Siloam Springs State Park is an Illinois state park on in Adams and

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...

counties,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

History

Siloam Springs State Park land was originally part of the military tract of western Illinois set aside to be given to combat veterans. In 1852, George Meyers acquired the land for his service in the

Black Hawk War The Black Hawk War was a conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis (Fox), and Kickapoos, known as the "British Band", crosse ...

and Mexican War. He died in 1882 at the age of 102. The name Siloam Springs came from a biblical reference, christened by Rev. Reuben K. McCoy, a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

minister from

Clayton, Illinois Clayton is a village in Adams County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, the total population was 639 people, down from 709 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Quincy, IL– MO Micropolitan Statistical Area. History Clayton ...

. Local legend held that the spring water in the area had a medicinal effect. In the 1800s, visitors came to the five mineral springs. After Meyers' death, Quincy Burgesser, a local businessman and stock dealer, had the water analyzed and discovered it had a higher mineral content of

magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic ta ...

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

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sulfur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...

than water from the famous healing springs of

Eureka Springs, Arkansas Eureka Springs is a city in Carroll County, Arkansas, United States, and one of two county seats for the county. It is located in the Ozark Mountains of northwest Arkansas, near the border with Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the city populati ...

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Waukesha, Wisconsin Waukesha ( ) is the county seat of Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States. It is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. Its population was 71,158 at the 2020 census. The city is adjacent to the Village of Waukesha. History The area that ...

. Burgesser touted the water's ability to cure almost all ailments, even drunkenness and drug addiction to

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. Water from the Number Two spring was bottled and distributed by the

Wabash Railroad The Wabash Railroad was a Class I railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. It served a large area, including track in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Missouri and the province of Ontario. Its primary con ...

as far west as Kansas City, and bottling became a flourishing business for several decades. In the 1890s, Siloam businessman J. B. House sold the water and shipped it cross-country by rail for $3 per barrel, with an additional $2 surcharge if he had to provide the barrel.

The Forest Hotel

Burgesser began building a mineral springs resort hotel in 1882. The Siloam Springs Company was founded in 1883 to operate the property. By 1884 he had erected two buildings, a bathing house and the Siloam Forest Home Hotel. The Siloam Forest Hotel, also known as the Siloam Forest Home Hotel, contained 40 rooms in its three-story structure. The L-shaped hotel had balconies, a ballroom, full kitchen facilities, tennis courts, and croquet grounds. In May 1887, a three-day grand opening attracted guests from as far as Colorado. Notable guests of the hotel included

Charles Edward Ringling Charles Edward Ringling (December 2, 1863 – December 3, 1926) was one of the Ringling brothers, who owned the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He was in charge of production and greatly admired by the employees, who called him ...

P. T. Barnum Phineas Taylor Barnum (; July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871–2017) with James Anthony Bailey. He was ...

, and E. I. DuPont. The hotel closed from 1912 to 1915. In 1924, the hotel manager C. S. Johnson purchased the property from the Siloam Springs Company. However, the era of springs resorts was winding down. In 1934, J. S. Harwood purchased the property at a tax sale and renovated it. He operated it for two seasons before selling. In 1935, the Siloam Springs Recreation Club purchased the site in an effort to restore it and provide local recreation. Citizens of Adams and

counties raised money to match state funds. The hotel was renovated in 1937.

State Recreation Area

By 1940, it was made into a state recreation area. The state decided not to maintain the old structures and they were torn down for lumber by 1943. The hewn stone foundation of the hotel is still visible in the present-day. The No. 2 spring house was rebuilt in 1995 and contains the most popular spring. Between October 1954 and August 1955, an earthen dam was constructed across a deep ravine and the 58-acre lake was created from the waters of Crabapple Creek, a branch of McKee Creek. The lake has a maximum depth of 45 feet. This lake was the second in Illinois built from the Dingle-Johnson Act funds. Siloam Springs was dedicated as a state park in 1956.

Geology

The park has flatlands, forested gullies, steep wooded valleys, ridge tops, and scenic crests. The rough topography is carved by the McKee Creek and its tributaries, eroding the Illinois glacial drift to reveal Pennsylvanian and Mississippian rocks.

Flora and Fauna

The

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

woodlands consist of

white oak The genus ''Quercus'' contains about 500 species, some of which are listed here. The genus, as is the case with many large genera, is divided into subgenera and sections. Traditionally, the genus ''Quercus'' was divided into the two subgenera '' ...

red oak The genus Oak, ''Quercus'' contains about 500 species, some of which are listed here. The genus, as is the case with many List of the largest genera of flowering plants, large genera, is Taxonomic rank#Ranks in botany, divided into subgenus, subgen ...

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shagbark hickory ''Carya ovata'', the shagbark hickory, is a common hickory in the Eastern United States and southeast Canada. It is a large, deciduous tree, growing well over tall, and can live more than 350 years. The tallest measured shagbark, located in Sa ...

timber with some interspersed brushy, fallow pasture areas. Other tree species include

sassafras ''Sassafras'' is a genus of three extant and one extinct species of deciduous trees in the family Lauraceae, native to eastern North America and eastern Asia.Wolfe, Jack A. & Wehr, Wesley C. 1987. The sassafras is an ornamental tree. "Middle Eoc ...

ironwood Ironwood is a common name for many woods or plants that have a reputation for hardness, or specifically a wood density that is heavier than water (approximately 1000 kg/m3, or 62 pounds per cubic foot), although usage of the name ironwood in E ...

rock maple ''Acer glabrum'' is a species of maple native to western North America, from southeastern Alaska, British Columbia and western Alberta, east to western Nebraska, and south through Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Colorado to California, Ar ...

, and

post oak ''Quercus stellata'', the post oak or iron oak, is a North American species of oak in the white oak section. It is a slow-growing oak that lives in dry areas on the edges of fields, tops of ridges also grows in poor soils, and is resistant to ro ...

. Some of the floral species include:

goldenrod Goldenrod is a common name for many species of flowering plants in the sunflower family, Asteraceae, commonly in reference to the genus ''Solidago''. Several genera, such as ''Euthamia'', were formerly included in a broader concept of the genus ...

asters ''Aster'' is a genus of perennial flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Its circumscription has been narrowed, and it now encompasses around 170 species, all but one of which are restricted to Eurasia; many species formerly in ''Aster'' are ...

, wild roses, black-eyed Susans, white false indigo, and

snapdragons ''Antirrhinum'' is a genus of plants commonly known as dragon flowers, snapdragons and dog flower because of the flowers' fancied resemblance to the face of a dragon that opens and closes its mouth when laterally squeezed. They are native to r ...

. Grasses and shrubs include

smooth sumac ''Rhus glabra'', the smooth sumac, (also known as white sumac, upland sumac, or scarlet sumac) is a species of sumac in the family Anacardiaceae, native to North America, from southern Quebec west to southern British Columbia in Canada, and south ...

, prairie willow,

Indian grass ''Sorghastrum nutans'', commonly known as either Indiangrass or yellow Indiangrass, is a North American prairie grass found in the central and eastern United States and Canada, especially in the Great Plains and tallgrass prairies. Description ...

, and bluestem. Siloam Springs State Park is home for several species native to Illinois:

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...

wild turkeys The wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') is an upland ground bird native to North America, one of two extant species of turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic turkey, which was originally de ...

squirrels Squirrels are members of the family (biology), family Sciuridae, a family that includes small or medium-size rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flyi ...

rabbits Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit specie ...

, and

raccoons The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of . ...

. The lake is stocked with several species of fish, including

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, but ...

bluegill The bluegill (''Lepomis macrochirus''), sometimes referred to as "bream", "brim", "sunny", or "copper nose" as is common in Texas, is a species of North American freshwater fish, native to and commonly found in streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and ...

, redear,

carp Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. While carp is consumed in many parts of the world, they are generally considered an invasive species in parts of ...

crappie Crappies () are two species of North American freshwater fish of the genus ''Pomoxis'' in the family Centrarchidae (sunfishes). Both species of crappies are popular game fish among recreational anglers. Etymology The genus name ''Pomoxis'' ...

channel catfish The channel catfish (''Ictalurus punctatus'') is North America's most numerous catfish species. It is the official fish of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Tennessee, and is informally referred to as a "channel cat". In the United States, the ...

walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the yellow pike or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern United States. It is a North American close relat ...

, and

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...

Recreation

Hunting, fishing, camping, boating, picnicking, hiking, equestrian trails, and bird watching are some of the activities available at Siloam Springs State Park. There are over 15 miles of hiking trails.

References

* * {{Authority control State parks of Illinois Protected areas of Adams County, Illinois Protected areas established in 1940 Protected areas of Brown County, Illinois 1940 establishments in Illinois