From the “HISTORY of the MANATAKA AMERICAN INDIAN COUNCIL”

“The Manataka American Indian Council, Inc. is open to American Indians, descendents of American Indians, and persons of all races who may come on religious pilgrimage to this place known for thousands of years as Ma-na-ta-ka (Place of Peace).”

In other words, being American Indian or not has no bearing on membership - yet the organization calls itself an “American Indian Council”.

"For thousands of years, American Indians of many nations knew Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas as Manataka. It is said that tribes from across the continent visited the “Valley of the Vapors”. Tribes came on regular pilgrimages to one of the most sacred places from the four-corners of the Western Hemisphere. The Cherokee in the east and the Hopi in the west came. The Cheyenne in the north and the Mayan in the south came. The people of the Plains came. The people of the Great Lakes came. Sometimes the gathering for peace at Manataka was so large, the circle around the sacred fire covered the entire valley."

What historical sources can they possibly cite for their claim? The oral histories of the various tribes in the area say nothing of such a place, much less mention its name. 

Keep in mind that thousands of years ago the tribes as we know them today did not exist.  In addition, the climate, geomorphology, and vegetation have continuously been changing.

"The people of the land came to Manataka for many reasons. They came to bathe in the healing sacred hot waters of Nowasalon (Breath of Healing). They came to gather the healing herbs, the healing red clay and the healing crystals. They came to trade for salt and whetstones. They came for many reasons, but the primary reason they came was to perform sacred ceremonies, offer prayers, sing, dance and ask for the blessings of the Great Creator. The American Indian considered Manataka to be the most sacred gathering place on the continent."

People used herbs readily available in the location around which they lived and that they were familiar with.  There was no need to travel far distances for them.  "Healing crystals" is a New Age concept - not American Indian.  Nor did they trade for whetstones. Whetstones are for sharpening metal instruments such as knives, therefore worthless for this until post-contact.  The material that whetstones are made of, novaculite, was used for making weapons and tools -  particularly  spear points and knives.  Not exactly what one would consider a proper product from a "place of peace".  During the Paleo Indian era and by the Archaic era, Indians were quarrying novaculite extensively.

Salt as a trade commodity came from the upper Ouachita River saltworks,  which were concentrated in the Arkadelphia-Malvern area. 

As you proceed through the documents, there will be the common theme that the area was a "place of peace, where the the ground is so sacred that fighting between tribes is prohibited".  As with other claims made by Manataka, this promotional theme is not unique to the Hot Springs area.  For example, we only have to look to the northern part of Arkansas to find:

"It is said that Eureka Springs was founded on sacred ground. So venerated were the waters of Eureka, warring tribes could not fight at the springs. For hundreds of years, the area now known as Basin Spring provided a peaceful gathering place for visiting tribes."

“After the time of the first invasion into the Valley by Hernando Desoto and his Spanish Conquistadors looking for the "Fountain of Youth" in 1541, gatherings at Manataka began to wane…….”

It was Juan Ponce de Leon (1460-1521), who is associated searching for the “Fountain of Youth”, not Desoto. Desoto was searching for gold and silver. Rather than in Arkansas, the Fountain of Youth was said to be in a land called Bimmini (Beninv), north of Cuba and Puerto Rico. Leon was most likely really searching for gold and silver as was Desoto, since the “fountain” was not associated with his name until decades after his death. Such fables about a Fountain of Youth are fairly common, even Alexander the Great is said to have searched for such a place in eastern Asia.

“After the Louisianan Purchase in 1803, President Thomas Jefferson commission Lewis and Clark to find the Pacific Ocean. During the same time he commissioned Dunbar and Hunter to find the mythical and precious hot springs of Manataka. There are roughly 10,000 hot springs in North America, so why was Jefferson so preoccupied by the hot springs at Manataka?”

Dunbar and Hunter were not commissioned to “find” the hot springs. The original plan for the expedition was to survey the Arkansas and Red Rivers to their sources and define the extent of the Louisiana Purchase in the southwest. They were also to survey the plants, animals, and minerals, the soil and climate; and the land for it’s possible use for farming. However, Congress only funded $3,000 for the expedition. On July 24, 1804, a party of 15 staged for the expedition at Dunbar's plantation, only to find a few days later that their plans would have to be postponed until the spring due to increasing hostility with the Osages. Rather than wait, Jefferson suggested to Dunbar that the expedition be scaled back to a more modest one up the Red and Ouachita Rivers as far as the Hot Springs. This reduction of the area to be studied also better fit the funding allotted. It was hoped that when they returned, Congress would fund the remainder of the originally planned expedition. As part of this shortened expedition, they camped at the hot springs from December 9, 1804, until January 8, 1805. During this time they studied and reported on the hot springs, which is not an unusual activity for such an expedition. The length of stay at the hot springs was extended longer than planned due to bad weather.

While Thomas Jefferson had a fascination with the Arkansas Hot Springs, this also carried over to other locations. He devoted ten paragraphs to spas in his Notes on the State of Virginia, written in 1781 and 1782. He was a frequent guest at White Sulphur Springs, Virginia (now West Virginia), and recommended that the Commonwealth of Virginia purchase the spring for public use.

“As a military strategist, Jackson saw the strategic location of Manataka, the great gathering place of indigenous people, as a potential threat to the Removals because it was located only a few miles between the major "Trail of Tears" routes. So, Jackson pushed a ‘provisional law’ through Congress designating the hot springs and most of Manataka as the very first federal reservation created by the U.S. government. The purpose of the reservation was not to keep Indians in, but rather to keep them out. Settlers poured into the area and changed the landscape.”

The southern- most major Trail of Tears route in Arkansas  was the Arkansas River, which lays north of Hot Springs.  Two minor land routes did pass about twenty miles southeast of Hot Springs, being used by small parties of Choctaw and Chickasaw when the Arkansas River was too low to navigate.  Rather than being a "threat", Hot Springs was a supply point for a party of Chickasaw on August 16th, 1837.  While most were under direct control, probably close to 2,000 American Indians traveled through the Arkansas River area during removal without assistance or direction by the Federal government.  Yet, not one of these ran to Moore's Manataka for sanctuary. 

The request that the Hot Springs area be set aside as a federal reservation was made by the Arkansas Territorial Legislature in 1820. The request was finally acted upon on April 20, 1832, by President Andrew Jackson. The legislation set aside "...four sections of land including said (hot) springs, reserved for the future disposal of the United States (which) shall not be entered, located, or appropriated, for any other purpose whatsoever." The purpose was actually to keep everyone out, including settlers, but congress failed to pass accompanying legislation for administration of the area. Eventually conflicting claims led to a series of lawsuits, and in 1877 the court ruled against the all the would-be private owners, reestablishing government control over the area. The Hot Springs Commission was authorized to reconfirm the boundaries of the reservation. In the same year a superintendent was appointed. Surveys were made, remaining claims were settled, and finally the springs and the mountains around them were permanently set aside as Hot Springs Reservation.

Arkansas Hot Springs was not the only one procured by the Federal Government. Of several, another of note was the Big Horn Spring at Thermopolis, S.D..  In 1902 the Federal Government purchased 32 mineral springs near Sulphur, Oklahoma, from the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians. They were considered to have important health giving and invigorating properties
 

“From Desoto to Jackson, powerful white Europeans and their descendents clamored to know the secrets of Manataka. Why?”

We have already seen that Desoto's mission was to discover gold and silver and to lay claim to territory for the Spanish Crown by building forts and forming alliances, not to search for any mysterious hot springs.  
 

Interest in mineral springs developed soon alter European colonists arrived in North America.  They brought with them a long tradition of considering springs and other bodies of water as sacred or having healing powers.  The first American president,  George Washington,  was also fascinated by mineral springs. He first visited Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, in 1761, when he was 16 years old.  Later, he returned to the healing springs when he was suffering from rheumatic fever at the age of 29. Berkeley Springs became a popular destination for others with this disorder. Washington first visited Saratoga Springs in 1783 and became so enamored with the waters and the land that he tried to purchase High Rock Springs from its owners. Taken in the overall context, we see that the Hot Springs in Arkansas really wasn't that unique.

“Before the time of the genocide by relocation Removals of the 1830’s, when indigenous people were forcibly removed to Indian Territory, very few American Indians were able to come to Manataka for prayer ceremonies. Regardless of extreme hardships and severe persecution, a succession of small indigenous groups continued ceremonies in secret under the cover of darkness high on the mountain for the next 100 or more years. The notable Choctaw Chief, Louis LeFlor, came to Hot Springs and conducted ceremonies at the sacred Manataka site until his death here in the early 1830s.”

Louis Lefleur (proper spelling) was not a Choctaw Chief, but a trader with the Choctaw and a Major in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812. He participated in the Battle of New Orleans under Generals Pushmataha and Andrew Jackson.

Perhaps Manataka meant Greenwood Leflore (he changed the name spelling from Lefleur) - son of Louis Lefleur. He was ¾ French and ¼ Choctaw. Elected Chief of the Northwest Division of the Choctaw Nation in 1822, Greenwood was a large land, livestock, and slave owner. At the height of his affluence he owned “15,000 acres of land, 400 slaves, sawmills, brickyards, steamboats, warehouses, and other enterprises”. He also served in the Mississippi legislature. Because of his sometimes close association with Andrew Jackson, and signing the removal treaty, Greenwood Leflore was considered a traitor by many Chocktaw - perhaps unfairly.  Greenwood died August 21, 1865, and buried in the family cemetery at Malmaison, Mississippi.