Hot Springs takes its name from the natural thermal water that flows from 47 springs on the western slope of Hot Springs Mountain in the historic downtown district of the city. Approximately 800,000 gallons of 143-degree water flows from the springs each day. The rate of flow is not affected by fluctuations in the rainfall in the area. Studies by National Park Service scientists have determined through carbon dating that the water that reaches the surface in Hot Springs fell as rainfall in an as-yet undetermined watershed 4,000 years earlier.

The water percolates very slowly down through the earth’s surface until it reaches superheated areas deep in the crust and then rushes rapidly to the surface to emerge from the 47 hot springs.

Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto was the first European to visit what Native Americans called the Valley of the Vapors when he and his men reached the area in 1541. Members of many Native American tribes had been gathering in the valley for untold numbers of years to enjoy the healing properties of the thermal springs. There was agreement among the tribes that they would put aside their weapons and partake of the healing waters in peace while in the valley.

Congress established the Hot Springs Reservation in 1832, granting federal protection of the thermal waters and giving Hot Springs the honor of being the first “national park” to be designated for such government protection. Hot Springs National Park was formally created in 1911.