HOT SPRINGS, Ark., city and county-seat of Garland County, and one of the most famous sanatoriums of the United States, in the south eastern centre of the State, 55 miles southwest of Little Rock and 397 miles from Saint Louis. on the Saint Louis, Iron Mountain and South ern, the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific and other railroads. The location is 600 feet above sea-level and lies principally at the easterly base of the mountain complex known as the Ouachita Range, the nearby peaks of which are of ttimes called the Ozark Range—in a val between two rocky and heavily wooded ridges called West Mountain and Hot Springs Mountain, 400 feet higher— and in its sheltered situation has a mild and pleasant climate. Lat N. long. 93° W. Through the valley runs the Hot Springs Creek, starting two miles above; and into this the water from 47 hot mineral springs originally 73, but many merged artificially or run dry springing from vents in the gray volcanic tufa near the base of the Hot Springs Mountain on the east. Forty four are in use or usable; the others rise the bed of the creek. The former yield 8310 gallons a day, contain large amounts of calcina and magnesium carbonates, and the presence of lithium, iodides and bromides, etc.; the total mineral matter in solution is between 275 and 280 parts per million and the results, as to the percentage composition of the mineral matter in each hot spring, are very much the same The waters are prescribed for bathing and drinking and have remarkable curative prop erties. De Soto, it is said, sought to explore them as the veritable fountain of youth. As many as 150,000 patients and pleasure seekers visit the place annually. The temperature of the springs varies from 97° to 147°. All issue from a space something over a quarter of a mile long and from 200 to 300 feet up the slope, some 10 acres in all. By treaty with the Quapaw Indians in 1818 and by act of Congress in 1832, four sections (2,529 acres) became a reserva tion, and the springs are in the centre. Dunbar and Hunter of the Lewis and Clark expedition visited the place in 1804 and settlement was made in 1807. After 1832 numerous attempts were made to enter the lands and title to property involved many years of contention and gun right? In 1870 Congress authorized suits against the United States in the Court of Claims. In 1876 title was held to be in the United States by the Supreme Court. Justice Field of the Supreme Court in an opinion said: tFrom the protracted litigation to which it has given rise the Hot Springs Reservation is famous in the history of land titles of the country? And Justice Bradley: title to a well-known watering place in the State of Arkansas, called the Hot Springs, has been con tested by a number of claimants for nearly half a century? In 1877 Congress created a com mission to adjudicate squatter rights, giving right of purchase from the United States and to lay off the town. Under this act the Hot
Springs were reserved by the United States to prevent monopoly or injury, and 911 acres are used as permanent parks. The government has expended'vast sums in arching the creek, ercct ing the Army and Navy Hospital (open to soldiers and sailor-, of the Civil War) and in developing and beautifying a system of parks not yet finished. These parks are covered with forest trees and some are thoroughly fitted up for public enjoyment. Large sums have been spent on boulevards, walks, artificial lakes, landscape gardening and handsome manic hot water fountains scattered plentifully through the city. The grand entrance to Hot Springs Mountain, from Central avenue, is a noble architectural feature, and the initial point of 15 miles of fine drives around the summits of Hot Springs, North and West Mountains.
With one exception the springs are all en closed in solid masonry, and the water is con ducted by protected pipes into reservoirs near the base of Hot Springs Mountain or to the 23 bathhouses on and off this reservation. The exception is left open and accessible to the public. The government maintains a free bathing establishment for the indigent, at which over 10,000 bathe annually, over 90 per cent being benefited. The prices of baths and fees of attendants are fixed by the Department of the Interior, with severe penalties for deviation. A handsome city has grown up to house the guests and permanent residents. On the slope of Hot Springs Mountain is a finepark of 100 acres, with the most elegant buildings facing it. The creek is covered in and sidewalks and roadways built over it. Several hotels, as the Arlington, Eastman, Majestic, Como, are among the largest and best appointed in the country. The city has a fine courthouse, city hall and opera house. One of the features of the place is the tower on the summit of the mountain, from which four States can be seen and one of the best 18-hole golf courses in the South.
Hot Springs received its city charter in 1879. The city has a mayor and four com missioners, who employ a city manager. Being a pleasure resort, as well as a health resort, it has a large itinerant population. Large quantities of novaculite rock, °Arkansas)) and "Ouachita') are quarried in the surrounding mountains, and 5,000 bales of cotton are marketed annually. The country abounds in cold springs, some of which have remarkable curative properties, notably Mountain Valley and Potash-Sulphur, 10 and 17 miles distant from Hot Springs; these are efficacious in con ditions affecting the kidneys and intestinal tract. Pop. 17,238.