HOT SPRINGS, a city of Arkansas, U.S.A., at the eastern base of the Ouachita mountains, 55m. W.S.W. of Little Rock. It is on Federal highways 70 and 27o; is served by Rock Island and Missouri Pacific railways ; and has a municipal airport. The resi dent population was 11,695 in 1920 (24% negro), and was, 1930, 20,238 by the Federal census. The transient population num bers 300,000 in the course of a year. The city lies amid scenery of great beauty, and the climate is delightful. The environing hills reach an altitude of I,20oft. above the sea. The economic life of the city is centred in providing for the thousands of visitors who come seeking health or recreation. On the border of the city is the Hot Springs National park, a tract of loogac. enclosing the 47 curative hot springs which issue from Hot Springs mountain. There are also cold-water springs, but these are outside the park. There are nine bath-houses on "Bath-House Row" and nine more in the city all under government regulation, and the govern ment maintains an army and navy general hospital in the reserva tion. The waters are tasteless and odourless, and contain over 20 chemical constituents. Tradition says that their curative proper ties were known to the Indians long before the Spanish explora tions; that they warred for their possession, finally making an agreement whereby all tribes had access to them. Probably the springs were known to De Soto. They were visited about i 8o0 by French hunters, and by members of the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804, under instructions from President Jefferson. Permanent settlement here began in 1828. In 1832 Congress cre ated a reservation (classified as a National park since 1921) to prevent exploitation of the healing waters for private gain, but litigation ensued, which was not ended until the U.S. Supreme Court made its decision in 1876. Hot Springs was incorporated as a town in 1876; was almost destroyed by fire in 1878; and was chartered as a city in 1879. Hot Springs often serves as a convention city.
