Hot Springs National Park

Hot Springs National Park, 5,549 acres (2,247 hectares), W central Ark.; est. 1921; nearly surrounded by the city of Hot Springs. Visited by Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto in 1541, the springs, long used by Native Americans for medicinal purposes, became a Federal Reservation in 1832. More than a million gallons of water a day, with an average temperature of 143°F; (62°C;), flow from 47 springs. The National Park Service collects, cools, and supplies water to bathhouses in and out of the park. See National Parks and Monuments (table).

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Hot Springs National Park

National park, central Arkansas, U.S. Established in 1921, it occupies an area of 9 square mi (23 sq km). It is centred on 47 thermal springs, from which more than 850,000 gallons (3,200,000 litres) of water, with an average temperature of 143 °F (62 °C), flow daily. The springs, long used by the Indians and probably visited by Hernando de Soto in 1541, drew Spanish and French visitors in search of health benefits in the 1700s. The city of Hot Springs (pop., 2000: 35,750), a health and tourist resort and boyhood home of U.S. Pres. Bill Clinton, was settled in 1807 and incorporated in 1876.