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HISTORY OF HOT SPRINGS

The story of Hot Springs goes back long before the establishment of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Reservation, and the opening of the reservation to homesteaders in 1910. The Pend d'Oreille Indians knew of the healing waters even before trappers and settlers discovered them, and called them "Big Medicine."

The Flathead, Kalispell, Pend d'Oreille and Kootenai Indians occupied the Little Bitterroot River Valley long before European-American trappers and traders moved in to exploit its natural wealth of fur-bearing animals. Jesuit missionary Father de Smet chronicled the natural hot springs, long enjoyed by the Indians, in 1842. De Smet wrote about stopping at the springs and speaking with the indigenous peoples about the waters. His journal recounted that "after the fatigues of a long journey, they find that bathing in this water greatly refreshes them."

Isaac H. Stevens, governor of the newly created Washington Territory, met with the Flathead, Kootenai, and Pend d'Oreille nations at Council Grove, near present Missoula, on July 16, 1855 to decide on the boundaries of a common reservation for the tribes. Steven's proposal, which they eventually accepted, located the reservation in the Flathead Valley. When the U.S. Congress established the reservation, it set aside an 80-acre government reserve around the hot springs.

The first years of the new century witnessed a growing white demand to open the reservation lands to homestead settlement. Joseph M. Dixon, a Montana congressman, introduced a bill in 1903 to release much of the Flathead Reservation land to settlement. The bill became law on April 23, 1904, but was much amended before the reservation was opened for homesteading in 1910. Between 1905 and 1909, tribal members received 80- and 160-acre land allotments, and 2,525 acres were reserved for tribal use. The remainder of the unallotted lands were available to eager homesteaders. On April 1, 1910, the federal government offered, through a lottery, 1,126,587 acres within the Flathead Reservation. Soon after, President Taft authorized Indians to sell their allotments. The platting of the town resulted from this latter order.

The town has a checkered history. It started Pineville in the 1890s and was platted in 1910. Under the Taft order that allowed the sale of tribal allotments, portions of the DeMers and Maillet families' allotments, and the land of an early settler, Ed Lamereaux, became the townsite of Pineville. Almost beside Pineville, and next to the government hot springs reserve, the U.S. Congress also set aside a 120-acre townsite called Camas. The two towns grew alongside each other for a few years, but by 1915 Pineville, which became Hot Springs in 1913, prevailed over Camas as the business center of the Little Bitterroot River Valley.

The popularity of the use of the natural hot springs by white people created a demand for better accommodations. A bathhouse of seven rooms with baths opened in 1911, free of charge. Two hotels in Camas catered to the traveling public.

In 1913, Al Hurst acquired a use permit for the springs from the Flathead Tribe and constructed a second, larger bathhouse near the first building. By 1922, improvements included a bathhouse equipped with bathtubs, showers, sweat rooms and dressing rooms. Three separate mud baths with mineral water contained small plunges and sweat rooms. A standard sized concrete swimming pool was filled with spring water. Hurst operated the facility until 1930, when he removed the older structure and constructed a new stucco bathhouse. Eventually, however, the Tribal government resumed control and hired caretakers to run the property. In 1949, the Flathead Tribe built a new building at a cost of $400,000. Presently, the baths are abandoned.

In the first decade of Hot Springs' development, in-town hotels accommodated visitors to the springs. The first major guest resort hotel was the two-story, wood frame Towanda Hotel, built in 1917. The Towanda featured a large lawn, porch sitting areas, and meals with vegetables grown on the premises. Medical, Osteopathic, and chiropractic doctors opened offices catering to visitors seeking mineral water cures for rheumatism, stomach trouble, chronic indigestion, kidney, bladder and liver ailments, eczema and skin diseases. Many Hot Springs residents supplemented their income by building accommodations for visitors. Compact, privately owned and operated motels, cabins and apartments sprang up throughout the town. These new tourist-related buildings and the rebuilding of retail businesses on Main Street after devastating fires in 1918 and 1931 left the town with an architectural heritage unusual in Montana. Mission, Moderne, and Art Deco designs and features appear on many buildings constructed at this time.

At various times Hot Springs has had a sawmill, several grocery stores, a movie theater, a hospital, six bars, a car dealership, a number of garages and even more restaurants. At Hot Springs' peek, the population was over 1,000 residents. As of the 2010 census Hot Springs has 544 people.