By the late 19th century, people had begun to recognize the natural beauty of Webster Springs and the therapeutic value of its sulphur waters. In 1897, Johnson Camden built a small hotel on the lower end of this bottom. By 1902, Camden had sold the hotel to James McGraw, who built a railroad into Webster Springs and expanded the hotel until it became the largest in West Virginia, rivaling the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs. Encompassing the entire bottom, the hotel featured 176 guest rooms, a dining room that seated 200 people, a sun parlor, four general parlors, a spacious writing room for the ladies, a large ballroom, and more. The building was steam heated, had the first passenger elevator in the state, and had its own electrical generator. The exceptional quality of the mineral waters flowing naturally from springs in the valley soon gained a national reputation, and visitors traveled to Webster Springs for the beauty of the land, its cool, dry climate, and its reviving waters. On July 20th 1925, the hotel burned, and the fire completely destroyed the building; its glow reportedly could be seen as far away as Elkins. A sulphur well below the site, now sealed, was one of the wells that made the hotel possible.