- Hot Springs
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1. a city in central Arkansas: adjoins a national park (Hot Springs National Park) noted for its thermal mineral springs. 35,166.2. a resort village in W Virginia: site of international conference (forerunner of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) in 1943 to aid agricultural and food supply adjustments after World War II.
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resort, spa, city, and seat (1874) of Garland county, central Arkansas, U.S. It lies just north of the Ouachita River at the eastern edge of the Ouachita Mountains and the Ouachita National Forest. Hot Springs National Park is intertwined with the northern portion of the city.The area is noted for its numerous thermal springs (hot spring), which were long used by Native Americans and probably were visited by the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto (Soto, Hernando de) in 1541. French fur trappers and traders frequented the springs from the late 17th century, and the area was mapped in 1804 by an expedition led by the Americans William Dunbar and George Hunter. Permanent settlement of the site dates from 1807.Hot Springs National Park originated in 1832 as Hot Springs Reservation on land set aside by the federal government. Later enlarged, it became a national park in 1921 and today covers 9 square miles (23 square km). Central to the park are the 47 hot springs and 8 historic bathhouses along Central Avenue (also called Bathhouse Row) located on the southwestern slope of Hot Springs Mountain. Water from the hot springs flows at a rate of 850,000 gallons (3,200,000 litres) per day, with an average temperature of 143 °F (62 °C). Originally each of the bathhouses along Bathhouse Row had its own spring, but today the water is collected for common distribution to the restored Buckstaff Bathhouse (the one remaining active bathhouse along the row), four hotel bathhouses, and several medical facilities. The Fordyce Bathhouse, also located along Bathhouse Row, has been restored to look as it did between 1915 and 1920; it is the park's visitor centre. The exteriors of the other six historic bathhouses also have been restored. The surrounding Zig Zag Mountains that make up the park area beyond Bathhouse Row are heavily forested in oak, hickory, and pine, with stands of dogwood, redbud, and other flowering species. Wildlife is abundant and consists primarily of small mammals and numerous species of birds.The town of Hot Springs was incorporated in 1876 and became a city in 1886. Its population grew with the rise in popularity of the springs. Among the numerous hotels and bathhouses that sprang up in the area were those built outside the federal park, and in the 1920s and '30s many of these were frequented by such gangsters as Al Capone (Capone, Al) and George (“Bugs”) Moran (Moran, George). As the number of visitors declined after 1950, most of the establishments closed. Tourism, however, has remained important. An aluminum mill, light manufacturing, and health services augment the resort economy. Pop. (2000) 35,750; (2007 est.) 39,064.city, seat (1882) of Fall River county, southwestern South Dakota, U.S. It lies along the Fall River in a canyon walled by red rocks, in the southern Black Hills, about 50 miles (80 km) south of Rapid City. Sioux and Cheyenne Indians were once frequent visitors to the area's warm mineral springs, which were reputed to have healing properties. Settled in 1879 as Minnekahta (a Sioux word meaning “Hot Waters”), it was renamed Hot Springs in 1882 and developed as a health resort. A large natural-warm-water indoor pool built in 1890, the Evans Plunge, remains a tourist attraction. The city's economy depends on ranching, tourism, and a veterans home and medical centre. The Mammoth Site, discovered in 1974, is a sinkhole that entrapped dozens of mammoths (mammoth) and other animals some 26,000 years ago. The bones have been left where they were found, and ongoing excavations can be observed by visitors. Wind Cave National Park and Custer State Park are a few miles north and Angostura Dam, Reservoir, and Recreation Area a few miles southeast. Hot Springs is bordered to the west and south by Black Hills National Forest. Buffalo Gap National Grassland, of which Hot Springs is a district headquarters, is to the south and east. Also in the area are Badlands National Park and Jewel Cave National Monument. The Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary, about 15 miles (25 km) south of the city, is a refuge for wild mustangs. Inc. 1882. Pop. (1990) 4,325; (2000) 4,129.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
