Bill Earngey

Eureka Springs was built on two mountains and a long, broad hollow between them. Nowhere is there a place flat enough to pitch a circus tent.

  Reportedly there are 238 named streets. None of them form a four-way intersection, most of them are wickedly narrow, and all of them run hog wild along razorback ridges and up-and-down daredevil grades past cliff-clinging houses.

  Why would a sane person build a town here? Tourism. On July 4, 1879 at Basin Spring the town was named for the estimated 63 nearby springs and a Greek word, Eureka (I've found it!).

  Exactly what was found is arguable, and arguing about it is a local pastime.

  Osage Indians found it first, before recorded history. Doctor Alvah Jackson found it in 1854 and then spent 20 unsuccessful years trying to sell it as Doctor Jackson's Eye Water.

  Finally Judge L.B. Saunders of neighboring Berryville had a larger notion of it, and he brought national attention to the springs by advertising their medicinal and curative properties during an era seized by a mania for water cures (and later, promenades).

  In 1880 a residential population of 5,000 was served daily by stagecoach service, "The Nine-Hour Ride," from the closest railhead, Pierce City, Missouri.

  The 1882 arrival of the Eureka Springs & North Arkansas Railway began a boom ushered in by 23,500 railroad passengers who rode "The Road To Health" to Eureka the following year.

  The good times rolled until the 1930s Great Depression, which coincided with the demise of fashionable health spas like Eureka. For about 40 years a wealth of historical architecture stood mostly deserted, waiting for the good times to roll again.

  The boom was back in the 1970s, based this time on perfectly preserved architecture, fine arts and crafts, spectacular scenery, peaceful lakes and walking trails, four beautiful seasons, one-of-a-kind shops, big music, four-star dining and lodging, entertainment of all kinds, and -- of course -- it.