The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1888-06-14
aor spRrHes, ARxarsAs,
An Interesting Letter Prom Col. q. c. Whitley
ef EnPoEis.

i :
From the EmpoEia Republican. \
The readers OF the Republican !
require no special description of the
Hot Springs of Arkansas TO be made I
acquainted with their wonderful Their !
mo-electric properties. Their medicin-
al virtues have been known and under
stood to the reading public of the
United States for more than a century.
They were undoubtedly first discovered !,
and made use of by the Indians
long before white men set their feet up
on this continent. De Soto, the first
noted explorer of the Mississippi val
ley, it is automatically stated, visited
these springs and tested the value of
their remarkable curative properties.
People are constantly coming here
from all parts of the United States.
They come from the North to spend
the winters, and from the South to
spend the summers. The water it is |
claimed benefits nearly every form OF |
disease, especially diseases Of tho |
| skin, scrofula, rheumatic and nervous
: affections even of long standing. For
some diseases the efficacy of these
springs cannot be equaled in the known
! world. Canes and crutches can always
be purchased at discount at this
point as there are hundreds of cripples
IFWho come here and are enabled to
walk without their aid.
The speculati0nS of learned men in
regard to the Cause of the healing
; properties and high temperature OF
these waters are SO much at variance
q with each other that q definite con-
cluSion can scarcely be arrived at. The
Z, waters before issuing from the earth
': have undoubtedly come in contact
10 with something hot. But what that
something is or what point down IN
10 the bowels of the earth the eternal fire
is located yet remains an unsolved
% mystery. Scientists may theorize, but
by what process this increasing heat
& has been kept up during the past ages
it would be difficult to tell. The To-
~ cality of these springs in the rough and
rugged belt of the Ozark mountains
g. surrounded by miles of country that is
20 nearly worthless for cultivatable pur.
% poses, in a measure, locks them uE
from the numerous railroad enter
tx prises that would otherwise have built
in there had they been differently stu
70, aUed. The present facilities for reach
rs ing this Mecca of health-giving waters
20 are now confined to one line of railroad
% the Iron Mountain. of the Missouri
Pacific system, which, on its course
Ce from st. Louis to the great southwest
and Gulf of Mexico, passes within
e, few miles of the springs, thus affordinl
~. an opportunity for reaching them by
a, means of one of the safest and bes
IL, conducted roads in the United States
The country along the line in its devel
"a opmentS can scarcely be said to haYl
kept pace with the railroad and 1t ma!
-e- be justly published that the vast are;
Of country lying west and southwest o.
81, the Missouri river covering an ares
equal to nearly One-half of the whoi
TTnifod Stotnd hoo in q hAQI
civilized and brought into cultivation
81, through the construction and influence
OF the gigantic network of the Missouri
IL Pacific system of railroads. This lib
eral and enterprising corporation ha
Y from its beginning been in advance O
the comforts of the travelling public
"a 1t is a standard say ing throughout tn
Al. great west and southwest that tn
Missouri Pacific gives the best ant
N, most complete accommodations. Their
is nothing that can be provided by tn
m ingenious hand of man in the way o
comforts to the traveller that is no
az freely and literally furnished. 1t i
the first and only road thus ia
IN running west of St. Loui
to introduce the magnificent Buffet
VI cars on all its passenger trains
These cars are actually superior to any
40 others that have been invented, al
:. they afford the traveller an opportunity
dl- to secure, while en- route, palatable
MS meal at moderate price, and at thu
same time sleeping apartments tina
or, are second to none others. First clas
=. eating houses are also provided a
IL, proper intervals. Parties going east
lg- from Kansas can find no more satisfac
tory route than by way of the Missouri
100 Pacific, which always connects with
choice of roads leading directly to thu
OF great eastern cities. Washington, Bal
fimore, Philadelphia, New York ant
96 Boston can be reached by direct shoT
cut with through sleepers. There Ii
no necessity of making round abOu
q tour through the northwest to reac
~, any of these points.