On Hot Springs and West mountains the general plans provided for roads and walks along the entire mountain sides, and for parks along the foreground.  The main summit grounds were especially adapted to use for hotels and observatories under lease privileges.  In 1894, Interior received authorization to enter into a 20-year lease on West Mountain for a Hot Springs Water Company cold-water reservoir, offering possible extensions for additional two-decade periods and charging an annual $100 rent.

Local interest in building a railroad over West Mountain continued since 1893 with extensions granted and too little progress made.  Ten years later, right of way had been cleared of timber and graded, but financing and further progress stopped with legal entanglements. Hot Springs advised against roads on rugged West Mountain, detached from Hot Springs and North mountains, and maintaining the original concept of keeping it as pristine as possible

In 1927, national park Policeman James A. Cary was murdered while on duty patrolling West Mountain.  Cary was the first National Park Service ranger killed in the line of duty. Cary had been shot by unknown assailants, and suspicion soon pointed to bootleggers Cary had arrested on West Mountains a few months previously.

A five-year development program developed in 1925 led to a West Mountain trail leading from the Prospect Avenue entrance to the crest, and running above and parallel with the northwestern road alignment, and terminating where the main road joined with Canyon Street. The West Mountain Trail is approximately 1.2 miles in length; it ascends down 14 mortar and stone steps to the left of the West Mountain-Mountain Top Trails intersection. The trail ultimately merges with the Canyon Trail after another half-mile past the footbridge. Hikers can see the number of hollow den trees in the area, which give shelter to forest animals, and the damage caused by recent ice storms to many of the trees. The trail begins a gradual descent and levels out before meeting the Mountain Top Trail.

Credits and Sources:

Cockrell, Ron. “The Hot Springs of Arkansas—America’s First National Park: Administrative History of Hot Springs National Park.” National Park Service. Accessed June 20, 2015.

Quinn Evans Architects, Mundus Bishop Design, and Woolpert, Inc. Hot Springs National Park, Cultural Landscape Report and Environmental Assessment. National Park Service, 2010.

“West Mountain Trails.” Pamphlet. National Park Service.