February 17, 2011

During the last half of the nineteenth century, thousands of tourists began to flock to the resort town of Hot Springs (Garland County). Many of those sightseers journeyed to the spa city by the fastest means of transportation of the day, the railroad. Railroad companies used many ways to attract passengers. One of the most popular and least expensive was the distribution of free illustrated guidebooks. This guidebook, advertising Hot Springs as “America’s Baden-Baden,” was published in 1888 by the Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Co.