Curtis Springer's last appearance at Zzyzx

In 1976, the Bureau of Land Management and the California State University signed a cooperative agreement, and established the California Desert Studies Consortium. Under this agreement, the University would establish a field station, the Desert Studies Center, at the site of the former Zzyzx Mineral Springs resort, located at the oasis of Soda Springs, in the Mojave Desert. Curtis Howe Springer established the resort on mining claims in 1944, and developed and operated "Zzyzx" until 1974, when he was removed from the federal land, in violation his mining claims by establishing such an operation, rather than mining. He was under federal court order never to set foot on the property again, yet as this video shows, he made one last visit to Zzyzx.

This video is from a KNBC News (Los Angeles) news story, broadcast in the Fall of 1976, about a meeting of University officials at the Zzyzx facilities, to see and discuss the proposed Desert Studies Center. With print and TV media in attendance to cover the story, Springer used the opportunity to reappear at Zzyzx one last time, and get his "last word" in on the matter (he invented the word Zzyzx to be "the last word").