Hot Springs, also known as Boquillas Hot Springs, and Langford Hot Springs is a former thermal spring resort in what is now

Big Bend National Park Big Bend National Park is an American national park located in West Texas, bordering Mexico. The park has national significance as the largest protected area of Chihuahuan Desert topography and ecology in the United States, and was named after ...

in Texas. Hot Springs was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

History

The springs were developed by J.O. Langford beginning in 1909. Langford was a Mississippi native who had contracted malaria as a child. Searching for a cure, he heard of reputedly curative hot springs on the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

while visiting Alpine, Texas. Langford made a homestead claim, sight unseen. Although other homestead claims on the site had failed, Langford, his wife Bessie and his 18-month-old daughter set out for the site, discovering that it was already occupied by Cleofas Natividad with his wife and ten children. Initially considering the Natividads squatters, the Langfords developed a cooperative relationship with the Natividads. Langford took a 21-day treatment of drinking and bathing in the spring waters, regaining his health. The site was the first major tourist attraction in the area, predating the establishment of the national park. Before Langford's development, a small stone tub had been excavated in the local stone for bathing, with a dugout that was renovated by the Langfords as a residence. The Langfords later built an

adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...

house, a stone bathhouse, and brushwood bathing shelters. The Langfords left in 1912 when bandits made the area unsafe. When they returned in 1927 they rebuilt the bathhouse, but with a canvas roof. They also built a store and a motor court, consisting of seven attached cabins. The structures were built of local stone with wood trussed roofs covered with corrugated metal. Interior walls were plastered. Four of the motor court rooms featured painted murals. A terrace was covered with a long porch or ramada connecting the cabins. In the historic district, there are

petrogylph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

s made by Native Americans. The springs were visited by

Pedro de Rábago y Terán Don Pedro de Rábago y Terán (died 1756) was a Spanish administrator and military officer in New Spain, now Mexico. He was governor of Coahuila from August 1744 to June 1754. In 1754, Don Pedro de Rábago y Terán was sent by the viceroy of New ...

in 1747, who found

Apache The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...

s farming the area. In later years the

Comanche Trail The Comanche Trail, sometimes called the Comanche War Trail or the Comanche Trace, was a travel route in Texas established by the nomadic Comanche nation. Description The route ran from the Comanche summer hunting grounds to the Rio Grande, w ...

passed nearby. The hot springs remain, at a temperature of 105 degrees Fahrenheit, and may be used for soaking. The water contains sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfate, chloride and smaller concentrations of arsenic, lithium, rubidium, strontium, thallium, uranium, and tungsten. Hot Springs was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 17, 1974.

Water profile

The spring water is fossil water, and is irreplaceable. The geothermally heated mineral water emerges from the source at 105°F. The spring is frequently submerged by the

. The site is accessible by unpaved road, about west of Rio Grande Village, otherwise known as Boquillas.

References

External links

Hot Springs
at Big Bend National Park
Boquillas Hot Springs
at the Handbook of Texas Online

at Big Bend National Park {{Authority control National Register of Historic Places in Big Bend National Park Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas 1909 establishments in Texas Hot springs of the United States

History

Water profile

See also

References

External links