HOT SPRINGS Analyses of the Waters of The Hot Springs of Arkansas Geological Sketch of Hot Springs, Arkansas

GEOLOGICAL SKETCH OF THE HOT SPRINGS DISTRICT, ARKANSAS.

The hot waters issue from the base and lower portion of the slopes east of the valley. This area is a narrow strip, a few hundred feet wide and a quarter of a mile long. In its general aspect this area is distinguished from the rest of the mountain by its patches of barren gray tufa, the old hot-spring deposit, and the absence of forest growth. From the descriptions given by earlier writers it is evident that this difference in appearance and vegetation was formerly very marked. To-day the springs are all covered, and mostly concealed beneath turf and shrubbery. The old tufa deposit is in large part covered by soil and plants. The creek is arched over and sidewalks and roadways are built on it. The space between creek and hillside is covered by the bathing establishments, which, in many instances, are built directly over large springs.

The landscape gardener has modified the old slopes, filled up the gullies, and built roads and footpaths, until the hot-spring area is a beautiful park and a fitting setting for the springs.

The springs occur at the southwest end or "nose" of Hot Springs Mountain. There is nothing unusual or remarkable in this topographic position, for it accords with that of many other springs of the region—as, for example, Bonanza Springs and Big Chalybeate of the plate.

It is difficult for the average visitor of to-day to form an idea of the natural appearance of the springs. The larger springs formerly issued abruptly from the tufa slopes and did not possess the bowls and basins seen at the Mammoth Hot Springs of the Yellowstone. An artificial cutting made into the mound of the Cave Spring shows a section of the hot-spring deposit, and if the door be opened the waters will be seen flowing into the basin cut to collect them, and depositing creamy alabaster-like tufa, and the brilliant emerald-green tufa, whose color is due to the growth of hot-water algae. Many of the smaller springs are mere oozes, with no well-defined channel. A considerable number of these are gathered into one reservoir at the base of the tufa bluff between the Arlington Hotel and the Superior Bath House. Another spring is seen near the Hale Bath House, where it issues from a cavity in the tufa and flows into a basin. There is a constant flow from the tufa wall back of this masonry platform, forming the dripping spring, where thousands of visitors daily drink hot water direct from the rock. At this place also the green algous growth may be seen.