HOT SPRINGS Circular of General Information 1936

HOT SPRINGS
National Park

THE HOT SPRINGS of Arkansas, 47 in number, and the only Government-owned and operated hot springs in the United States, are included in the Hot Springs National Park, in a picturesque wooded area of the romantic Quachita Mountains. Adjoining the park area on all sides is the city of Hot Springs. The park and city are near the center of the State of Arkansas, about 50 miles southwest of Little Rock.

In addition to the many hot springs, there are also cold springs furnishing palatable waters which are extensively used as table waters. All cold springs are outside of the national park area and are privately owned.

The hot springs were probably visited in 1541 by De Soto, who traveled this region extensively in that year. According to tradition, the spring waters were used by the Indians long before the advent of the Spaniards. There is a tale that the various tribes battled from time to time for control of the hot waters, in which they believed the "Great Spirit" to be ever present, but that finally a truce was declared under which their benefits were extended to the sick of all tribes.

It is believed that the earliest white settlement was made about the year 1800. Dunbar and Hunter, who visited the place in December 1804, found an open log cabin and a few huts built of split boards which had been erected by persons resorting to the springs in the hope of regaining their health. Manuel Prudhomme built a cabin there in 1807 and was joined the same year by John Perciful and Isaac Cates.

GOVERNMENT CONTROLLED SINCE 1832

In 1832 the hot springs and the four sections of land surrounding them were by act of Congress set aside for the future disposal of the United States, not to be entered, located, or appropriated for any other purpose whatever, thus making the first national park reservation of the country and preserving the waters of the springs in perpetuity free from monopoly and commercial exploitation. In 1921, by act of Congress, its name was changed from the Hot Springs Reservation to the Hot Springs National Park.

The year 1932 was fittingly celebrated as the one hundredth anniversary of the reservation by Congress of the area included in the park and the dedication of the use of its waters to the American public.

The Hot Springs National Park contains 1,009 acres, and includes Hot Springs Mountain, North Mountain, West Mountain, and Sugar-Loaf Mountain, being part of the Ouachita Range, and Whittington Park, located in the city of Hot Springs. The springs are all grouped about the base of Hot Springs Mountain, their aggregate flow being approximately 1,000,000 gallons per day. The hot water is supplied to the various bath houses, the receipts from this source being deposited in the United States Treasury.

The Hot Springs National Park is under the control and supervision of the Director of the National Park Service. The officer in immediate charge is the superintendent, Thomas J. Allen, Jr., whose post office address is Hot Springs, Ark. The park is open throughout the year.

The superintendent has charge of all general matters connected with the Government's interests, enforces the rules and regulations of the Department, supervises sanitation, hydrotheraphy, and the operation of bath houses, has charge of the Government free bathhouse for the indigent, the instruction and supervision of bath attendants and the determination as to their fitness for employment, and operation of the auto camp.

One of the many fine golf courses at Hot Springs. De Luxe photo.

HOT SPRINGS—THE CITY

Administration of the national park by the Federal Government does not extend to the city of Hot Springs, which operates under its own municipal and State laws. Whenever the interests of the two join in promoting community welfare, the efforts of the two agencies are coordinated for the common good. In particular, the Government, through local officers of the United States Public Health Service, assists the city of Hot Springs in physical examinations, vaccinations, and matters of rural sanitation.

There is a resident population of 20,000 in the city proper, which is a typical modern American town, with churches of every denomination, public and private schools, civic clubs, fraternal organizations, and theaters.

Lying as it does within the region of the Ouachita Mountains, the climate of Hot Springs is favorable the year around. The Ouachitas, to the south of the Arkansas River as it runs from west to east, parallel the Ozark Ranges lying to the north of the river. The altitude in the park area varies from 600 feet above sea level in the valleys to more than 1,200 feet along the summits.

As a result, while the winters in Hot Springs are mild, permitting outdoor recreation in comfort except at infrequent intervals, the summers are free from excessive humidity, with temperatures moderated by surrounding forests of fragrant pine. Persons remaining in Hot Springs beyond the first of April should have their summer clothing, as the average temperature is from 65° to 85°.

The beneficial effects of outdoor life in Hot Springs, pure atmosphere and sunshine, are considered by local physicians as important aids to the bath treatments.

As a resort, Hot Springs is of popular appeal throughout the year, offering numerous and varied attractions. In recent years the number of baths given has averaged over 600,000. The majority of persons from the more northerly States make their visits during the autumn, winter, and spring months, while most of the summer visitors come from the Gulf States and those immediately adjoining Arkansas.

A few of the many ways to enjoy pure air and sunshine at Hot Springs.

Life in the open offers almost every form of diversion. The slopes and crests of the park are traversed by 12 miles of excellent roadways, and there are many more miles of forest trails, bridle paths, and footpaths, the last being well equipped with rest benches at popular viewpoints. These long have offered nearby opportunities for motoring, horseback riding, and tramping through the pine forests. The mountain roads around the park are numerous, and lead through interesting Arkansas mountain-life settings. Water sports of every sort have become available through the building of two large hydroelectric dams on the Ouachita River near Hot Springs. These projects have created Catherine and Hamilton Lakes, where many square miles of open water, enhanced by 320 miles of wooded shoreline, provide for motor-boating, sailing, canoeing, and fishing. Numerous streams are also accessible for fly fishing.

Excellent facilities for golf are found at the Hot Springs Golf and Country Club, where there are three complete 18-hole courses, including both grass and sand greens and tees. At Oaklawn Park there is a 9-hole course.

One of the most popular ways of taking air and sunshine in leisurely fashion is the open-top, horse-drawn carriage, a custom at Hot Springs which has survived the motor age.

View from top of Hot Springs Mountain. Eckler photo.

HOT SPRINGS AS CONVENTION CENTER

Hot Springs offers peculiar advantages as a convention city, and this fact is being increasingly recognized by both local and national organizations. As a result of years of experience along this line, the efficient handling of conventions, from both a business and entertainment standpoint, is assured. One factor that appeals to convention managers is the fact that Hot Springs does not offer the counter-attractions of a large city to lure delegates from attendance at business sessions.

The city of Hot Springs is centrally located and offers excellent accommodations, two important items in convention planning. Another important factor is the local auditorium with stage and balcony, which is peculiarly adapted to convention assemblies.

Specific information regarding convention facilities may be obtained from the Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce.

ACCOMMODATIONS

There are many hotels in Hot Springs, the largest affording accommodations for more than 1,000 guests and equaling in class and cuisine those of other well-known resorts and watering places in America and Europe. Among the larger hotels, visitors have a choice between those operating on the European plan and those on the American plan. Then there are several hundred boarding places, ranging in price from $7 per week upward.

For those desiring permanent or light-housekeeping quarters there are many kitchenette and standard apartments and cottages, furnished and unfurnished, which may be rented at prices from $20 per month up.

In all, Hot Springs will house comfortably 25,000 visitors at one time. Lists of hotels, boarding houses, and other accommodations may be obtained from the Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce. Inquiries of a general nature, such as transportation routes, road maps, and recreation features which do not relate to the park administration, will be answered by the secretary of this organization.

GEOLOGY¹

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¹By Earl A Trager.

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The Hot Springs of Arkansas are located on a spur of the Ouachita Mountains called Zigzag Mountain. The springs are found principally along the outcrop of the Hot Springs sandstone located in the valley between West and Hot Springs Mountains. These mountains trend north-northeast and were formed by lateral compression which produced overturned folds and fractures. The Hot Springs sandstone is Mississippian in age; however, the period of folding was much later, probably Pleistocene.

The hot water rises within a comparatively small area, about 20 acres, near the southwest base of Hot Springs Mountain. The area is marked by a limy deposit formed by the springs which is called travertine. This porous limestone covers the older rocks by a layer from a few inches to 8 feet thick. The springs are making daily additions to this travertine.

Evidence as to the source of the heat of the spring water which ranges from 95° to 147° F. is not conclusive. One explanation is that these springs begin as meteoric water or rainfall which seeps into the Bigfork chert, a sandy formation, near the top of a fold in the rocks just northwest of West Mountain. According to this explanation, the water passes downward through the porous sandy layers where it is heated by a buried mass of cooling rock. After this water crosses the lower bend of the rock, called a syncline, it then rises to the surface through the upward dipping layers of rock on the southwest side of Hot Springs Mountain. Lack of evidence of recent volcanic activity in the area to provide heated rocks at reasonably shallow depths, together with the fact that part of the intake area is 200 feet lower than the springs, would indicate that this theory requires revision at least in part.

A second explanation states that the waters are of juvenile origin, i. e., water which has never been at the surface before, but is discharged by buried, cooling rocks.

This reasoning may take two forms: (1) That there is a relatively shallow buried mass of igneous rock discharging water due to cooling and crystallization; (2) that a fracture, fault, or series of fissures extends into the deep interior of the earth, through which deep-seated waters, juvenile or of mixed origin, rise to the surface. The first of these examples is a specialized case and is considered less probable than the second.

The future of Hot Springs, Ark., is largely dependent upon the origin of the water, for if it is of meteoric origin (rain water) the supply will always be dependent upon the annual rainfall, the porosity and the surface cover of the beds through which it enters the surface rocks, and for these reasons the quantity may fluctuate considerably.

If it is of deep-seated origin, the water rising to the surface through a series of fractures, the probability is that the supply is practically inexhaustible.

A more detailed discussion of the geology may be obtained from the paper by Kirk Bryan, The Hot Water Supply of the Hot Springs, Ark. (Jour. Geol., vol. XXX, no. 6, September-October 1922, pp. 425-449.)

Fishing in adjacent Ouchita River. Eckler photo.

PLANT AND ANIMAL LIFE²

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²By Raymond R. Gregg.

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Hot Springs National Park consists principally of heavily forested broken mountainous tracts, occupying a part of the picturesque watersheds of two perennial streams, Bull Bayou and Gulpha Creek. This fact, together with its proximity to the adjacent valleys and floodplain of the Ouachita River much of which has been inundated by the extensive waters of the manmade Lakes Catherine and Hamilton near the park, makes it a delightful place for the display of wild flowers, trees, and shrubs. These conditions also make it ideal as a habitat for many species of wildlife.

The forests of the section consist primarily of short-leaf pine and numerous species of oak and hickory, variously supplemented by sweet gum, black gum, elm, maple, sycamore, dogwood, willow, locust, cottonwood, magnolia, linden, hackberry, holly, ironwood, hophornbeam, ash, birch, cedar, and other trees less common or scarcely arboreal. The shrubs and woody climbers of the forest floor, field, or streambanks include many species bearing abundant and beautiful flowers. Azaleas, hydrangea, service-berry, styrax, pawpaw, elderberry, wild cherry, blackhaw, redhaw, St. John's wort, St. Andrew's-Cross, trumpetcreeper, wild honeysuckle, leatherflower, buckeye, wild plum, New Jersey tea, red bud, buttonbush, wild roses and blueberries are but a part of the woody plants that contribute reds, pinks, yellows, purples, orange, and all conceivable shades of white to the color pattern of the woodland in blossom time.

As early as the end of February dainty violets, tooth wort, wood sorrel, and rue anemone, newly sprung from the warming earth, start the vernal flowering season. Prominent among the prolific spring flowers to be seen are shootingstar, birdsfoot, violet, ragwort, dandelion, woodbetony, phlox, wild hyacinth, spiderwort, golden tickseed, heal-all, blazing-star, field daisy, purplecone flower, common thistle, larkspur, and skullcap. High grass meadows of the North Mountain section of the park abound with a multitude of blossoms of many species.

Summer and fall flowering are featured by the dominance of species of the mint, legume, and composite families. Wild sunflowers, black-eyed susans, partridge pea, golden coreopsis, rose gentian, mullens, butterfly-pea, downy skullcap, mountain-mint, ruellia, day-flowers, blue and cardinal lobelias, Indian pink, horsenettle, bitter weed, passionflowers, buffalo-bur, trumpet bindweed, seedbox, willow primrose, tarweed, golden aster, evening primroses, purple asters, beggar's-lice, ironweeds, blazing-stars, joe-pye-weed, potato vine, horse-mint, smooth and downy false foxgloves, goldenrods, bur marigolds, sneezeweed, four-o'clocks, purple monkeyflower, leaf-cup, chicory, rattlesnake-weeds, great blue sage, pluchea, spurges, vervain, heliotrope, lespedezas, mist-flower, and bonesets are common and attractive flowers of the summer and fall representing every imaginable shade of floral coloration.

Deer, bear, beaver, buffalo, wildcat, panther, mountain lion, wolf, fox, and perhaps elk and antelope were once common in the vicinity of Hot Springs. The inroads of civilization, wasteful destruction of animals, and absence of regulation or planning in the past, long since have forced these animals out of existence or into the remote and inaccessible parts of the Ouachita Mountains. Wildcats, wolves, and foxes occasionally wander into the park, but recorded instances are few in recent years. The park today is the refuge of only those small animals that can successfully exist under the habitat conditions available. There is an abundance of gray and fox squirrels, cottontail rabbits, chipmunks, flying squirrels, opossums, and bats. Raccoons frequently range into the park, but the area is not satisfactory for animals of roving disposition. There are myriad insects, many of them interesting indeed in their habits; others at once admirable for their bright colors and distinctive design. Skinks and American chameleons are the principal lizards. Snakes are few, principally of harmless species, such as blacksnakes, kingsnakes, blue racers, chicken snakes, coach whips, garter snakes, grass snakes, and spreading adders. Poisonous moccasins, copperheads, and rattlesnakes are practically unknown in the park.

The prolific birdlife of the region includes birds distinguished by brilliant color, vocal ability, or both. Such flashy species as the jay, cardinal, indigo bunting, yellow warbler, goldfinch, scarlet tanager, summer tanager, bluebird, robin, sweet-toned thrush, vireo, warbler, mocking bird, thrasher, and wren are representative. Numerous covies of bobwhites, or Virginia quail reside within the park. Of the larger land birds there are turkey buzzards, crows, horned, barred, and Screech owls, red-tailed, sparrow, sharp-shinned, and Cooper's hawks. Kingfishers, sandpipers, snipes, cormorants, Canada geese, herons, cranes, ducks, grebes, teal, and rarely egrets are the principal resident and migratory birds that may be seen around the lakes and water courses close to the park.

THE CHARACTER AND ACTION OF THE WATERS

Chemical analyses of 47 hot springs have shown the waters to be practically identical in chemical composition. With the recent completion of a central collecting and impounding system collecting water from all the springs, any difference in analyses of waters from the different springs is of no significance, since all bathhouses receive exactly the same water. The collected waters are impounded such a short period of time that no change from the water fresh from the different springs is possible. By an ingenious method of insulating and covering all water mains and reservoirs, practically none of the original heat in the water is lost between spring and bathhouse. The water temperature in the central collecting basin is always over 140° F.

As mentioned, water used in each bathhouse is the same and originates in 47 springs of practically the same chemical analysis. The following analysis represents the approximate chemical composition of the hot water used:

APPROXIMATE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE HOT SPRINGS WATERS
[Parts per million]

The water from the hot springs is generally considered to have definite favorable therapeutic effects. It is used exclusively in the bathhouses at Hot Springs National Park with satisfactory results in the approved methods of modern water treatment. This includes full and partial immersion baths of different types, and also by means of vapor cabinets, in the equivalent of the well-known Russian baths. This form of treatment promotes vigorous perspiration, calling for simultaneous drinking of large quantities of the water. What might be called a "washing out of the system" is thus attained with breaking down of fatty tissues. This form of treatment is therefore of service where increased elimination is desired, as in obesity, chronic rheumatism, and mild Bright's disease, in connection with such other treatment as diet and medication. The vapor bath calls for careful supervision by a competent attendant and can be used only to a limited extent without a physician's directions. It is usually concluded with a graduated shower.

The Turkish bath at Hot Springs National Park is given either by using a hot room or a hot dry-air cabinet, the body thereby being immersed in hot, dry air. It is used only on directions from a physician and under careful supervision. Owing to the delay in inducing perspiration in some patients by this bath, its applicability is more limited than the vapor bath.

The full immersion bath is used in several forms. The customary bath is a neutral bath for about 15 minutes. The bather is advised to drink freely of the hot water during the bath, and a free perspiration results. While submerged, the bather is given a vigorous massage by the attendant. The attendant also rubs the bather down with a fiber mitt and concludes the bath with a short graduated shower. Drying off follows, and the attendant directs a rest period for the bather while reclining in a cooling room. This bath, in addition to the usual eliminative effect, is followed by relaxation and a sedative effect. It is the form of bath customarily taken by visitors to the park who desire relaxation or seek recuperation and may be taken without a physician's directions. It is sometimes referred to as the "standard bath."

The full immersion effervescent or artificial Nauheim bath is given on a physician's directions, using Hot Springs mineral water. This bath causes a skin stimulation and increase in circulation through the pores of the skin. Physicians make use of it in treating valvular disease of the heart and in dilatation of the heart. They believe it causes a steadier, stronger heart beat at a lower rate and often a distinct diminution in size of a dilated heart. This form of bath is popular in diseases of metabolism—the normal building up of new tissues and breaking down of old body tissues—since it stimulates metabolism and hastens elimination.

Partial immersion baths at Hot Springs National Park are often prescribed. Various bathhouses are equipped to give the Sitz bath, leg bath, and hand-and-arm bath given by properly trained attendants.

Besides the different forms of baths, showers, sprays, and douches are given by means of modern apparatus and following the directions of the bather's physician. Of these, probably the most useful is the douche using a single or multiple column of water at any desired temperature, directed against any desired part of the patient's body. In the hands of proficient operators the effect of almost any other form of hydrotherapy on the circulation and the blood may be attained, while the probable beneficial effects of inhaling emanation from the mineral water are not to be forgotten.

In addition to and in conjunction with each of these types of treatment, the hot water is utilized internally through drinking. The practice of drinking it is considered a great aid to whatever other treatment is being given. Several free hot-water fountains at convenient locations in the park furnish hot water direct from the springs.

Aside from the beneficial effects of free internal use of the water, the hot water applied in the many methods of modern hydrotherapy is considered effective in the various conditions in which increased elimination, increase in the normal building up and breaking down of body tissue (metabolism), and increase in bodily resistance to poisons of bacterial origin (immunity) is desired. Conditions favored by decrease in abnormally high blood pressure are favorably influenced and liability to unfavorable results from high blood pressure such as sudden small hemorrhages into important tissues is believed to be lessened.

For those interested in the above commonly accepted effects of proper hydrotherapeutic use of the waters of Hot Springs, the comments which follow will probably be of interest:

Increase in metabolism, highly desirable in many chronic conditions, is probably indicated in the increased temperature of persons immersed in the Hot Springs water. Increased tissue change is made evident in desirable increased elimination. Excretory waste of this origin may be readily calculated from time to time by urinary analysis by the patient's physician.

Increase in bodily resistance in bathers availing themselves of the Hot Springs water has long been noted in the improved general condition and increased strength and vitality in persons in a run-down or debilitated condition, in all probability due to absorption of poisons of bacterial origin from locations of bacterial activity such as apices of apparently sound teeth, from infected tonsils often incompletely removed, and from undesirable bacterial growth caused in the intestine by constant swallowing of bacteria from bad teeth, diseased tonsils, or infected nasal sinuses.

In these cases—which, of course, should first receive proper surgical attention—the increase in bodily resistance, and hence in general health and strength, is often surprising and gratifying after taking a series of properly directed baths in the Hot Springs water. The chronic joint troubles (arthritis) so often seen in these cases of slow absorption of poisons of bacterial origin almost invariably improve. The decrease in pain and stiffness in the affected joints is often most gratifying. It should be added that where persistent absorption of poisons from the intestine is suspected as a cause of debility, high blood pressure, or arthritis, proper intestinal treatment should accompany the course of baths.

Hot pool for muscular reeducation. National Park Service photo.

A recent and successful treatment in the use of the waters at Hot Springs has been made possible by the construction of a thermic hydrotherapeutic pool for appropriate exercises and physiotheraphy for patients submerged in the water at a suitable temperature. This permits a more complete treatment for extreme joint and muscular ailments.

The thermic physiotherapy pool is in no sense a swimming pool or a recreational feature. It is used primarily for muscle reeducation in cases of paralysis. The buoyant effect of the water enables the patient to exercise and hence develop muscles impossible to use when not submerged. These voluntary or resistive movements are much more effective in muscle reeducation and development than are passive or assistive movements given them by a physiotherapist when the part is not submerged. Great care is exercised by the park superintendent in permitting only persons highly trained and experienced in this form of physiotherapy to conduct these treatments. This treatment is materially aided by the readily regulated temperature of the water of Hot Springs, which is of distinct benefit in cases where pain or spasm of a joint exists, and it removes fear and apprehension on the part of the patient. Caution is taken to prevent overwork or fatigue, a result often following submerged exercises.

Not only has the recreational or play factor no place in this form of physiotheraphy, but it is actually discouraged, inasmuch as such exercises as recreational swimming tend to develop unaffected muscles at the expense of those paralyzed, and hence tend to increase the very deformity which it is desired to correct.

This form of therapy is particularly used in various paralyses following anterior poliomyelitis (infantile paralysis) and other nerve lesions leading to weakening and nonuse of muscles still capable of development. Children are treated in the shallower end of the tank. The deep-water end of this tank is of especial value in reeducation, under guidance, of muscles used in walking and in the initial steps of persons using crutches after leg and hip operations.

A second class of cases successfully treated in the thermic hydrotherapeutic pool is that comprised under the term "arthritis of joints." The stiffness, pain, and spasm common in these joints is greatly reduced when the patient is submerged in the warm spring water of the pool. Motions of wide range, painful and often impossible when attempted under ordinary conditions, may be given by the physiotherapist in the pool.

It is often the case that persons come to Hot Springs suffering from absorption from bacterial poisons who are quite properly taking a course of injections of scientifically prepared vaccines. These cases can continue their injections with added advantage during the baths, the injections being given by local physicians according to instructions from the patient's home physician. Vaccines operate particularly well when the element of resistance to bacterial poisons is increased in the blood. The amount of this resistant element (complement) is believed to be materially increased by properly and carefully given baths in the Hot Springs water.

Although extended observations have not been completed, the baths are believed with appropriate medical therapeusis favorably to influence the condition of the blood. This would explain the gratifying results of the baths often noted in certain forms of anemia, particularly those following malaria.

It should be emphasized that in acute diseases, fevers, lung tuberculosis, cancer, and similar diseases with marked breaking down of tissue, the baths are distinctly contraindicated and can do more harm than good. On the other hand, experience indicates that while taking the baths and drinking the water, dosage of medicines may be materially increased.

To recapitulate, the buoyant effect of the water permits ordinarily unused muscles, often considered paralyzed, to function and hence develop, thus overcoming contractures and similar deformities. The warmth of the water, and very possibly its inherent therapeutic value, relax and soothe chronically inflamed and stiffened joints, permitting most desirable and extensive manipulation.