The Hot Springs, Arkansas

1878

At the foot of the mountain, rising 1,060 feet below the tide-water at the Gulf, on whose sides the springs gush forth, lies the town of Hot Springs, following the windings of the narrow rocky valley of The Hot Springs creek. It consists of one long, irregular street called Valley street, which crosses and recrosses the little stream.

The valley of the latter runs almost due north and south, the Hot Springs mountain rising to the east, and more thickly wooded hills to the north and west. At one part the picturesque little valley is so narrow that the street takes up most of the level, the houses on one side being built over the creek and almost into the mountain-side, which in many places has been cut into and blasted away to make room for the buildings and other improvements.

The town broadens out considerably on the more level country at the south, towards the Ouachita river, and at the other end the houses are scattered for some little distance up the valleys of the two streams, which, joining at the northern end of the town, together with the waters from the mountain-side, form the Hot Springs creek. This stream, after passing over its rocky bed in the valley, flows due south for some six miles to where it joins the historic Ouachita.

There are some fifty-six springs in all, said by some to be one spring with this number of outlets, ranging in temperature from 63 degrees to as high as 148 degrees, and situated at different elevations on the Hot Springs mountain, and in the valley of the creek below, the highest issuing 180 feet above the Hot Springs creek, and rising within a space of 1,200 feet long by 200 wide.

The majority of the springs are situated well up the mountain-side, a few are distributed along the base, while others rise on the banks of the creek, and one springs from the bottom. The hot waters rise to the surface through a formation of milk-white novaculite rock, on top of which they have deposited a layer of calcareous tufa, in some places of very considerable thickness. They are supposed to derive their high temperature directly from the interior heat of the earth, either by passing over and through heated rock formations, or by thorough permeation with heated gas and vapors, rising far below from the molten subterrene.

The springs rising on the mountain are those used for bathing purposes, and are mostly covered over to prevent any pollution at the fountain-head, as well as to preserve as much as possible all the properties of the water until it is brought into use. The waters are carried by a system of wooden pipes to the tanks above the different bath-houses. They are still so hot on reaching the bathing-tubs that cold water has to be added. Together these springs discharge some 344 gallons per minute, or nearly 500,000 gallons of hot water daily, having an average temperature of 136 degrees Fahrenheit — certainly plentiful and hot enough for any number of invalids.

Hot vapor rises continually from the limpid waters, while carbonic acid gas bubbles to the surface. In the colder months the vapor, becoming visible, rises in such clouds that it looks like a fog hanging over the mountain-side. Day by day the springs are depositing the tufa, which forms incrusted basins for the clear sparkling waters. This is also found as a coating on the pipes and troughs, in the receiving tanks, and, in fact, wherever the waters pass. At the base of the mountain the ridge formed by the tufa hangs over the hot waters of the creek.

The diseases notably benefited, and in many cases cured, by the use of the waters of the Arkansas Bethesda are those of the skin and blood, nervous affections, rheumatism and kindred diseases, and the various diseases of women. In tke case of acute and inflammatory diseases, especially those of the heart, lungs, and brain, the use of the waters is injurious, and in many cases very dangerous.

The treatment is by drinking and bathing in the waters and in their steam, producing in each case a profuse perspiration, which is an active agent in the elimination of the disease by natural channels. The advice of a physician who has well studied the effect of the waters on the system is necessary, during their use, as they, if rashly used, are as powerful in breaking down the constitution as they are in building up. In many cases the system has to be prepared for the treatment by a course of medicine.

The hot baths are usually taken once a day for three weeks, when a rest is necessary, the patient probably spending a week at the neighboring sulphur springs, near the Ouachita river. A second three weeks' course is then taken, followed again by an abstinence of some days, from bathing. The duration of the treatment depends, of course, upon the nature of the complaint and its degree of severity. The usual stay at the springs is from one to three months, but many invalids stay a year and longer, and, in fact, some settle there. — A. Van Cleef in Harper's Magazine.