Soak it all in: Arkansas' Hot Springs National Park is more than just the water

HOT SPRINGS NATIONAL PARK, Ark. — Before there was aspirin, before there was penicillin, before there was much understanding of medicine at all, people took their healing where they could find it. As often as not, that was in the mineral-laced waters of natural springs.

The "Valley of Vapors" in central Arkansas — now known as Hot Springs National Park — is one of those places.

No one's quite sure when the first people were attracted to these thermally heated waters. Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto came through the region in 1514. French trappers, hunters and traders knew about the hot springs in the 17th and 18th centuries. Old records show that native tribes visited the area during the late 1700s and early 1800s, and it is possible their ancestors did the same.

When the land became part of the United States with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, Thomas Jefferson sent an expedition led by William Dunbar and George Hunter to explore the springs. Their report stirred up a lot of interest and more and more people flocked to the area to soak in the unique water.

Such was the interest by the early 1830s that local folks began to worry that the springs might be over-developed and abused. They began pushing for the federal government to "reserve" the springs for the nation.

In 1832, the government did just that — setting aside four sections of the springs in an unprecedented move. It was the first time the government had set aside land simply to protect a natural resource.

Technically, says Hot Springs National Park Superintendent Josie Fernandez, "that makes us the first national park." They get some argument from Yellowstone, of course, since it was the first area to be designated a national park. Hot Springs did not actually get the national park designation until 1921, when it was the 18th park added to the nation's system.

But, points out Fernandez, the Hot Springs Reservation was the first, and if it had not come along, perhaps the whole idea of setting aside land might have been delayed. So, they can be justifiably proud. "We're older than Yellowstone. We're older than the Department of the Interior. This year we are celebrating our 175th anniversary."

Over those 175 years, there have been a lot of changes: rising to become a premiere resort that attracted both the famous and infamous, fading as changing times reduced the appeal of "taking the waters," and now entering a new phase of restoration and development that Fernandez thinks will return the park, if not to its glory years, at least to a once-more sought-after destination.