Hot Springs State Park

The panel says the tribes gave the waters; they sold them. James McLaughlin, the federal negotiator, offered $50,000 for ten miles square around the springs and went to $60,000, about ninety-four cents an acre, though he had authority to pay $1.25. The Shoshone wanted cash, the Arapaho cattle and rations. On April 21, 1896, 180 Shoshone and 93 Arapaho men signed, just under sixty percent of the adult men of both tribes, with the buffalo gone and hunger on the reservation. Even the Indian agent called the price abundantly low.

What the plaque says

Hot Springs State Park In the foreground across the river are the Rainbow Terraces formed of mineral deposits called travertine. The Big Spring produces 127° mineral water and as it makes its way down the terraces the water temperature changes and different colors of algae and micro-organisms give the terraces its multi-colored look. The site was sacred to several Native American tribes and was used for bathing and conducting various ceremonies. Chief Washakie of the Shoshone and Chief Sharp Nose of the Arapahoe led the tribes in signing a treaty which gave the healing waters to the U.S. Government to be set aside for a National Park or Reserve and homesteads. Park facilities include group shelters, playgrounds, swimming pools, fountains, hotel accommodations and picnic areas. No entrance fee.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Hot Springs State Park — 0.3 mi
  Wyoming's first state park: a thousand feet of banded travertine along the Bighorn, a 1916 swinging bridge, and a small bison herd on the hill.
• Legend Rock State Petroglyph Site — 22 mi
  Ten thousand years of images pecked into a sandstone cliff, most by the ancestors of the Eastern Shoshone, now behind a gate after vandalism.

More markers nearby

• Broad Streets of Thermopolis — 1.0 mi
• World's Largest Mineral Hot Springs — 1.8 mi
• Wedding of the Waters — 4.7 mi
• Bridger Trail - Bighorn River Crossing — 8.4 mi