| Today the Arkansas resort town of Eureka Springs is | | | | judge began promoting Eureka Springs nationwide. |
| a quaint, faux-Victorian tourist trap with an abundance | | | | Before the end of the year the town of Eureka |
| of Bible-themed attractions. But the knickknack shops | | | | Springs was home to 10,000 people, and by 1881 it |
| and family-friendly dinner theaters are really a natural | | | | was the 4th largest city in Arkansas. |
| outgrowth of a long history as a "vacation" destination | | | | Eureka Springs soon became famous for its luxuriant |
| reaching back to the Native Americans. | | | | Bath Houses. In 1889 The Basin Spring Bath House |
| Eureka Springs has, unsurprisingly, several naturally | | | | was built on Main Street; it was 4 stories high, with a |
| occurring, mineral-rich springs, which have long been | | | | bridge to the upper 2 stories arching over the street |
| thought to be possessed of healing powers. In 1856 | | | | and providing housing for the water pipes. The 1901 |
| European settler called Dr. Alvah Jackson took the | | | | Palace Hotel's baths used water from the Harding |
| Indian legends at their word at used some of the | | | | Spring, and featured an electric elevator, electric lights |
| water from Eureka's springs to "treat" an unspecified | | | | and steam-heating in every room, making it the turn of |
| eye ailment suffered by his son. The ailment healed | | | | the century equivalent of a 5 star hotel. At these and |
| and his son's recovery was duly attributed to the | | | | other Bath Houses visitors could slip out of their union |
| spring-water. This led to the founding of Dr. Jackson's | | | | suits for a hot or cold or shower, a massage or |
| Cave Hospital, where many young men were | | | | various kinds of baths: hot air, electric, medicated, |
| "treated" with Eureka's spring water during the | | | | radiant, vapor and more. The Palace and the Basin |
| American Civil War, and the subsequent Dr. Jackson's | | | | house are still standing today. |
| Eye Water business post-bellum. | | | | As the 20th century began to get its big, bloody, iron |
| In 1879 Judge J.B. Saunders, a friend of Dr. Jackson's, | | | | wheels turning up to speed, interest in mysticism began |
| visited the Basin Spring in Eureka, where he was | | | | to wane, and this included the belief in "healing waters". |
| allegedly cured of some type of degenerative ailment. | | | | The springs began to be more a sideshow than the |
| Thrilled by the upturn in his failing health, the influential | | | | main event, and most of the Bath Houses closed. |