The Mountain View Railway Company of Hot Springs was authorized to construct observatory towers along its route for visitor’s pleasure. Thus, the Hot Springs Mountain observatory tower opened to the public in May 1906. The Department of the Interior granted a lease to John W. Howell, a former Hot Springs postmaster and current U.S. commissioner, and Charles N. Rix. Handed a ten-year lease, the men formed the Hot Springs Mountain Observatory Company.  In 1907, Smith notified Interior that the occupants were in the process of drilling a well.  Interior telegrammed that no authority had been granted and to halt the drilling.

Methods for providing more comfortable baths at Hot Springs changed, and soon, Hot Springs Mountain featured an elaborate series of V-shaped wooden troughs on elevated frames to bring thermal water down the hillside to cooling tanks, and then on to large wooden hot-and cold-water tanks built into bathhouse rafters. J. G. Horn designed a pavilion, now called the “pagoda shelter,” at Lookout Point on Hot Springs Mountain. Its original purpose was to shelter a drinking fountain fed by an old well beside the nearby observation tower. Supt. Harry Meyers was dismayed to find the well had dried up. Other attempts to find underground water also proved unsuccessful, and the triangular stone fountain was removed and stored to prevent it from being damaged by vandals.

Park roads on Hot Springs Mountain were the first areas to be improved during depression-era work programs.  Utilizing funds from regular roads and trails appropriations, masonry rock walls were erected where needed and road banks were sloped and landscaped along with installation of rock guttering. The Hot Springs Mountain observation tower was demolished on July 13, 1971. In 1980, the City of Hot Springs Advertising and Promotion Commission, a non-profit organization, planned to construct a new tower.

Park Ranger Lawrence W. Quist became acting park naturalist in 1954, and worked to plan, map out, stake, and compile leaflets for the Hot Springs Mountain Nature Walk. In addition, the Interpretation program launched its new American Indian and settler cultural exhibit in 1973. Today, Hot Spring Mountain Trail is considered one of the most rewarding trails in the park. Hikers can take this pleasant walk from the Pagoda shelter just below the Hot Springs Mountain Tower to the Gulpha Gorge Trail intersection.

Credits and Sources:

Cockrell, Ron. “The Hot Springs of Arkansas—America’s First National Park: Administrative History of Hot Springs National Park.” National Park Service. Accessed June 15, 2015.

Shugart, Sharon. “The Hot Springs of Arkansas Through The Years: A Chronology Of Events -Excerpts-.” Department of the Interior, 2004. http://www.nps.gov/hosp/learn/historyculture/upload/chronology.web.pdf. (accessed June 15, 2015).

Quinn Evans Architects, Mundus Bishop Design, and Woolpert, Inc. Hot Springs National Park, Cultural Landscape Report and Environmental Assessment. National Park Service, 2010.