History of Hot Springs National Park

... ~! I~;~~~~,~--,:;:~,-:~-~~·· D -13 k. !'.::-"'!, .,,j •',·'; I ; .• ' ' I ; ' \ ., ") .• >; • •'.. : .: . ., .. i!}: . ,cirHrSTORr C8 .BOT SPrttNOS NATIOOAL P~.RI . _........_. ---. ", ~· •'i · .•/.i::· ;~ ,. r·'> )• .. ' ,"t_ 7 ·1.orr~s:t·M. Beneosr'.and tcnald ·s. Libbey ··:>'.··~-. '.,,t··~' r ... ,\;; , ' -< '·.,, ..: :~:·,;r-;.. · <"'.< .;~~:f~1f::p 1ABL! ~:~TmTs './" 1• " ""-'.1, ~ \·~ > '- ,' :. /' ~ ~ , \' ; ; ' -- '-!. • ' Introduction .... •:••.• •• , •• ••.•·••••••••••••••••••••••••••• • • •.• • • l Aboriginal Ri•toZ'J'•,• •••••,~ ..... ~ •. •·• •.• • •••• • •••••• ~ •••••••••• •. • 3 . ' Coming ot The White Man •••••· ••••••• , •••. , •••••••••••••••••••••• 6 Louiaiana Territory Under Other Flags ••••••• ~................. 8 ~· . l ·.· Hote~, • .~a thhou.sea •••••••••••• •.. • ~ --~- .......................... lh ~ans-port4tion ••••••••• •.• •••••• • • .-~ • • •• •• •••••••••• • •••••••••• 21 // . ••• f!?indary ·St.a tus •••.••••••••••••• • • • • •. • •••• '! , ................. • • • .FedeNt1. 18st~trat1on Bonrd,._ ••• ••J •;• •••••• • ••••••••••• • ••• • •• •• 27 Legietitive History•• ~~ ••••••• •••.••••••••••••••*••••••••••••••• 32 I . -.... Appo~tive Off1ciais ~ Charge ••• •••.~ •••• " ............ •.•• •• •" liO Mincttllaneoua Important Dntes ••••· • ., •• ••••••• : •••••••••••• -~-•••• . ·"tfP Dibl1ogl"aphy•• • •••••••••• •:• •.• t'9 ....... • •-•. •. • •. • •• • ••• •. • ..... • • • • ~.-<-:-; . B& W Scans ~.. s~s·.zo0s- ON MICRORLM ATTENTION: Portions of this Scanned docu1nent are illegible due to the poor quality of the source document. I NTRODUCTT ON I '.I . ' . '!J~ .t Hot Spd.nge Nat1orinl Park, embracing the hot aprinr?tt in Onrland ; /.- •' County, central Arkansas, was the first renorvntion or this character made by the federal government for the benefit of the public. It baa ;I 11pecial historical intoroot as the nucleus or thr.it mngnificiant oyatem of national parka and monumente which is preserving for us eo mnny- of ·I· the moet beautiful and wondertu1 w~r.ks or nature in various pt'll"te or the country, some or 1'hich mir,bt otherwise have been impaired by :.1 commercial eiploitntion, or else have long remained inacc~nsible to many or those who tray· now enjoy them. I Unlike most or the other parks,· hovever, the ronMn for sott.ine aside thie first national resort was not primarily for ito scenic bonuty, but was due to tho fact thnt the fodernl authorities 1n chnr~e of adminie- l•e' ~I . taring the atta1rs ot the Mi.eaouri, and lo.ter of the Arknnan~ TerrHory, ! eo.rly realiTied the necessity of establishing a permnnent and moro rir"id ,.&I 1: ,•/ I· control over the hot springs, which even then wera resorted to by many I ill travclore for the supposed therapeutic value of tho -wntern. ~ ! The Hot Springs, nbout h7 in nutrber, nro all locotod slonr, the I base of Hot Springs l'ountn1n, nnd produce n flow of npproximately one nd.llion gallons daily. Several -theories are advanced as to why thane I ,.,a.ters are hot but the generally accepted bolief seems to be thnt. tho I opring water, someuhere in its underground course, pnsses near n hot . ir.noous intrusion that has not boon exposed at' the earth's surfnce. I ••:·' I I •• The first act setting the area aeido as a federal reaorvation ~as 1- /-- pneesd in 1832, th~ lands ourrounding tho hot. springs havinp.: beon codod to the United States by the Quapaw Indiana in 181A. '!be orea orir.inally 1 contnined over 2 1 500 acres, but hns been diminished by the establishment of tho ci~ ot Hot SprinP,s, to ~ich the government ceded, by r,ift~ lands I tor street and alley purposes. :I \\1th the recognition of the '1'err1tory of J\r-knnsna, Ambrose H. f:evior, first terr! tori al delegate to Congress, recognized the irrportnnce of U10 1· Hot fprinr.s to the people or the United States and introduced a bill into Conr,rees atatingt I 11Be it enacted by tho ::;enate and Houae of Representativeri t.lrnt tho Hot Springe 1n Arkansas Territory, together with four aoctiono of lnnrl with tho springs as near the center as may bo, r:tr"e horoby rcsarvod nnd I•• cot npnrt tor future disposal by the United rt.."l.t,oo Oovornmont., nnrl 111·0 rwt to bo entered, pre-enpted1 or appropriated for any purpo5os 'Whatsoever." I The bill becarro law on April 20, 1832. I :1 I I I -2.- •• -------------------~ I ' . '" ' .. 1• ·. 11. I ABORIGntAL HISTORY I 'l/.- The earlieAt Tisi tors who carre. to tho hot sprin~s to "tske the baths" and seek health from its myaterioua waters rnay have been a group of lnd1en8 1 on the Archaic level to whom some archeologists hnve assigned the name \ I Gulpa af'ter one of the creeks_ near which their prosurood romaine have been round. Undoubtodly the "Mound Builders" occupied the .area that is n011 1· Hot Sprinr,a National Park as evidence of thetr occupation is scattered throughout the State with pottery fragments, skeletons, and other uti- facts in abundance, with inescapable evidence or mounds and fallen earth lodges left everywhere. Although no nctual sites hove been identifiod within the Park boundaries, 1t is fairly enfe to as#llme they did utiltze the springs, as traditions contends the locnli ty was held ns a noutral territory by the various hostile tribes, and that they laid a~ide their teudt atttl thtH~ 'ltbi" eluba fh@ft p:11it1titot1 herG to en.1oy the gil'ts or tho great Manitou who pro~ided over the hot springs. 'Ibese were undoubtedly Caddoan-speald.ng tribes, in lnte pre-SJ>anish and snrly historic times. 'll1ere was another inoentivo be~ides the hot springs that attrnctod the red men to this locality, of which substantial evidence remaimu I this was the deposits of novaculite, which outcrop on sovernl of the I mount.nine aurrounding the springs, and which afforded a resource perhnps even more important to the barbarian culture of those tiroos. Novaoulite, I on extremely fine-grained, dense, translucent eilicious rock, variably whito, pearl, groy, yellow, or reddish black, could be readily shnped I into a keen cutting edge. Because of its superior quality for the ' ••1' ·3- I 1,I,) t. '. 111\: 11 : . 11•· manufacture ot weapons and domestic tools, 1 t be cane the basts of en importRnt primitive industry. Soma or the beds were extensively, thour,h no doubt intermittently worked, probably tor many centuries, and arti tacta t~om this source are found scattered over a wide territory• especial.17 to the south, througll the Red River Valley and to the. Oulr ot Mexico. 'Ibe feet that much of the Hot Springe section is underlaid with I novaculite, plus tho presence or salt springs in the diatriot, muat have contributed to the transient population, and to the heterogenous mixture or tribes found in this particular area. The~e people knew nothinr, of I the use of irm, and \-1ere forced to find a suitable substitute from which to fashiori implements of war and domestic er.ricultural and hunting I•• tools. ~I On Indinn Mountain, in Hot Sprinr,:s Nntionsl Park• if! one of the 11 :1 largest quarry groups lmown to students or nrcheolocy. 'l'he~e quarries I are_ at the crest or a· narrow ridge, the lnrgeat pit being something like ii a 150 feet in diameter and 25 feet deop. ' Actual shaping of the tools end implement.a ptobnbly never ·was done I at the quarry. 'Ihe "blanks" were carried to the villnges end carrp~ nlonr: t.he creaks and rivers. 'Where the workrnen, with the uso of atone hammers, and flaking tools made from antlors of deer or elk, chippod the rock into tho desired shape for knives or points. Since thore was evidently a larr,e traffic i,n novaculite, it is likely that the knowled~e of the exist.once of ::;pr:f:nr;s of hot ,.,nt.or -L· ··', . I ·1. I •. ;' . I . • i . I I .~ . "'1 thin less than· tw'o mi.lea of the quarries became widespread among Indian tribes from many sections ot the country. 'Jhnt the Indiana wculd ccnsidor these naturally hot vatore a supematU.ral manitestation ot spiritual eignificnnce is in leeping with what we know or the reliRione 'I·. thought ot the aborigine. 'lb.us it is probable that these waters were uned, both ceremonially ·and medicinally, not only by the resident tribes- I. man but by visiting Indiana rrom tar and near. ! L'-!t,er, 1n historic times, came other Indian tribes moving west trom the Southeaetcrn Unitod States -- the Qunpaw in the;l8th century, I and the Choctaw, Cherokee and others early in the 19th century. :I 11:• 11 . ' I (•' 11 ! Ii I J I I I I ••• .. .... I -------COMING OF WHITE 11AN The first -white mEll supposed to hnvo vini tod the Hot Springe region ~ere Hernando de Soto and his followers, in September l)Ll. Thie tanous expedition had set out to explore the great continental province, then know as Florida, in search or fabled mines end populous oi ties 1 which . they confidently believed would rival those or Mexico and Peru. In the course of their wanderinr,e through the trac:kloes forests and swamps or the l0t.Jer Mississippi valley, having crossed thnt great river eomErnhoro below the present city ot Memphis, they turned to the we~t 1 traversing pnrts of the rug~ed Ouachita region until they reached an Indian town on the Ouadlita River. Although the references by the historians of De Soto•e expodition to this part of their travels is aomG'What vngue and uncertain, thore can be little dnubt that their route lod thom throur,h thie locnlity• nnd thnt ' it lTllS f'rom their winter camp oomewhere in the vicinity of tho hot Pprlnri;s thot Hernando de Soto set forth on the last tra~ic etaga of hie wnndoringa, to end for him a few l'\onthe lator in a natory p,rave beneath the floods or the groat river he had diccovered. After the visit by De Soto, the area lay unexplored for many yenrs. ln the two and a half centuries intervening bet~een th~ time of Do Soto'a I expodi tion, and that or Dunbnr and Hunt.er, a party connected wit.h the Lewie tmd Clark expedition of 1801..i, trappers, huntora, and travelers, I .

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