, 1884-02-14
HOT SPRINGS.
Tho Medicated City Between Two
Of Arkansaw's Mountlets.
The Process OF Soaking and steam
Ing Aiiin= HumnnIty---A Bnnner
Town of Combined Good
ness and Badness
tcor. New York Times

tCor. New York Timesl
The little city that has grownup around the
springs Is like no other place under the sun.
It is a great hospital, with the patients for
ever summing themselves on tho sidewalks;
1t Is a Calf ornia mining town, with build
ings springiug up in a night, and the music
of hammers and saws ringing everywhere; 1t
Is a progressive Yankee town in Massa-
chusetts, with a good aro department, fine
water-works, good city government, and a
handsome brick opera-house; 1t is a very
religious place, with a dozen or twenty
churches OF all denominations, twice
rs many ministers, and q great
assortment of church fairs, sociables and
bible societies.; it Is n paradise Of gamblers,
with fifty faro banks open day and night,
Sunday included; the moral tone Of the place
Is kept up by a saloon to about every four in
habitants; it has a little police force dressed
exactly in tho New York uniform; it has
three or four brass bands that seem to be
playing day and night, and that make a
speciality OF being drawn through the prin-
cipal streets in chariots every Sunday after
noon, playing Tommy, make rom for your
uncle" It has street-cars, gas-works, scores of
electric lights. telephones, banks, daily news
papers, big hotels-an the attributes of civil
cation 1t has 5000 inhabitants and 5000 or
5000 visitors every year. There is a very
heavy penalty for carrying concealed wsap-
ons, yot every man is a walking arsenal In
the streets are cowboys, tramps, city men
from nearly every big American city, Grip
Piles, Cinnamon, gamblers, Italians, and a
choice assortment of the LATEST and most IN
solent negroes that ever ornnmented a south
ern town. 1t combines, in short, the charac-
teristics Of towns in New England, in Cali
tornia, In Texas. In Georgia, and in the free
and enlightened commonwealth Of Arkansaw.
1t has SO many very good points, counter
acted by so many very bad points, that 1t
would DO tho easiest thing in the world to
write 1t up ns the banner town of America,
or to write 1t down as the worst hole in the
world. To take a middle course between
these extremes and describe It just as it is,
(which s what l shall try to dol. will be an
undertaking OF some magnitude.
AT H SPRINGS.
As q natural wonder the Hot Springs de
serve to rank with niagara Falls and the
Mammoth cave. No two people see these
thugs alike; but to me to sec fifty springs Of
hot water pouring forever out OF tho rocks Is
a greater curiosity than 10 SEQ the Niagara
river take its grand tumble. There are other
hot springs in America, but none to compare
with these in magnitude or heat. They all
some out within a small space on the side of
the Hot Springs mountain, and in most OF
them the water is SO hot that a man would
not cars to dip his fingers In it more than
once Any OF the springs will cook an egg in
n very few minutes People 60 across the
street with their cans, I'LL them with water
before breakfast, and return home and with
this naturally hot water cook eggs, steep tea,
and nfterward wash ths dishes. 1t is as pure
and ~tastelsss as any water that bubbles from
the earth, and excellent for cooking. After
bathing In It a short time, (but not less than
fpvn-nr thraa vpeaEal tina hafr aaaunu mora
than naturally charged with electricity; and
you can go to any of the springs aud drink
glass after glass just as 1t comes out of the
rock without tho nausea that usually. fol-
lows q draught Of hot water.
But these are the only indications that the
Hot Springs water contains any medicinal
properties whatever; for 1t Is entirely taste
less, and analyses have failed TO discover any
minerals except such as are found in all wa
ter. They have made the mistake here that
is made in most such places Of putting build
ings over nearly all the .springs-for visitors
like to see the actual issuing Of the water
from the earth But thu can still be seen to
some extent, for there are dozens of little out
lets that are not counted, that pour their tiny
steaming streams into the Hot Springs creek.
This creek runs entirely through the valley,
through the main street, and in places it is
naturally walled with a curious black stone
that l can call nothing but burned rock. 1t
has certainly baen burned in a volcano, and
not worry long ago. Some OF it Is soft enough
to erumble in the hand, and the marks Of
fire are still upon It Through this black rock
the little rivulets trickle into tho creek, every
one OF them steaming; and / have gone out
into the street carly on a frosty morning,
when the whole place looked like a vast tSa-
kettle, With steam rising everywhere
SURROUNDING SCENERY.
When nature got done making the Ozark
mountains she seems to have had n dozen lit
tie mountlets of assorted sizes left over, and
these she scattered about "kinder permiskus
like" as an Arkansaw man would say. Two of
them landed here together, one subsequently
being called the Hot Springs mountain and
the other the West mountain. There are
plenty more in this immediate vicinity, if
anybody is getting up a collection OF noun
tains, but these two, running together at
their bases, form the Hot Springs valley. All
the hot springs are in the Hot Springs noun
tain, within a quarter Of a mile OF each other.
There are springs In the West mountain, but
they are all cold. The two mountains are SO
close together you could stand on the sum-
nit OF one and shoot a bird out OF a tree on
the summit OF the other-providsd You could
shoot straight enough. AMI the bird would sit
still Tho valley between them is not more
than a hundred feet wide, and through this
runs the principal business street OF Hot
Springs. The stores are all on one side OF 1t,
for the other side Is tho base of the Hot
Springs mountain, which belongs to the gov
eminent, and there Is nothing on It bnt bath
houses. The streets curve around between
other mountains, nearly every street follow
ing the bed OF a crock, and they are spread
Ing in every direction till the map OF the city
looks like q portrait OF a drunken deyil-hsh.
The city being 700 feet above sea level, and
the tops Of the mountains about 1 200 feet
above that level, the mountains must be 500
feet high. Their sides TuI almost straight
up, particularly the West mountain. So the
back yards OF all the stores re slices Of noun
tain. / ate 80 cents worth Of Indigestion
this evening in a restaurant sitting by a
back window that looked straight up the
ulountaln-sido through a thick forest. 1t
isn't every where you can get mountain for
est scenery served up with tough boiled nam.
IN THE BATH-rUp.
Tho bath-houses are curious studies. The
principal avenue run north and south, and
they m~onopolizo the eastern side OF 1t, at the
foot OF the Hot Springs mountain. There
are about a doLen OF them owned by indi-
viduals, but all peying tribute to the govern
ment They extpnd from tho Arlington ho-
tel down TO the postofhcs block, nearly a
quarter OF a mile. In all the lighthouses the
visitor realizes at once that be is In Arkan-
saw, where the darkies believe that Massa
IInLumi. nt,nciamaflon amannfnatai thar,