HOT SPRINGS IN ARKANSAS
Five years acquaintance with, and residence near, the Hot Springs, should enable
one to make a few interesting remarks; therefore allow me to observe – that the
condition of the county has improved; we have better roads and more industry;
the
condition of the Springs is much improved, though it is lamentably short of
what it
should be; there are no comfortable bathing or sweating houses, and when
a person
emerges from those luxuries, he has to encounter the blasts of boreas,
when his body
is by far too sensitive for the mildest zephyr that ever blew; and
yet no serious
accident has happened to the invalid between the extremes of heat
and cold; he
has only to bathe or sweat again to be relieved from any bad
effects of the former.
I presume the average number of souls visiting each year, has been four hundred.
It is not a place of splendor or gaiety; the fewest number in good health come
here –
if any, they are with a sick friend, or relative.
In 1827, four strangers died near this place; in 1828, none died; in 1829, two
died;
1830, two died; in 1831, one died, by going into the bath too soon after
breakfast;
in 1832, three died. About half of all the deaths were of
consumption, There have
been a goodly portion of cures, mostly of the
rheumatism; next liver and general
debility, dyspepsy, and the old or recent
effects of calomel. My confidence in the
virtue of these waters has increased;
but much is lost for want of a good resident
physician.
The more happy effects of this water are slow, yet the effect is soon felt by
the weak and timid. Some get alarmed and go to Mr. Percifull’s, eight miles
hence; there the stranger has found something more than a friend – he has
found
a home. Mrs. Percifull is a good nurse; her heart is full of the milk of
human
kindness, and it flows freely to nourishing withering humanity. At
such a place
a person gets better, or dies in more tranquility than could at the Springs.
In 1827, the boarding houses were but moveable camps – but since that time
a
pretty good tavern has been kept. Last season, it was supplied every other
day
with vegetables; this season, every day by the same man; and many others
find it
in their interest to bring in, casually, their surplus fruits, &c. &c.
I hope, and believe, that next season, the proprietors will present us with two
good bathing and sweating houses, with an extra room in each for dressing in.
These Springs are destined to be a great watering-place. The hot, and cold
water,
have each an elevation that will bring them together at any point on the
plain of the
bottom, to temper each other. Water-works of fancy might be
erected. The
native uniform temperature may be useful for many purposes. At
present, it is
used in that operation called scalding hogs; it might be used as
a water bath,
in mild distillations; its regular warmth would hatch chickens, by
thousands at a
brood, as is done by a kiln; hot-houses might be projected on a
large plan and kept
temperate by breaking, suddenly, the streams of water within
the walls, and many
exotics might be raised. Falling Gardens, might be watered
by irrigation, or by
showers, as in Italy. This water is kind to vegetation.
The lands near the springs are supposed to be poor; but we find, by a careful
cultivation, they will produce all the luxuries of our climate in profusion.
A.N. Sabin
Hot Springs, September 23, 1832
