Hot Springs National Park (Geographic Keyword)

DOCUMENT Full-Text William J. Hunt, Jr..

For many, the oldest “park” managed by the federal government is not Yellowstone National Park (set aside in 1872) but Hot Springs National Park (HOSP) in Arkansas. Congress set aside the hot springs and adjoining mountains here as a federal reservation in 1832 to protect the resource and preserve it for public use. For centuries before this, the hot springs may have used by Native Americans, their occupations having little impact on the resource. But with EuroAmerican use, this began to change....