The original ranch was founded in the 1880s by Edward R. Drake (1830–1904). Drake was a trapper and miner who settled down to operate a tavern near
Bidwell Bar, California. As mining declined Drake moved to
Prattville and resumed trapping in the mountains. Drake settled in the Hot Springs Valley at some point in the late 1870s, building a cabin and eventually assembling about encompassing a number of thermal features associate with the area's volcanism. Drake kept cattle at the homestead during the summer and moved back to Prattville during the winter. Drake sold "Drake's Hot Springs and Ranch" to Alexander Sifford in 1900.
Sifford family Alexander Sifford, a schoolteacher from
Susanville, came to the valley in 1900 to drink the mineral waters in hopes of relieving "nervous exhaustion." Sifford stayed for three days and agreed to buy the property from Drake for $5,000, giving Drake the right to continue to use the land. The Alexander and Ida Sifford established a guest ranch on the property, Initially calling the place the "Mount Lassen Hot Springs Hotel", the Siffords settled on "Drakesbad" as the final name in 1908. From 1912 an infusion of capital allowed the Siffords to build a dining room and kitchen and twenty tent platforms, allowing them to charge higher rates. The family drained the willow flats around the property through a network of ditches, creating meadows which they harvested for hay. The 1914–15 eruptions of
Lassen Peak brought tourists to the area, greatly increasing business at Drakesbad. When the national park was established, Drakesbad offered a convenient base for Park Service personnel to survey the area. Describing the camp as "crude", the park's first superintendent admitted that the food was good and proposed that the park's headquarters be built just to the east of Drakesbad. Planning for the new park's road network intentionally bypassed the Warner Valley Road, in part because significant improvements would increase the value of the Sifford property, making its acquisition by the Park Service more difficult. By 1936 the Siffrods had built a fishing pond called Dream Lake and four frame cabins. The original Drake lodge was destroyed by the weight of winter snows during the winter of 1937–38. The pond had washed out, and most of the other facilities were damaged in some way, while the roads were nearly impassable. The Dream Lake dam was repaired the following year. During World War II the Siffords raised cattle on their land under the S-Bar brand, continuing to raise cattle until 1951.
Park Service ownership Prior to the sale, Roy Sifford had leased operations to Don Hummel, who managed the Manzanita Lake Lodge within the park. Hummel continued to operate Drakesbad as a park concession after Roy finally cut his ties with the ranch in 1958. Hummel added two cabins to the ranch, and in the 1960s the Park Service added three more and replaced the swimming pool and bathhouse under the
Mission 66 program. A new sewage system was installed around 1960. In the 1960s the original Sifford cabin was demolished with a few other very early buildings. The resort is at altitude, features kerosene lamps—although the lodge was electrified in the 1990s—and has no room keys. ==Historic designation==