Hot Springs (Big Bend National Park)

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 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.[2]

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 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.[3]

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.[3]

In the historic district, there are petrogylphs made by Native Americans. The springs were visited by Pedro de Rábago y Terán in 1747, who found Apaches farming the area. In later years the Comanche Trail passed nearby.[4] The hot springs remain, at a temperature of 105 degrees Fahrenheit, and may be used for soaking.[2] The water contains sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfate, chloride and smaller concentrations of arsenic, lithium, rubidium, strontium, thallium, uranium, and tungsten.[5]

Hot Springs was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 17, 1974.[1]

The spring water is fossil water, and is irreplaceable. The geothermally heated mineral water emerges from the source at 105°F.[6]

The spring is frequently submerged by the Rio Grande. The site is accessible by unpaved road, about 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Rio Grande Village, otherwise known as Boquillas.[7]

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Big Bend National Park
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Brewster County, Texas

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hot Springs.

• Hot Springs at Big Bend National Park
• Boquillas Hot Springs at the Handbook of Texas Online
• Planning your visit to the Hot Springs at Big Bend National Park