Editing Garland County, Arkansas (section)

==History==
This area was occupied by the historic [[Natchitoches people]], who frequented the hot springs for their healing powers. Their ancestors among regional indigenous peoples had been coming to this area for thousands of years before their time.

After acquiring the Louisiana Territory in 1803, which had been controlled by French and Spanish officials, President [[Thomas Jefferson]] requested William Dunbar, a [[Planter (American South)|planter]] and amateur scientist of [[Natchez, Mississippi]], to explore this area. Dunbar led small group of a dozen soldiers and friend George Hunter, a chemist, to the [[Ouachita Mountains]] to report on the Indian tribes, minerals, and springs. They reached Hot Springs in December 1804, where they found a basic cabin used by visitors to the springs.

The first European-American settler was Jean Pierre Emanuel Prudhomme, a descendant of French colonists. An owner of a plantation at Red River, Prudhomme was suffering from illness and sought relief from the springs. In 1807 he built the first permanent European house by the springs, living here for two years. Isaac Cates and John Percival, two trappers from Alabama, joined him. Percival foresaw a great potential for the area and built log cabins in order to rent to visitors to the springs.<ref name="rootsweb">[http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~artttp/garland/index.html "Garland County: History"], Rootsweb</ref>

In 1828, Ludovicus Belding came with wife and children to visit the hot springs. After a few months they built a small hotel for the visitors of the springs.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eRujhKef6FkC&q=Ludovicus+Belding+hotel&pg=PA157|title=Arkansas: A Guide to the State|first=Best Books|last=on|date=April 27, 2018|publisher=Best Books on|isbn=9781623760045|access-date=April 27, 2018|via=Google Books}}</ref>

In 1832 President [[Andrew Jackson]] signed legislation to protect the hot springs area for recreational use by American citizens as Hot Springs Reservation, the first time such action was taken. This was four years before Arkansas became a state, on June 15, 1836. A dispute among original settlers and their descendants over control of the property was settled by the US Supreme Court in 1877 in favor of the federal government.<ref name="rootsweb"/> [[Hot Springs National Park]] was established in 1921 and is managed by the National Park Service.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/nps/nps/part2.htm#hosp |title=The National Parks: Index 2009–2011 |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=March 7, 2012}}</ref>

Garland County is Arkansas' 68th county, formed during the [[Reconstruction era]] on April 5, 1873, from portions of Hot Spring, Montgomery, and Saline counties.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Garland County - Encyclopedia of Arkansas|url = http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=770|website = www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net|access-date = August 27, 2015}}</ref> It was named for [[Augustus Hill Garland|Augustus H. Garland]], eleventh governor of Arkansas.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=11387|title=Profile for Baxter County, Arkansas, AR|publisher=ePodunk|access-date=August 14, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181227084953/http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=11387|archive-date=December 27, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ | title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States | publisher=Govt. Print. Off. | author=Gannett, Henry | year=1905 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n133 134]}}</ref> It is the only county in the United States with this name.