HOT SPRINGS RESERVATION,
OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT,
Hot Springs, Ark., June 30, 1899.

SIR: I have the honor to respectfully submit my annual report of the Hot Springs Reservation for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1899, briefly reviewing the general conditions at this time and enumerating the several items of improvement accomplished since my last report.

The number of persons visiting Hot Springs for health and pleasure during this period have been by far the largest in the history of the place; the hotels and bath houses have enjoyed a good business, and, so far as I have been able to observe, those using the baths have been greatly benefited.

Since the removal of this office to a more convenient location, the number of applications made both in person and by letter for information about Hot Springs have increased to such an extent that it has been with much difficulty that I could collect sufficient reliable printed matter with which to supply the demand. I conclude from this not alone but as well from the high order of intelligence of the people visiting "the springs" for the past several years, that the future of Hot Springs as the standard health and pleasure resort of the United States is well assured. That this desirable condition has been brought about by the Government's prudent control of the hot waters and the improvements heretofore made and now being continued, is not to be doubted.

By the act of Congress approved April 20, 1832, four sections of land embracing all the hot waters were set aside and reserved for the future disposal of the United States. From this period or even earlier the hot waters seem to have attracted considerable attention from the Indians, the earliest settlers, and others, who in the meantime had set up separate claims to this land embracing all the hot waters. In 1851 and 1852 these claims began to come prominently before the courts, and from that time on until they were finally decided adversely to all the claimants by the Supreme Court of the United States, they attracted almost national attention. In the meantime a considerable population had settled on the original reservation, having acquired a shadow of title from the original claimants or those holding under them; and it was this condition which brought about the necessity for the act of Congress approved March 3, 1877, authorizing the appointment of commissioners to survey and lay out the land in blocks, lots, streets, courts, and alleys, and pass upon the rights of settlers to purchase their claims at a price fixed by the Government.

STAIRWAY CUT OUT OF THE TUFA ROCK, NEAR ARLINGTON HOTEL.

Under this provision all the tracts and parcels of land surveyed and platted by the commissioners were sold to the claimants or otherwise disposed of except 476, the title to which remained in the hands of the Government without the right to purchase being awarded to anyone. Two separate sales of these unawarded lots have since been had under authority of the Department, the first being at Little Rock on May 6, 1884, at which 149 lots were sold for the aggregate sum of $29,803. The second sale was held at Hot Springs April 12, 1892, at which 170 lots were sold for the sum of $74,255, leaving still in the hands of the Government 157 of these unawarded lots, the value of which at this time is estimated to be $75,000.

By the act of Congress approved June 16, 1880, the mountainous districts of the Hot Springs Reservation, known as North Mountain, Sugar Loaf Mountain, and West Mountain, together with Hot Springs Mountain, were forever reserved from sale and dedicated to public use as parks, to be known as the Permanent Reservation.

These, with the Whittington Avenue Reservation, comprise 911.63 acres, divided as follows:

HAPPY HOLLOW SPRING, FROM FOUNTAIN STREET DRIVE.

The hot springs, which are 73 in number, issue from the side and base of Hot Springs Mountain, the waters from each being secured at the source and conveyed through pipes laid from one to several feet under ground to the bath houses and reservoirs. The actual quantity of hot water discharged by all these springs is not definitely known, but that which is required for the daily supply of the bath houses is 538,000 gallons, the maximum supply for each tub being estimated at 1,000 gallons per day. The hot water which is under control in addition to this is about 300,000 gallons, and is conveyed through a system of pipes to the impounding reservoir and discharged through it into Hot Springs Creek. The total daily supply of hot water under control at present is estimated to be 888,000 gallons. I think it probable that with careful development and the use of suitable pumps to raise the water from the lower levels, the total supply of hot water might be increased to 1,000,000 gallons each twenty-four hours. The temperature and elevation of each of the hot springs is indicated by the following table:

Springs on Hot Springs Mountain Reservation.

[Datum of levels: The lowest point on the Hot Springs Reservation, being on the east side where the Hot Springs Railroad enters the same, approximates 500 feet above the tide water of the Gulf.]

With the increased attention directed to Hot Springs in the last few years comes the demand for more specific information. Especially is this noted in the inquiries for an authoritative analysis of the hot waters. This I have not been able to furnish, for the reason that, so far as I have been able to learn, none has ever been made by or under authority of the Government. Neither have I been able to find any of recent date coming from a reliable source. Those which I have been able to gather up, and which seem best authenticated and are accepted here as reliable, were made forty-odd years ago by Prof. E. H. Larkin, of St. Louis, Mo.; Prof. David Dale Owen, State geologist, and Dr. William Elderhorst, the waters analyzed being from different springs.

A quantitative analysis made by Prof. E. H. Larkin, of St. Louis, gives 8-1/2 grains of mineral constituents to the gallon. The temperature of the water analyzed was 145°. The following is the analysis made:

By Prof. David Dale Owen, State geologist:

From a later report by Professor Owen:

By Dr. William Elderhorst, analysis of 100 grams:

SECTION OF THE FOUNTAIN STREET DRIVE.

THE BATH HOUSES.

During the period intended to be covered by this report no leases for additional hot water have been granted, and no new bath houses have been erected.

The Rammelsberg bath house has been the only one to make considerable repairs, which have consisted of replacing the worn-out wooden floors with concrete floors, rebuilding the framework over the bathing department so as to provide better ventilation, a new roof, additions to the plumbing and painting, the aggregate cost of which has been $4,800.

The repairs made to the other houses have only been such as were necessary to keep the buildings in a good state of repair, and have consisted mainly of carpenters' repair work, plumbers' work, and painting, with some interior decorations and additions to the furnishings.

The attendance of visitors has materially increased during the past year, and as a result the business of the bath houses has been much more satisfactory. The bath house rules and regulations have been better observed than heretofore. The bath-house owners themselves have manifested a better disposition in this respect, and I am encouraged to believe that with the promulgation of the new rules and regulations, as they are to be revised, that bath-house drumming will be brought under better control and materially reduced. There are many conditions in Hot Springs which induce and encourage bath-house drumming, not the least of which is bath-house competition. There are eighteen active bath houses in Hot Springs, each striving with the other for the largest share of business. Apply to them the settled business principle, "that all men do not succeed equally though all may have started with equal advantages." Those who find themselves falling behind conclude at once, without accusing themselves of inefficient management, that the more fortunate ones have achieved their success by bath-house drumming; and in this they are encouraged by both the drummers and the drumming doctors, who are ever alert to break through the lines, and who are unscrupulous in the means they employ to convince the one who has fallen behind that the success of his competitor has been accomplished through doing business with them. In like manner the drumming doctors will occasionally send all their patients to one particular bath house in order to create the impression among the others that they are getting paid for the patronage they send.

Out of the ninety-odd doctors practicing here, about one-half openly employ drummers or other means not recognized by the medical profession for getting their patients. They form a fraternity with the hundred or more drummers, whose business it is to get every stranger they can to the doctor who will pay the most for this service, regardless of his qualifications or standing. Here they induce the stranger, if possible, to pay for a month's medical treatment in advance, usually $25 to $40, which is divided with the drummer, and the stranger sent with him farther down the line to the drug store and the bath house, if they have one on their list, often with the advice from the doctor that the waters at the bath house, where they propose to sell him again, are better for his particular complaint than at any other. It is owing to these reasons, which are perpetuated by the drumming doctors and drummers, that bath-house drumming obtains to any considerable extent in Hot Springs. Whenever the nefarious practices of the drumming doctor can be eliminated, then will the balance pass away, or at least that which would be left would be of little consequence.

In order to accomplish this desirable end, I again renew my recommendation "that a board of competent medical examiners be appointed, whose duty it shall be to pass upon all qualifications of all physicians who desire to prescribe the hot waters in connection with their practice, and to refuse license except to those of good moral and professional standing." And if it is considered that sufficient authority is not at present vested in the Secretary of the Interior to warrant the issuance of this order, that at the proper time the Assistant Attorney-General for the Interior Department be directed to prepare a bill for enactment by the next legislature of this State which will grant sufficient authority to the United States to regulate the practice of medicine on the Hot Springs Reservation. There is but little doubt that such a bill would, upon the request of the Secretary of the Interior, be promptly passed, and would bring to an end the disgraceful practice of drumming by doctors for clients and remove all the trouble and difficulty now experienced in then management of the bath houses. Such a condition would be hailed with delight by the responsible citizens of Hot Springs and by the large colony of regular physicians, many of whom have attained very high standing in the medical profession of the United States. I hope that at the proper time this subject may have the thoughtful consideration of the Department.

The following table, corrected to June 30, 1899, giving the name to whom issued, the date and expiration of the several leases for hot water now in force, is, after being corrected, continued from last report:

Date and expiration of the several leases now in force.