The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1876-05-06
The Hot Springs Decision

from the Chicago Tribune.
The decision Of the United States
supreme court affirming the decision of
the court of claims, that the squatter or
individual claims to the Hot springs terri
tory in Arkansas are untenable, and vest
ing the title in the United States, is one of
more than ordinary importance. The Hot
springs village occupies valley running
north and south, between two spurs of the
Ozark mountain, its southern end being
traversed by Hot Springs creek, an aff1uent
of the Washita river The springs are
contiguous to the banks of this brook, and
their healing qualities are welknown
throughout the Unon A fourishing
village has grown up about the springs,
and there is probably an average of 2, ,OOO
visitors at the springs to avail themselves
OF the remarkable remedial properties oi
the waters. These springs and their
medicinal qualities were we'll known to the
early Spanish adventurers, and even to
the Indians before then, who told the
Spanlards stories of "a fountain whose
magic waters would heal the sick, re-
juvenate the aged, and confer an ever
youthful Immortality" In the time of
Adams, the government laid out a re-
seryatlon, covering the territory in which
these springs are located. After the
earthquake which sunk so much of the
country below Cairo and made so much
land untenaole, congress passed law
giving those who had suffered the right to
pre-empt quarter sections of land, or an
area equivalent to what they had lost,
within certain limits and upon certain cen
ditions. Some of the parties who secured
in oh Al
Hot Springs property, and located their
script upon the very ground which the
government bad set apart as national re-
servation. They squatted upon it, and as
there was no immediate contest they at
once commenced building, leasing ground,
and drawing rents, and many men have
made fortunes out OF their leases. Some
fifteen or twenty years ago suits were CON-
mcnced involving the proprietorship of
the grounds. The contest has been long
and desperate one. 1t was interrupted by
the war, but has since Teen renewed, and
is now closed by the decision of the su
preme court. which disposes OF all the in
dividual claims and vests the title 10 the
government.
The government having been success
ful can now G,ake these springs a great
national blessing ty converting tn Sc
grounds into national park aud building
a great national hospital. This will
naturally tend to improve the present in
convenient means of access to them.
Better police regulations can be ha5 than
exist now. Long leases can be given to
tenants, which will induce permanent aud
handsome Improvements, ustead of the
wretehed pipe shanties which now stand ip
the village and along the banks of the
creek. In fact, now that the title is 10 the
government, it can make of these springs,
which are tie most notable curative
springs in the country, a great Spa, like
the famous Gefman watering places. lu
this view of the case, the decision of the
supreme court is in the interest of the
whole country, aud will have a tendency
to make this remarkable region available
to a much larger number of people than il
is now. As it Is matter of natioual im.
portance, it should secure early attention
at the hands of congress.