1. 清朝康熙年間, 福州火藥庫爆炸, 頓時需要補給硫磺, 1697年清政府派郁永河來台灣開採硫磺.

During the years of Ching Dynasty of Kangxi, the warehouse of gunpowder in Fuzhou exploded. Suddenly the government needed the supply of sulfur. So in 1697, the Ching government sent Yu Yong ho to Taiwan to mine the sulfur.

2. 地熱谷的溫泉是青磺, PH值1.4, 是強酸性溫泉, 魚蝦不能生存, 原住民認為  它是毒水, 而且整年霧氣壟罩, 以為女巫在做法, 不敢接近, 北投兩個字在凱達格蘭族的語言就是女巫.

The hot spring of Geothermal valley is green sulfur with its PH value 1.4, which is a hot spring with strong acidity. Because the fish and the shrimp can’t survive here, the aborigines think the water is poisonous. The aborigines didn’t dare to get close to it because they thought the witches cast spells there, making it with the heavy fog whole year. The word Beitou means witch in the dialect of Ketagalan tribe.

3. 青磺泉非常稀有, 世界上只有在北投及日本秋田縣的玉川才有, 據說對身體健康很有幫助, 在日本要泡此溫泉必須排隊很長的一段時間.

The green sulfur hot spring is very rare. In the whole world, it has been only found in Beitou and Tamagawa in Akita province of Japan. It is said to be very helpful to the health of the body. In Japan, you must line up for a long time to soak in this hot spring.

4. 1895年, 平田源吾來台要採金礦, 沒得到政府許可, 失意來到北投, 發現北投溪裡流的是珍貴的溫泉. 他在那裡泡溫泉約一兩個月, 身體原有的傷勢逐漸痊瘉.於是1896年, 他就在北投溪旁建立台灣第一家溫泉旅館, 叫做天狗庵.

In 1895, Hirata Gengo came to Taiwan to mine the gold. However, he didn’t get the permission from the government. He felt disappointed. He came to Beitou and found that the flowing water in the Beitou creek was a kind of valuable hot spring. He soaked himself in the hot springs about one or two months and the wounds over his body healed gradually. Hence he built the first hot spring hotel in Taiwan, which was named Tenguan.

5. 之後, 來北投泡溫泉的人越來越多, 人們就在北投溪享受溫泉, 便宜的三仙間於1907年建立, 也就是現在的瀧乃湯.

Thereafter, more and more people came to Beitou to soak in the hot spring. People enjoyed the hot spring in the Beitou Creek. The cheap San-Xian-Jian (in the pronunciation of Taiwanese) was established in 1907, which is the Long-Nai-Tang now.

6. 1913年北投溫泉公共浴場與北投公園同年建設完成, 英日合併的造形, 它是當時東南亞最大的溫泉浴場, 起初建造費為56,000日圓, 1923年為了迎接裕仁皇太子, 再花費17,000日圓擴建.

In 1913, Beitou Hot Spring Public Bath was constructed. It was completed in the very same year as the Beitou Park. It was built with the combination of British and Japanese styles, boasted as the largest hot spring bath in Southeast Asia at that time. The initial construction fee was 56,000 yen. And in order to welcome Prince Hirohito, it was expanded with another expense of 17,000 yen in 1923.

7. 為了因應溫泉愛好者的增加, 從北投到新北投1.2公里的鐵路於1916年完成, 方便外地來泡溫泉的人士, 新北投地名也因此而產生.

In order to cope with the increase of the hot springs enthusiasts, the 1.2 km railway from Beitou to XingBeitou was completed in 1916. It made it easier for those people who came from other places to enjoy the hot spring. Because of this, the name of XingBeitou was also born.

8. 第二次世界大戰結束後, 日籍人士回去日本, 原來的公共浴場被許多單位使用, 浴池變成游泳池, 塌塌米廳變成中山堂, 另外還有派出所, 台北縣議會, 國民黨民眾服務站等都在這棟房子上班工作, 整棟建築缺少管理.

After the end of the World War II, Japanese people went back to Japan. The original public bath was used by many organizations. The bath was used as a swimming pool and the tatami hall was used as the Zhongshan Hall. It was also used as the working place of the police station, the Taipei County Council, the KMT public service stations and so on. The whole building lacked management.

9. 門口右邊的涼亭, 本為司機的休息室, 變成各單位丟棄東西的場所, 由於沒人管理, 漸漸整個建築被埋沒在樹叢裡, 門窗破舊, 有鬼屋之稱.

Originally the pavilion, which was on the right-hand side of the door, was the resting place for the drivers. It became the place for discarding things by each organization. Because of the lack of management, the whole building was gradually buried in the trees. The windows and doors are broken and some people called it a haunted house.

10. 北投國小師生於1994年做戶外教學時發現這個被棄置的建築, 擔心會被拆除以利北纜的建設, 他們於是向有關單位提出復建申請, 區民也努力爭取, 終於得到議會及市府的核可及執行.

The teachers and students of Beitou elementary school found this abandoned buildings during their outdoor teaching in 1994. Worrying about that this building might be demolished for the construction of Taipei cable car, they applied for the reconstruction of this building to the authorities concerned. The residents here also tried hard for pleading the reconstruction. Finally, they got the approval and execution from the City Council and the City Hall.

11. 在1997年內政部核定北投溫泉博物館為古蹟, 並於1998年10月31日對大眾正式開放, 此博物館乃成為北投鎮城之寶.

In 1997, the Ministry of the Interior designated the Beitou Hot Spring Museum as a historical site. It was officially opened to the public on October 31, 1998. Now, this museum becomes the treasure of Beitou.

12. 從北投溫泉博物館, 訪客可得到寶貴的知識, 如北投的文化及歷史, 重要的四個產物, 溫泉如何形成, 溫泉的種類, 北投石等等常識.

From the Beitou Hot Spring Museum, visitors can get valuable knowledge: such as the culture and history of Beitou, the four important products, the formation of hot springs, the types of hot springs, the common sense of Hokutolite and so on.

13. 泡澡後, 人們可到觀景台看美麗風景, 觀賞遠處觀音山, 或在塌塌米間喝茶, 下棋, 觀賞歌舞等, 這種泡溫泉文化, 非常優質.

After bathing, people could watch the beautiful scenery and the distant Guanyin Mountain in the viewing platform. Also, they could drink tea in the tatami room, play chess, or enjoy watching the dance. This kind of hot spring culture is of very high quality.

14. 一樓的大浴池, 長寬為9M x 6M, 深為40CM~130CM. 泡澡者以站立姿勢為之. 理由是為了安全及健康.

The large bath on the first floor was with the length and width of 9M x 6M, and the depth from 40CM to 130CM. The Bather needed to keep standing posture for soaking due to the reasons of safety and health.

15. 大浴池周邊的走道設有羅馬式的拱門, 高寬比例3:2, 讓人有宏偉的感覺.

The walkway around the large bath was set up with the Roman-style arches. The arches were with the ratio of the height and width 3:2, making the whole bathing room look magnificent.

16. 四周牆壁下方, 鑚有小洞, 注入化學液體, 可防止潮濕往上滲透, 損壞玻璃窗的檜木.

On the wall surrounding the bathing pool, there were small holes drilled for injecting chemical liquid to prevent the humidity from permeating upward to damage the window frames which were made of cypress, a kind of Chinese juniper.

17. 一個重達800公斤的北投石等著你去觀賞, 它是含有鐳的礦石, 因為在北投溪發現, 所以叫北投石, 是世界上四千多種礦石中唯一以地名命名的礦石, 李遠哲曾經將它作為碩士論文的題材.

A hokutolite of 800 kg is waiting for you to appreciate. It is the mine containing radium. It is called Hokutolite because it was found in the Beitou Creek. Among the more than four thousand kinds of mine, it is the only one that is named after the name of a place. Dr. Li Yuanzhe had ever used it as the subject of the papers of his master degree.

18. 西側窗戶的彩繪玻璃是一大特色, 當太陽西曬時, 陽光透過玻璃上的天鵝彩繪, 將其影像投射到浴池上, 好像天鵝和泡澡者一起在享受溫泉浴似的.

The stained glass of the windows on the west side is a big feature. When the sunshine comes from the west, the swans painted on the glass were projected onto the bath, making it like the swans also enjoy the hot spring with the bathers together.