Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1911-08-10

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(l!slzllalaxs1ls
Communicated
The following letter was
written. to. Mr.. and Mrs. F. l..
Davis and handed to us for
publication:
Hot Springs. S. D., June 80,
1911. Dear Friends. | wished
very much. that / could have
come over to see you: before l
left the Valley, but Twas not
able. / was 40 tired when L
left home, that the journey
seemed, long. Mr.. Livingston
met me at Buffalo Gap, where
we change cars. was very
|gIad, for Of course | had a has
ket of plants along with me.
Then it made. the trip seem a
|little shorter. When we ar
rived here / thought we were
in a city by the number of
hacks and autos at the station.
| | found Mr.. and Mrs. Stevens
settled in a very nice cottage.
The altitude of Hot Springs
is $500 feet; Missouri Valley
1922 feet; Hot Springs being
2478 feet higher than Missouri
Valley. One feels as if living
near the clouds. / love to
watch the armament, for the
Psalmist says ."awho maketh
the clouds his chariots, who
walketh upon the wings of the
wind" ~
The temperature is not so
warm as at the Valley. The
sun shines hot but there is al.
ways a breeze. j have a fan
in every room in the house at
home and more also, but here
we do not see. fans; thew are
seldom used. Edo not think l
have felt an hour of uncom-
Portable heat since | have been
here. The air is so clear that
| it is fairlv dazzling to the eyes
to look off to the mountains.
The first Hot .Springs is built
on a plain slopiag slightly to
The south to Fall River. This
is a small stream but very
clear. Then the new Hot
Springs joins the old town on
the west and extends into a
gulch or ravine. The main
street extends east and west
Through both towns, but at the
west end it turns northeast.
Back of the stores and hotels
in the ravine on the north
about 100 feet high, on a PLAN,
lis situated the national sani-
tarium for old soldiers. 1t faces
1.-THE south. 1t is a very large
|instiGution. Across the street
south from the stores and ho-
Itels is a row of Shade trees,
then the river, then the rail
road tracks. A train from the
east and one from the west
comes every day.
Near the tracks south at an
elevation of more than 100
feet, are the College Flats,
near the edge of which is sit
uated Dr.. Nichols famous can.
Ger sanitariums facing the
northeast, the view from which
is the finest of any IN Hot
Springs. A college was estab-
lished but not sustained. Final
ly the building was bought by
1.-THE town for high school.
On a high bluff west of the
ravine is DR.. Hargen's sanitar-
lium and farther southwest is
the state soldiers horn. Down
in the gulch are the Episcopal,
Presbyterian, M b, Christian
and Catholic churches, a Sisters
Hospital and the county court
house. On Cottage Flats is
situated the Baptist church,
quite a large building. There
also are many of the best
homes. The town is of about
$500 inhabitants, but it is so
scattered it seems like living in
the country, and it would take
a Philadelphia lawyer to tell
where some of the streets are.
If you want to go to a certain
house it will take most three
times the distance to get there
and then you are liable to come
up to the back door.
The mountains are scattered
over with small Norway pines
and cedars, always green. They
relieve the bleak anpearance nf