USA > North Carolina > Buncombe County > Asheville > Maloney's Asheville, N.C. city directory [serial] 1899-1900 > Part 4
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In thus preserving the ownership of Hot Springs the government has protected the people against all possibility of monopoly, and by discreet regulation establishes 'a competition that tends to prevent extortion that might come under a private control -and for her soldiers and sailors has established a great hospital for their ex- clusive use.
It was not until the early '70's that railway communication brought the famous sanitarium near enough to civilization to be largely patronized; then it was sixty miles from Little Rock, overland by stage to Hot Springs. A little later the great Iron Mountain road continued its extension towards Texas, and when it reached Malvern the stage ride was reduced to twenty miles; there was an increase in the number of visitors, even with the sixty mile stage ride from Little Rock, and a still greater influx when the coaches ran from Malvern. But even then the stages did not run every day; there was often a postponement on account of the weather, mud- dy rcads and swollen streams.
One day in February, 1874, three gentlemen came to Malvern on the Iron Moun- tain: "Diamond Joe" Reynolds, Col. L. D. Richardson and Capt. William Fleming. They were very anxious to reach Hot Springs that day. The roads were bad, the creeks and rivers out of their banks; no one could be hired to venture out with a team; so they determined to walk. It is safe to say that the Hot Springs railroad did not originate in a promoter's office 'mid heaps of profiles, blue prints and statis- tics-as these three trudged towards the "Valley of Vapors" though rain and mud they thought-thought a great deal, and perhaps said things not calculated to be put in print, and not referring altogether to railroad building, but the argument in their minds was that if Hot Springs were sufficiently attractive to induce such a walk as this, to say nothing of the lumbering stages, the people would ride on any sort of a railroad, and they concluded to build a narrow-guage, and before the year was , out the whistle of the locomotive echoed back from the cliffs of the Ozark hills where fell the tomahawk that did not kill the Spanish chieftain, and thus is told the story from De Soto to Diamond Jo.
To point a moral and adorn a tale, an appendix is often necessary, and to this one it is essential; the railway that "Jo" built did not remain a narrow gauge; in 1889 it was changed to a standard, and in January, 1890, a through train ran from St. Louis to Hot Springs; the stage coach was long ago a thing of the past, and now even the change of cars at Malvern was done away with. Since then every day in the year the cars have gone through without change, carrying their burdens of pleas- ure as well as health-seekers, of despondent cripples and helpless invalids, bringing them back happy and sound and whole. It is a fact that is noted, that although the Iron Mountain road enjoys a monopoly of the tavel to Hot Springs, since there is no other route, there is a liberality on the part of the management that is not always exhibited in such cases. It is often considered that such great attractions as Hot Springs, with only one way of reaching them, do not need advertising and that the ordinary car service will suffice; yet here is a health resort that has been known to civilized man for more than three hundred and fifty years with only one means of access, and the management of that only road, the Iron Mountain, favors the public with the most beautiful books illustrated by the finest engravings on wood from drawings by such artists as Victor Perard, T. J. Blood, Warren B. Davis, F. A. Carpenter, F. Humphrey, W. Woolrych, E. A. Clement, A. E. Anderson and J. P. Davis, with text by the best writers; then the through car service is as fine as the finest in the land, with trains on accelerated schedules, taking the least possible time in transit. There is really only one Hot Springs, and the Iron Mountain is the only road, but you may have books and books, for the asking; books that tell the story of three centuries and of all there is there today; and when you go you may ride in the finest cars in the world-the cars that run down to the Valley of Vapors. REAU CAMPBELL.
THE CITY OF HOT SPRINGS.
From the construction of the first bath-house in 1829 to the advent of the rail- road in 1874, the development of Hot Springs was necessarily slow, though every year increasing numbers of invalids from all parts of the world, braved the inconveni- ences and annoyances of the limited means of transportation and the uattractive ac- commodations in their search for relief and restoration to health. The opening of the Hot Springs railroad in 1874 gave immediate stimulus to the place. Not only did the annual number of visitors become at once greater, but thousands of people took up a permanent residence and engaged in business. Thus within twenty years has sprung up a thriving, go-ahead city with fifteen or twenty thousand people, which entertains over fifty thousand visitors each year, and which possesses every conve- nience of easy accessibility, sumptuous hotels and unlimited facilities for recuper- ation and entertainment. Hot Springs is at once unique, picturesque and interesting. The visitor, while strolling along its avenues, is vividly impressed with the re- markable contrasts presented on every hand. Strong and vigorous men, with manly stride, pass their antipodes in invalid chairs or on crutches. Meeek oxen gaze in silent wonderment at the spanking teams of thoroughbreds which prance by; the stylishly dressed New Yorker or Londoner walks side by side with the Ozark farmer in his rusty suit of gray jeans; the very buildings share the general antithesis; hand- some four-story brick blocks look down on decrepid one-story wooden shanties, colossal hotels overshadow ramshackle lodging houses. Owing to the nature of the
location there is little regularity about the streets and avenues. The main thorough- fares follow the courses of the streams between the mountains, Central avenue, the principal business street, being a broad valley running north and south between the Hot Springs and West Mountains. This was formerly the bed of the Hot Springs creek, and was filled with huge bowlders, which, with the wanton course of the stream, made the valley well nigh impassable. The government work of confining the creek to a tunnel or underground passage, clearing the valley and constructing a well-paved street above, was an engineering feat of no small proportions. It was inade necessary, however, before the bath-houses could be constructed, or a business street established. On Central Avenue are located most of the bath houses, hotels and business houses, though during recent years the Avenue, having been closely built up, the town has spread southward into the Ouachita Valley, which now claims many fine streets and business blocks. The bath-houses occupy about three blocks in the Government Reservation, on the east side of Central Avenue, in the heart of the city and at the base of the Hot Springs mountain, from which they are sup- plied direct with the thermal waters. The business part of the city is of a sub- stantial and permanent character, and shows decided improvement in the past two or three years. Several solid business blocks have been and are now being erected, and still greater changes may be looked for in the near future. The street railway facilities of Hot Springs are remarkably good, there being over eight miles of elec- trie car lines now in operation, connecting all avenues and sections of the city via Central Avenue. The rolling stock is new and the cars will compare favorably with those in use in large cities.
Hot Springs enjoys an excellent supply of pure water for drinking purposes and domestic uses and it is furnished in such volume as to be of effective use in case of fire. A clear mountain stream fed by huge springs, about two miles north of the city, was converted into a lake half a mile or more long, by the building of a dam of solid masonry, thirty-eight feet high, extending from mountain to mountain. From the lake this water is forced into an immense reservoir on the summit of the moun- tain, 280 feet above the streets of the city, eausing so great a pressure that a stream from the largest hose can be thrown over the highest buildings without the aid of a fire engine. This improvement cost the city over $150,000, having a capacity of 2,250,- )00 gallons daily. The fire department is well organized and equipped with all nec- essary paraphernalia, and shows, when occasion requires, that it is fully efficient. The city is well supplied with churches, nearly all the leading denominations being represented, and all are in a flourishing condition. The choice residence portion of the city are on Park and Whittington Avenues, though there are many handsome homes in the southern section, especially on Malvern and South Central Avenues, and the government has erected expensive and beautiful houses on the Reservation for the superintendent and surgeon in charge of the Government Hospital. Many of the residences of Hot Springs will compare favorably, in elegance and beautiful surroundings, with those of larger cities, and are pleasing evidences of the wealth and refinement which have found their way to this city of the Ozarks.
There are three substantial banks in the city, three daily papers, good schools for children, excellent mail, express and telegraphic facilities, and emphatically no lack of medical attention. The retail stores are of all kinds, and the markets are well supplied, and prices are as reasonable as can be found anywhere.
In regard to the healthfulness of the city-a most important consideration to one contemplating either temporary or permanent residence there-Government statistics show that out of a total of 486 cities and towns in the United States, only five has as low a death rate as Hot Springs. There is only one city in British America having one as low, and none at all in England or Continental Europe. The death rate in 1994 among the permanent residents of Hot Springs was 7.74 per 1,000 inhabitants. When it is taken into consideration that a large per centage of the citizens went there afflicted with disease, and, being cured, have since made it their home, this low death rate seems all the more remarkable. The rate among the 50,000 annual visitors is very small, being only a little more than one and one-tenth per cent, and in nearly all cases of death among visitors, the disease causing the same had reached such an advanced stage that recovery, even under the most favorable conditions, and with the best medical attention, was an utter impossibility.
THE HOT SPRINGS WATERS.
The Hot Springs of Arkansas are situated upon the United States Government Reservation, and controlled by officers appointed by the government. They are sev- enty-two in number, with a temperature ranging from ninety-six degrees to one hun- dred aand fifty-seven degrees Fahrenheit, and a flow of half a million gallons daily. The cause of their marvelous medicinal effect is still a mooted question among phy- sicians and chemists. Careful analysis by eminent specialists show that on an aver- age, the waters contain 12.94 grains of material in solution to the gallon. Of this material, nearly sixty per cent is carbonate of lime, over twenty-one per cent is silica, nine per cent is carbonate of magnesia, while the remainder is chiefly chloride of sodium (common salt), sulphate of soda (Glauber salt), and sulphate of potash. This is but a slight proportion of minerals, in fact, no more than is to be found in many springs and well waters used for domestic purposes. It is, therefore, an ac- cepted theory with most practitioners that the wonderful virtue of the waters lies in their natural heat, which seems to possess peculiar, perhaps magnetic, qualities, not characteristic of those of other warm springs, or of waters artificially heated. For these reasons this water is not portable, loses its therapeutic qualities entirely when cooled, and is of no value whatever when bottled, either in its natural state or as a basis of patent medicines.
Dr. William Elderhorst has this to say regarding the curative qualities of the water when used direct from the springs: "In many forms of chronic diseases es- pecially, its effects are truly astonishing. The copious diaphoresis (perspiration) which the hot bath establishes, opens in itself a main channel for the expulsion of principles injurious to health, made manifest by its peculiar odor. A similar effect, in a diminished degree, is effected by drinking hot water-a common. indeed. almost universal practice among invalids at the Hot Springs.
"The impression produced by the hot douche, also, is indeed powerful, arousing into action sluggish and torpid secretions; the languid circulation is thus purified of morbific mattters, and thereby renewed vigor and healthful action are given both to the absorbents, lymphatics and to the execretory apparatus-a combined effect which no medicine is capable of accomplishing.
"The large quantity of free carbonic acid which the water contains, and which rises in volume through the water at the fountain of many of the springs, has undoubtedly an exhilarating effect on the system, and it is, no doubt, from the water of the Hot Springs coming to the surface charged with this gas, that invalids are enabled to drink freely at a temperature at which ordinary water, from which all the gas had been expelled by ebullition, would act as an emetic."
It is a well known fact that the waters of all other hot springs, owing to their low temperature or the presence of deleterious minerals, are absolutely undrinkable.
All of the Hot Springs, with one exception, flow from the Hot Springs Moun- tain, on the east side of Central Avenue. Formerly, the hot water, with its accom- panying clouds of vapor, could be seen issuing from the ground; but it is now, for the sake of economy and cleanliness, piped from the various springs to the different bath houses. This collection and distribution is done under the direct supervision of a superintendent appointed by the United States government, and every bath is tar en under directions and regulations established by the government. The prices for baths range from twenty cents to sixty cents (the maximum fixed by the United States Government), for single baths, and from three dollars to ten dollars for a course of twenty-one baths. Attendants are not allowed to collect in excess of ten cents per bath, or $1.50 per course for their services.
The source of heat is a question that has given rise to much speculation. An eminent medical authority says: "I attribute the cause to the internal heat of the earth. I do not mean to say that the waters come in actual contact with fire, but rather that the waters are permeated with highly heated vapors and gases which emanate from sources deeper seated than the water itself. The whole geological structure of the country and that of the Hot Springs Ridge in particular, from which the water issues, justifies this assumption." The hot water is distributed entirely under the supervision of the Government. The bath houses are supplied direct from the Springs by gravitation.
The waters of the Hot Springs have been found invaluable in the treatment of all forms of rheumatism and gouty conditions, in all troubles of the stomach, liver and kidneys, paralysis and catarrh, in skin diseases, diseases of the blood, syphilis, etc., and are especially efficacious in nervous affections, particularly insomnia, ner- vous prostration and la grippe, in barrenness in women, and in all the various other female complaints, including those consequent upon the change of life.
A description of the manner in which the baths are given should be of interest and importance to all who come with the intention of taking a course of treatment. The patient undergoes a thorough examination by his physician, who then issues special instructions and regulations regarding the baths, regulating them to the exigencies of each case. If the physician discovers the heart or lungs are affected, the invalid is not allowed to take the baths, as they are liable under these conditions to prove harmful.
Simple palpitation and incipient lung trouble are benefited by careful bathing. The usual directions are to bathe about six minutes in water 96 to 100 degrees Fah- renheit; two to six minutes in the vapor room, and five to twenty minutes in blank- ets. accordingto the time required to produce perspiration.
Physicians do not agree as to the details of treatment; but all are governed by the physical condition of the patient and the nature of the disease. Some can re- main in the water twice as long as others and have it much hotter with beneficial effect, while injudicious bathing by an invalid might prove injurious. It is never safe in any case to bathe without the advice of some reputable physician. Under such directions a large proportion of all who come can be cured. Those who bathe for pleasure, and that embraces all visitors not invalids, will find the knowledge of the attendants amply sufficient to regulate ordinary bathing.
SUBURBAN RESORTS OF HOT SPRINGS.
HAPPY HOLLOW.
Every one who visits Hot Springs quickly succumbs to the charms of Happy Hollow, and becomes its faithful admirer. A pleasant valley ti is, indeed, and the favorite resort of pedestrians, though a street car line has recently invaded the picturesque glen, much to the disgust of many who consider the new-comer an un- warranted encroachment upon their pet promenade. Happy Hollow has, in a gen- eral way, been so happily and graphically described by Mr. William L. Belding that his description is herewith inserted. He says: "This is a dell that the imagination of the Greeks would have populated with all sorts of superhuman beings. It would have been a kingdom for fairies, a favorite haunt for nymphs and dryads, and might have been a trysting place for the gods and goddesses themselves.
"The place is neither a gorge nor a valley, but a quiet and peace inspiring glen- a narrow roadway, hewn from the side of the mountain. which disputes possession of the bottom of the dell with a creek. And a most delightful road it is, with the mountains thrusting their feet down from either side and nearly crushing you be- neath the rocks and rising gracefully to the height of three or four hundred feet, their sides covered with huge rocks and talll sighing pines and oaks, which, in the autumn, form a most delightful picture in yellow and emerald. The foot path is excellent. the dell is cool, and there is a new charm at every step.
"At the terminus of the carriage road is located the celebrated Happy Hollow Spring. It is not hot water that boils up in the unique little summer house that has been built over the spring, but, notwithstanding that, it is a mineral water of high grade and possessed of great medicinal virtue. It is used solely for drinking purposes and in connection with the hot baths. Dyspepsia and indigestion have no show whatever when brought in contact with Happy Hollow water. It drowns rheu- matism and gout, and, as it acts directly on the liver and kidneys, purifies the blood, producing a beautiful complexion, and is almost a specific in all the diseases of the urinary organs. It is visited by great numbers daily. who come to drink the water. Beyond the spring the road ceases, the'glen becomes steep and the path is blocked and turned from side to side by huge boulders and the jagged, projecting edges of the mountain. At times it is almost impassable, and the explorer would like to give up and turn back, were it not that he desires to pursue the rocky way to the end and see where it terminates or commences."
Mr. Belding's explorer should not be discouraged. Ir he persists in pursuing the "rocky way," he will be amply rewarded for his climb, as the path leads him to the summit of the Hot Springs Mountain, with its picturesque walks, grand views, beetling cliffs and magnificent forests. The walk along the crest of the mountain,
to and down the Grand Boulevard to the Army and Navy Hospital, is one of the greatest attractions at the Springs, and should not be overlooked by any one.
Happy Hollow is the lair of the Hot Springs burro, a large drove of these inter- esting little brutes being kept here for the use of visitors and pleasure parties. On their backs the intricacies of the upper glens may be explored, and as one does not present a particularly imposing appearance mounted upon one of these diminutive animals, the effect is ridiculous enough to furnish endless amusement, to say noth- ing of the wholesome exercise such a ride involves.
MOUNTAIN VALLEY SPRINGS.
The Mountain Valley Springs are located among the Ozarks, about twelve miles from Hot Springs, and the trip affords an excellent opportunity to become acquaint- ed with Nature's finest handiwork. The journey can be made any way to suit .the inclination of the tourist. There is a regular hack line running daily from the hotels at Hot Springs. to Mountain Valley. There is the more private and independent way of hiring your own horse and buggy, and driving and stopping at will wherever you are interested, or it can be made the objective point of a horseback tour. It is one of the most charming rides in the vicinity. The road is over the mountains, plunging into gorges and through enchanted glens. Notwithstanding it has been recently im- proved, it is still a mountain road, and at times leads by points of thrilling interest. This very enjoyable rides terminates .in one of the most beautiful valleys in the Ozark range. On all sides are the mountain peaks, shutting in a portion of the earth of paradisiacal beauty, peace and quiet. Tall primeval forest trees are singing Na- ture's hymns over the valley. The patches of open are verdant with grass and shrubbery, and an air of seclusion and rest is all-prevalent. You willl scarcely ex- pect to find here a modern six-story hotel with "all the latest conveniences and com- forts," as the hotel men say-and you don't. The hotel is entirely in keeping with the surroundings. You can expect quiet and rest at an inn, but not at a modern resort hotel. This is just the difference between the big bustling hostelries of the city we have just left behind, and the low quaint stucture nestling in Mountain Val- ley. Its picturesque architecture is Southern in character, being one-story in height, and covering a great deal of ground. Cool, spacious verandahs cover the whole front of the hotel. Trailing vines overrun it in great profusion, and, altogether, it is a charmingly rare picture, and fills the beholder with an overpowering desire to settle down here, bag and baggage, and stay until satisfied with Nature's charms.
Nature sometimes scores a bull's eye in her arrangement of things, and this feat was accomplished when these springs of health-renewing mineral waters were caus- ed to burst forth in the midst of this beautiful valley.
It is a matter of regret that the whole valley and springs could not have been located at a greater distance from Hot Springs, so that they could have had a chance at fame on their own merits.
The waters are very valuable, as their combined minerals constitute a curative medium for internal use not equalled. The analysis shows a large percentage of bicarbonate of iron, lime and magnesia, sulphate of lime, chloride of iron, chloride of iodine, and phosphoric acid, but not even a trace of organic matter.
They cure or benefit Bright's disease, and all kidney troubles, all dropsies of a kidney or liver origin, including cirrhosis, and are of great value in the treatment of female complaints.
POTASH-SULPHUR SPRINGS.
A short mile from Lawrence Station, and seven miles from Hot Springs, are lo- cated the health-giving Potash-Sulphur Springs. Ten trains pass Lawrence daily, and are met by hacks which convey visitors to and from the Springs. A handsome two-story hotel, neatly furnished, and numerous cottages afford the best of accom- modations to guests, and the table is satisfactory in all respects. The air at Potash- Sulphur is at all times pure and balmy, while surrounding mountains and valleys afford picturesque scenery and charming walks and drives. Deer, wild turkey, quail and other game afford good shooting, and the Ouachita river, one mile distant, fur- nishes abundant sport for the angler. The Springs, which are near the hotel, are five in number, but all possessing similar properties. The waters are sulphuretted alka- line, and are highly esteemed by the medical fraternity of Hot Springs, who send many of their patients there to spend a few days while resting after taking a course of hot baths. Dr. John C. Branner, State Geologist of Arkansas, says of them: "The importance of the Potash-Sulphur waters is too well known to admit of question * * * * The chief ingredients are sodium sulphate, sodium carbonate and potassium chlo- ride, the sodium amounting to 13.66 grains per gallon, the potassium to 3.51 grains per gallon."
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