Title 16ConservationRelease 119-73

§362 Leases of bathhouses and sites; supply of water

Title 16 › Chapter CHAPTER 1— - NATIONAL PARKS, MILITARY PARKS, MONUMENTS, AND SEASHORES › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER XL— - HOT SPRINGS NATIONAL PARK › § 362

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of the Interior can lease bathhouses and bathhouse sites in Hot Springs National Park for up to 20 years. Each tub must pay at least $30 per year. Rent is due every three months in advance at the Government superintendent’s office in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The same water charge applies to everyone, whether they are inside the park or not. Hot water is supplied first in this order: the Army and Navy hospital bathhouse; the public bathhouse; the bathhouses allowed in the park; the Arlington Hotel; and bathhouses outside the park approved on or before March 3, 1891. If there is extra hot water after those, the Secretary may let other bathhouses, hotels, and families outside the park have it under rules the Secretary makes. Those users must pay to make their own connections. If a hotel or family uses the water for things other than bathing, they must pay a fair price set by the Secretary. Every five years during a lease the Secretary must review and can adjust the lease terms and payments, but rents cannot go below the $30-per-tub minimum.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §362

Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The Secretary of the Interior is authorized and empowered to execute leases to the bathhouses and bathhouse sites in the Hot Springs National Park for periods not exceeding twenty years, and at an annual rental of not less than $30 per tub for each tub used in any bathhouse. Said annual rental shall be payable quarterly in advance, at the office of the Government superintendent of said property, in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The same rate for water rent shall be charged for the water to all parties receiving the same, whether in or outside said park. After the Army and Navy hospital bathhouse, the public bathhouse, the bathhouses which are authorized in the said park, the Arlington Hotel, and the bathhouses outside said park authorized on or before March 3, 1891, to be supplied with hot water, in the order herein named, if there shall still be a surplus of hot water the Secretary of the Interior may, in his discretion and under such regulations as he may prescribe, cause hot water to be furnished to bathhouses, hotels, and families outside the said park. Such bathhouses, hotels, and families shall cause all connections for obtaining such hot water to be made at their own expense. All water furnished to any hotel or family for other use than bathing shall be paid for at such reasonable price, as shall be fixed by the Secretary of the Interior. The Secretary of the Interior shall at the expiration of each period of five years during the continuance of each lease readjust the terms and amounts of payment provided for therein as may be just, but not less than the minimum herein provided.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name

“Hot Springs National Park” substituted in text for “Hot Springs Reservation” pursuant to act Mar. 4, 1921. Arlington Hotel Site section 2 of act Mar. 3, 1891, authorized the leasing of the Arlington Hotel site for a term which has expired. Provision for leasing this property was made by act Aug. 24, 1912, ch. 355, § 1, 37 Stat. 459. Act Feb. 14, 1931, ch. 180, 46 Stat. 1109, incorporated in section 370a of this title, provided that upon the expiration on Mar. 6, 1932, of the existing lease of the Arlington Hotel Company, the property or site should be kept, retained and maintained by the United States for park and landscaping purposes, and that no new lease shall be granted for the erection of another hotel, bathhouse or other structure thereon. Leases Pursuant to 1878 ActFor

Prior Provisions

relating to leases of ground, bathhouses, etc., made by act Dec. 16, 1878, ch. 5, 20 Stat. 258, see Codification notes set out under section 361 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 362

Title 16Conservation

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73