedition in 1776 camped in the pass. And the first incarnation of the Beale Road built in the 1850s used Sitgreaves Pass to provide access from the Sacramento Valley to the Colorado River Valley.

The National Old Trails Road, and then Route 66 until 1952, also were carved from the steep slopes of the pass. And that takes us to Cool Springs, a resurrected Route 66 time capsule.

An American Story

N.R.Dunton was a teamster, or so the story goes. With a wife and newborn son depending on him, he left California for a promised job in White Hills, Arizona. The plan was to make some money, set up a place, and then move his family from Los Angeles.

The job didn’t pan out. Dunton was broke and short of options. Fortuitously while hitching back to California he was stranded in the mining town of Goldroad on the west side of Sitgreaves Pass.

As the family story is told, the owner of the garage was short handed as his mechanic had landed himself in the Oaman jail after a bout of drinking. Dunton had mechanical skills, and he was ambitious. Fast forward to about 1924.

Dunton was doing fine in Goldroad, and his family had a place to call home. But he wanted more and so built a small station with open air garage on the east slope of the mountains. Cool Springs station proved to be a lucrative business. With drivers facing a steep climb over the mountains, he could sell a gallon of water at a higher price that gasoline. Then he bought the garage in Goldroad.

These endeavors were the foundation for the Dunton family empire that still provdes valuable services in western Ariizona. Dunton Motors Dream Machines in Kingman has been a family enterprise since 1946. And Mr. D’z Route 66 Diner is another link to the family’s century long tradition of providing service to travelers and locals alike.

Myth of The Phoenix

N.R. Dunton sold Cool Springs, and the new owner replaced the wooden station with one built of stone. They added a cafe, and then a few cabins. Business boomed. In 1939 the Arizona highway department noted than more than one million people had entered the state on U.S. 66 that calendar year.

The good times came to a rather abrupt end around 1952. That was the year Route 66 was realigned to bypass the steep grades, the hairpin curves, and the precipitous drop from the narrow highway carved from the slope.

Somehow the owners kept the place alive until the early 1960s. And then in the summer of 1966, the complex burned to the ground.

But that is not the end of the story. It was just the end of chapter two. A new era was about to dawn.

Dawn of  New Era

The past, the present, and the future of the Route 66 time capsule that is Cool Springs were the topic of conversation when Ned Leuchtner, owner, joined Jim HInckley on an episode of Coffee With Jim. 

For time capsules all along Route 66, the renaissance is the dawn of a new era. The Wagon Wheel Motel in Cuba, Missouri, the longest continously operated motel on Route 66, was given a new lease on life after its renovation by Connie Echols, and its transformation into a destination for travelers. Tucumcari, New Mexico is home to the Roadrunner Lodge Motel, an award winning gem. But just a few years ago it was a vandalized wreck.

McClean, Texas is flirting with ghost town status. But not if Angela Moreland has her way. With tenacity, hard work, and an ability to build partnerships she is breathing new life into the old town with the restoration of one relic at a time. The mid 1950s Cactus Inn Motel is just one example.

Listen to this episode of Coffee With Jim. It is America’s story and a tale of inspiration. It is the chronicle of a Route 66 time capsule. And there is even a Hollywood connection.