THE STORY OF MANATAKA By Lee Standing Bear Moore

Like many Manataka documents, much of this one is hard to respond to because of the nature of the claims. Rather than based on any specific knowledge or actual events, the majority of the “Story of Manataka” is constructed from fanciful images similar to the most sophisticated of fairy tails and New Age concepts.  They are by nature un-provable claims without rational support.

Rather than look at the overall message, we have to consider the messenger himself. As Danny Jones, one time Manataka insider and co-chairman of Manataka’s Arkansas American Indian Education Task Force (before he quit in disgust), quoted Randy Lee Moore as saying: “Tradition is a bunch of bunk! We create our own traditions!”

Still, there are fabricated claims that we can address in this document.

"For thousands of years, this magnificent site was the gathering place of many nations. Tribal leaders and spiritual elders made pilgrimages to the Great Ma-na-ta-ka Mountain to sit in great councils with many tribes. Some came every seven years, others came every eleven years, and others made the journey more frequently depending on local custom.

Tribal leaders prayed and made peace offerings to the Creator, the Great Manataka (Place of Peace) Mountain and each other. They danced and sang around huge campfires in the narrow valley situated between the Manataka mountain and her sister mountain, today called North Mountain. Her other sister mountain, today called Indian Mountain stood guardian to her east. Daughters of the first nations gathered rare medicinal herbs found in great abundance in a large area surrounding Manataka in the shape of a circle. Their sons found precious clear crystals, gold, silver, pyrite, and whetstones."

The early pre-contact Indians did not use whetstones, which are used for sharpening knives, etc.  They did use the novaculite in the area to make weapons and tools.   The area also has large flint deposits, which most likely accounts for the prolonged occupation throughout different early periods. 

"Spiritual elders also brought gifts from their tribes to Manataka. Some gifts were intended to establish friendships and diplomacy between various tribes and others were personal gifts between long-time friends. Trade items were also exchanged on blankets spread out in dozens of camps just outside the sacred valley. Other, more precious gifts brought to Manataka were not intended for humans, but were ceremonial offerings for the sacred mountain."

The pre-historic hub of the trade system in the area was most likely Spiro, in now eastern Oklahoma.  It was through Spiro that a pre-contact exchange system between the Southern Plains and Mississippian commodities traveled.  One of the most highly valued trade item that the Kadohadacho provided was Osage orange staves for bows. Osage orange is one of the two best bow woods in the world, the other being yew. Mostly limited to the Red River Valley, this wood was traded as far as the northern plains and the headwaters of the Mississippi.

"It is said by the grandfathers that seven holy caves were on the sacred mountain. The center cave is made of magnificent shining crystal encoded with messages of the star people. Inside the crystal cave are seven crystal cones set on a crystal altar and each contain secret messages and seven shields."

Exactly what grandfathers would these be?  And, how were their sayings recorded?

As you read about the "seven holy caves", keep in mind how various types of caves are formed, the types of rock they are formed in,  and the geology of the Hot Springs area.  There are over 2,000 documented caves in Arkansas, the majority being located in the northern part of the state where the geological composition favors cave formation.  The Hot Springs area is not favorable to cave formation.  Of course, it's entirely possible that Manataka's star people blasted the caves into existence with powerful lasers.  If you believe in that type of thing.  There was a small pocket in the tufa rock of Hot Springs, about ten feet square, called "Quapaw Cave".  This was featured heavily in the early promotional programs of Hot Springs.  This ten foot square "cave" is part of the legend involving  the foundation excavation for  what  was to be called the Quapaw Bathhouse, and removal of artifacts.  The story has the "cave" being rebuilt from tufa rocks and decorated with pictographs. 

Probably the most telling ancient feature that might demonstrate the importance of such a place as the Hot Springs area would be the presence of pictographs or petroglyphs. Yet, while a large number have been found concentrated along the southern fringe of the Ozarks and in the adjacent Arkansas River Valley, only one site has been identified in the Ouachita Mountains.
 

"Ancient tribes came to Manataka on pilgrimages to place ceremonial items in five of the caves. The people of the south laid gifts in the southern-most cave and people of the north laid their gifts in the northern-most cave. Two other caves were used by the people from the west and east for offering ceremonies.

The cave located to the left of the crystal cave was used by the 'Keepers of Manataka', the Tula Indians of Tanico, who lived in surrounding areas and for other tribes living nearby such as the Caddo, Quapaw, Osage, Tunica, and Pawnee.

As you will see, MAIC continuously and erroneously equates the Tula with the Tanico (Tunica).  Almost nothing is known about the Tula, they disappeared shortly after the DeSoto contact. All the Sixteenth Century settlements along the Ouachita and Little Missouri Rivers were related to the Kadohadacho in some way.

The Tunica were mainly located on the Eastern border of present Arkansas, in the Mississippi River region, and were displaced by the Quapaw.  The Tunica and the merged remnants of several neighboring tribes-including the Biloxi,  Avoyel, Ofo, and Choctaw - were officially recognized by the United States as the Tunica-Biloxi tribe of Louisiana in 1981.

The Quapaw and Osage as we know them had not reached Arkansas at this time, and the Osage only claimed northern portions of Arkansas as hunting grounds.  The Pawnee traditionally lived in the valleys of the Loup and Platte Rivers and along the Republican River in what later became the state of Nebraska. They occupied this area throughout their known history, until they moved to a reservation in Indian Territory (later Oklahoma) in 1874-75.

To the right of the center crystal cave was a ceremonial cave reserved for gifts of the other people of this land - the animals, birds, fish, insects, plants, stones and the elements. No one ever approached the most sacred crystal cave, as it was said to have been the work place of the star people (angels?) and resting place of many spirits.

"The southern-most cave, nearest the surface of the ground, once held the Manataka Stone, or as referred to by the National Park Service as the "Calendar Stone" brought by people from the south. The Calendar Stone was removed after the Civil War by workmen digging on the mountain to capture the sacred waters of Nowasalon and build ornate bathhouses for the rich. "

The so-called “Calendar Stone” described by Moore was alleged to have been found in the Ouachita River in  1930, not in some mysterious cave that has since disappeared.  There were two of these stones, the pear shaped stone described in MAIC's website and by Churchward, and a round stone.  Both were in the possession of Col.  J.R. Fordyce, a leading Hot Springs spa owner and promoter.  They were loaned to Bernice Babcock for her Macarthur Park Museum in Little Rock.  The museum later moved to the third floor of the city hall, and was closed in 1933 to make room for depression offices.  Stored in the basement, the fate of one of the stones is unknown. It might have been destroyed in 1934, along with many other items, by workmen in the city hall.  The other stone was later sold to a woman in Houston, Texas.  

It was in this general time period that two characters in the vicinity of Jonesboro, a deaf gunsmith and jeweler named Denter Rowland and his partner, George MacAtee, were mass producing and “finding” fake Aztec statutes and other artifacts to sell to unsuspecting collectors.  S.D. Dickinson, an original board member of the Macarthur Park Museum, recalls that the calendar stones looked "newly carved".  They were never put on display because they were considered to be fake. 

The same “Calendar Stone” was featured in Chapter VIII of “The Sacred Symbols of Mu”, by the occult writer James Churchward in 1933. Here, it is linked to Atlantis!

Above left is a Churchward drawing of the "Calendar Stone" made for his 1933 "The Sacred Symbols of Mu" publication.  Above right is a drawing that Lee "Standing Bear" Moore claims was made "circa 1870".  Is there any doubt that Moore is using Churchward's 1933 drawing?  Needless to say, the symbolism given for the graphics is different for Churchward and Moore, for both were trying to support and "prove" different claims.  Apparently, Churchward made his drawing from a photograph - a copy of which we have on file - taken when the stone was in Fordyce's possession.  It is sitting on a striped towel like the ones used in the Fordyce Bathhouse.

An ancient clay doll was recovered from the northern cave some time in the early 1900's by workmen and is currently on loan to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington.

Dr. J. Daniel Rogers, Chairman of the Smithsonian Department of Anthropology, has searched the database of approximately 3.5 million artifacts at the Smithsonian for us and could not find any clay dolls from Arkansas such as Manataka claims. There are three pipes that have human figurines as part of the design. But these are not from caves in the Hot Springs area.

However, it should be noted that in 1922 the Quapaw Bathhouse owner, George Callahan, bought four "rain god" figurines made by the Hopi master potter Nampeyo from a Polacca, Arizona trading post run by Tom Pavatea.  These figurines were placed on exhibit at the bathhouse, and described by the bathhouse manager - E.L. Howlett - as " crudely designed doll size figures made by Indians to represent the gods of the Bath".  Howlett added in his advertising flyer "The Legend of the Bath Gods" that "these miniature idols symbolize their  faith in the hot water baths of what is now Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas".  Callahan later wrote Pavatea that the figurines "caused considerable attention at the Quapaw Baths."

"Each of the seven caves disappeared a various times after the invasion began in the 1500's, either at the hand of the invaders or by natural or supernatural causes."

Apparently at least one, and possibly two, of the "Manataka caves",  were still existing into the 1900's - if the preceding two paragraphs are accepted to be true.  Yet no valid documentation or stories about these caves exist outside of the Manataka claims. 

"Everyone sought healing and pleasure in the magical hot waters of Nówâ-sa-lon (Breath of Healing) that spewed from the sides of the mountain creating dozens of crystal clear pools. No one was allowed to enter the ‘Valley of Vapors’ carrying a weapon into the sacred area decreed by the Great Mystery as the ‘Place of Peace’. No fighting or discord was allowed. Should anyone violate these laws, they were taken outside the valley and severely punished."

The term "Valley of Vapors" first appeared in a 1896 promotional brochure issued by the Business Men's League of Hot Springs. 

Once again, the above paragraph repeats a common promotional theme found in other locations.  You will see this theme throughout MAIC's claims.  There is no such thing as "the Great Mystery" in American Indian traditions.

"The Lady of the Rainbow, referred to as Ix Chel by the Maya, was said to have presided over the peace in the valley. Dressed in all white buckskin and holding one eagle feather in each hand, she stood on the mountain overseeing the peace. When quarrels did arise, a vision of the Rainbow Woman could be seen at twilight rising in the vapors of the highest pool as a warning to the offending person. If the guilty one did not listen to this warning, the Lady of the Rainbow came to him and dropped one feather at his feet, which meant it would be wiser to fly away than to disturb the peace again. If this warning was not heeded, she dropped the second feather as a sign to his family and others to remove the offender from the valley by whatever means necessary."

In Maya mythology, IxChel was an earth and moon goddess, patroness of weavers and pregnant women. She was married to Voltan but mother of the Bacabs by Itzamma. She was also known as the "Lady Rainbow" and was usually shown in Mayan art as an older woman dressed in a skirt with crossed bones on it. As well, she was depicted with a serpent in her hand. IxChel is frequently depicted with a great jug that is filled with water. According to myth, she dumps over this jug full of water to send floods and rainstorms down to Earth. In this myth she is generally associated with being destructive, deathly, and demonic; others portray her in a more benign light.

Not only does Manataka butcher North American Indian history and legends to suit it's needs, but Mayan mythology too.   Manataka conveniently transforms a old woman with crossed bones on her skirt and holding a serpent to a young woman in white buckskin holding eagle feathers! 

The next six paragraphs are not included here, as they describe a fairy tale image of the Hot Springs area. 

"The Caddo were the dominant people in areas surrounding the valley. The Quapaw, Osage, Tunica, Natchez, Pawnee and Shawnee were nearby."

Manataka constantly has a problem in placing tribes in the area of Hot Springs with any accuracy.

The Quapaw were originally a division of a larger group known as the Dhegiha Sioux.  When they left the Ohio Valley. and  moved down the Mississippi River into Arkansas, they displaced the Tunica.

The Osage claimed hunting territory within the northern part of the state but resided primarily in western Missouri.

The Natchez were located along the banks of the lower Mississippi River. Following an unsuccessful rebellion against the French in 1729, the Natchez were dispersed. About 400 individuals surrendered to the French and were sent to the West Indies as slaves. The remaining Natchez withdrew among the Chickasaw and ultimately separated into two main bands, one settling among the Upper Creeks and the other uniting with the Cherokee.

Archaeological evidence indicates that the Pawnees resided in the Central Plains region for several centuries before the historical period. Beginning in the late seventeenth century Pawnees occupied elevated river terraces and bluff sites along a fifty-mile stretch of the Loup and Platte Rivers.  Perhaps Manataka's confusion arises in that there were Pawnee settlements in the in the vicinity of the Arkansas River in southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma. 

The closest the Shawnee got to Hot Springs was when Black Bob's band, part of the Shawnee at Cape Girardeau, moved into present Marion County, Arkansas and built three towns. On Crooked Creek, less than a mile from Shawneetown (now Yellville) was a village called "Little Shawneetown." There was another near the mouth of Clear Creek, not far from Pyatt, that was called "Upper Shawneetown."

"There is disagreement between archeologists, ethnologists and historians as the exact number of tribes that may have visited Manataka. Some say there may have been 34 language groups who considered the Valley sacred ground. In an effort to diminish any sort of future claim on Manataka, others say there were none who visited here."

Notice that not one single archeologist, ethnologist or historian is named as a source supporting Manataka‘s claims.

"Stories of the sacred Valley of Peace still exist among some tribes today. Other tribes, whose languages have been largely lost since the European invasion, speak of Manataka as if it were a mythical place."

Not one single tribal historian or linguist we have contacted has ever heard of Manataka.

"In the early 1500’s, Spanish conquistadors mounted expeditions to find the legendary spring whose magic waters could rejuvenate the elderly and heal the sick. In 1512, Ponce DeLeon failed in his attempt to reach the mysterious hidden valley containing a crystal fountain of healing water known as the "Fountain of Youth".

It was actually on March 27, 1513 when Ponce de Leon sighted the North American mainland, which he took to be an island, and on April 2 he landed somewhere on the eastern coast.  He never attempted to travel to the Hot Springs area.

The fable of the Fountain of Youth was not associated with de Leon's name until long afterwards, when Hernando de Escaiante de Fontaneda told it in his account of Florida. In 1545 Fontaneda, at the age of thirteen, was shipwrecked on the coast of Florida and spent seventeen years as a captive of the Indians. He was finally rescued, probably by the French in northeastern Florida, and later returned to the peninsula as an interpreter for Menendez in 1565.  Antonio de Herrera y Tordesilias (1540?-1625) had access to Fontaneda's manuscript and incorporated the story in his history of the Indies.

There is no historical evidence that either de Leon or DeSoto were looking for anything but gold and silver.

“His fellow explorer, Hernando DeSoto was the first white European invader to enter the Valley of the Vapors in 1541. Desoto’s chroniclers wrote about the amazing sites they beheld. As far as the eye could see were hundreds of lodges representing tribes from every part of the vast continent. The colorful dress of various groups was different from one another and they spoke many distinct languages. Ceremonial and tribal dances were held in a central plaza, and elders sat in circles smoking the pipe.”

Pure fabrication. There is no such description of the Hot Springs area in any of the DeSoto accounts. There is no evidence that DeSoto ever came near Hot Springs. There are four complete accounts of the DeSoto expedition and a fragment of a fifth. Three of the accounts were written by members of the expedition who survived: Rodrigo Rangel, de Soto’s personal secretary; Luys Hernández de Biedma, the Spanish King’s representative; and a Portuguese mercenary soldier known only as “Gentleman from Elvas.” A fourth account, by Garcilaso de la Vega, was much longer and more flowery than the others. It was written decades later. Based on interviews with survivors, it disagrees with the other narratives in many ways and is  considered unreliable as an accurate account of the expedition. The fifth account does not pertain to Arkansas. 

The works of the DeSoto Expedition chroniclers, de Biedma, Elvas, Rangel, de la Vega, and de Figueroa, can be found in the two volume set “The Desoto Chronicles, the Expedition of Hernando DeSoto to North America 1539-1543," edited by Lawrence A. Clayton, Vernon James Knight, Jr. and Edward C. Moore, University of Alabama Press.

Placing DeSoto in the vicinity of Hot Springs (Caddo Gap) was a result of the of the 1936 DeSoto Expedition Commission, consisting of Dr. John R. Swanton of Harvard, and six Southern Congressmen. It's very likely that the Commission was under political pressure from interested localities as to it's findings.  

Colonel John R. Fordyce, the Hot Springs spa owner and promoter, was Vice-Charman of the commission.  His father, Colonel Samual W. Fordyce, had also been a flamboyant Hot Springs businessman and spa builder.  According to Dee Brown's "The American Spa - Hot Springs, Arkansas", S.W Fordyce "became so enthusiastic a booster for his adopted home town that he invented legends to support his version of the booming Spa's past". 

Unfortunately, the Commission's finding are still taught in classrooms and presented on websites as fact, despite modern research casting serious doubt on its validity.

                                                      
"Almost immediately after first contact, the original inhabitants began to disappear. European invaders sacked the land, spread disease and incited inter-tribal wars that all but decimated dwindling native populations during the next two and half centuries."

"After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, white invaders began to settle in the Valley of Vapors. In 1832, President Jackson, mastermind of the Trail of Tears and other racial atrocities, was looking for a way to totally demoralize and disorient native populations. He was also concerned about Manataka from a strategic military viewpoint. Jackson was not prepared to risk the possibility that thousands of Indians on the Trail of Tears might decide to gather at the sacred site and mount a rebellion. So, Jackson pushed Congress to take an unprecedented action in the nation’s history by confiscating the most holy site in the American Indian world, Manataka, and making it the nation’s first federal reservation."

We have already seen, in our remarks about the History of Manataka, that closest main Trail of Tears route was the Arkansas River.  That any of the victims on the trail knew of "Manataka" as a sacred site is an unsupported claim.

"The confiscation of Manataka by Jackson was an act contrary to the terms of the Louisiana Purchase and against the Constitution of the United States. The United States government promised the French, Spanish and native tribes in negotiations preceding the Louisiana Purchase the federal government would not violate sacred sites. The U.S. Supreme Court, Chief Justice Marshall, warned Jackson the government was prohibited by the Constitution to own land [There is still no provision in the Constitution for the government to own land]. [The Constitution does not contain a provision for the federal government to own land because the founding fathers lived under a European system where the royal government owned and controlled all land. The government cannot assume any power that is not specifically given to them by the Constitution.] "

The U.S. Government assumed the previous role of the British and Spanish governments in the territory covered by the Louisiana Purchase. However, U.S. policy prevailed over previous agreements by the former “owners” precisely because the United States Constitution specified in the in Article 1, Section 8 (Commerce Clause) that "The Congress shall have the power to… [t]o regulate Commerce with foreign nations and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes."

Federal ownership of land dates back to 1791, when the Federal Government acquired 17 public reservations for the nation’s capital. In following years, land was not considered scarce, and the obtaining and disposal of  federal land was viewed as a means to achieve national economic and social goals. As more immigrants arrived and pioneers pushed westward, land became more important.  Treaties with the American Indian were broken so that land could be taken and sold by the government to speculators, pioneers, and given as rewards for service.  The American Indian effected by the Louisiana  Purchase fared no different than those under other treaties.   In other words,  even if such a place as "Manataka" did exist historically, it would not have been a special case.  Today, nearly a third of the nation is owned by federal government and 42 is percent is owned by all government.

"Thus, the only legal way Jackson could accomplish the take-over was to pass a ‘provisional’ law steering around treaties with other nations and the U.S. Constitution. Jackson wanted to create the first commercial federal reservation. As a popular president and famous Indian fighter, this was an easy task as members of Congress, of which not one of its members had ever seen Manataka, looked the other way."

No such "provisonal law" was necessary.  Again, see Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. It was the Arkansas Territorial Legislature who requested in 1820 that the springs and adjoining mountains be set aside as a federal reservation.  Notice that it took almost 12 years to be acted upon.  

"For the next four decades the government allowed settlers build bathhouses and residences around the springs but in 1875 the it forced the settlers out and later began selling off choice pieces of property to selected businessmen."

The boundaries were not originally adequately described and protected, thus producing subsequent overlapping claims between private developers and the government. Starting in 1870, the claims were resolved by the Federal Government who retained the rights to the springs, and sold the surrounding developed land to the highest bidder giving them clear title. At the conclusion of the land sales in 1877, the park was reduced to 1,000 acres.

"What was left of the Hot Springs Federal Reservation after the ravages of the settlers and greedy government agents was turned over to the newly created national park system in 1921 and became the second national park after Yellow Stone. Today, it is known as Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas."

Yet, MAIC continues to use the term "reservation" in their address in order to mislead others into believing that they are located on an American Indian Reservation. 

"Settlers and the U.S. government destroyed the sacred Circle and the seven ceremonial caves containing the Manataka Stone and other ancient artifacts gifted to Manataka by the tribes. Stolen artifacts were sold for profit by government agents. Government bureaucrats, to cover up gross negligence of the past, claim there were never any caves on the mountain, regardless of strong evidence to the contrary."

Again, there is absolutely no evidence of any sacred caves ever existed outside of Manataka's own unsubstantiated claims.  If MAIC has proof that "government agents" sold stolen artifacts, then the information should be made public so the items can be traced and returned. 

The spurious "Manataka Stone" has been addressed previously.

"Out of forty-seven hot water springs surviving the early onslaught of settlers, the government covered all but two small hot water display springs with metal and concrete in the name of "protecting visitors and the environment." Actually, the reason is to control the sacred waters for profit. They pump the waters to private bathhouses and hotels where it can be sold."

Benito Altha Grayhorse, who MAIC claims was a "Guardian of Manataka", sold water from the Hot Springs area for profit! 

Bathing facilities were provided at no charge for the indigent. In 1911, over 220,000 persons bathed in the Free Bath House alone. Some of the waters gained notoriety for healing venereal diseases, such as syphilis and gonorrhea. In 1918, the Division of Venereal Disease of the U.S. Public Health Service established a clinic and bathhouse hospital at Hot Springs, and treated people with mineral water, mercury, and the arsenical compound arsphenamine. With the development of penicillin in the early 1940s, the use of the waters at Hot Springs for treating venereal disease was abandoned.

The park provides spring water free of charge at all of its jug fountains.  Today's regulations prohibit private individuals from selling any of the park's waters.

The vapors that once blanketed the valley have vanished. The wondrous rainbows covering Manataka have not appeared since government bureaucrats decided to "preserve" the springs from pollution and the escape of radon gas. The so-called scientific preservation basis for covering the springs can be disproved by any high school freshman. The pools of healing waters are hidden with garishly ornate bath houses for the rich.

Rather than relying on a high school freshman to disprove any preservation basis, we challenge MAIC to do so.

The collection and distribution system that was designed in 1905 to retain the radon gas was the result of belief at that period of time that both radon and radium had curative properties. That we now know that uncontrolled exposure to radiation can be harmful does not negate what might have been considered proper in the past.

It was the owners of the "garishly ornate bath houses" who came up with a great percentage of the promotional stories that Manataka clings to.  Perhaps the most ornate bathhouse was developed by Colonel Samuel W. Fordyce, which contains a statue of Hernando DeSoto receiving water from an Indian "Princess".   The good colonel was known to be an inventor of promotional stories. It was S.W. Fordyces' son who was the vice-chairman of the DeSoto Commission that placed DeSoto in the Hot Springs area.  

"Over the years, the U.S. government has systematically attempted to wipe every trace of Indian culture away from Manataka. They deny this place is a sacred site and twist history with much authority to discourage our people from reclaiming our heritage. One Park historian recently wrote a report claiming Indians were afraid of the hot waters because they came from the devil. [The idea of 'devil' is foreign to American Indian beliefs.] The fact is, the land and waters are too commercially valuable. It is for greed, not preservation they hold hostage our Great Manataka."

It should become readily  apparent where the twisted history is fabricated in promotion of MIAC's self interest.  Legitimate American Indians face enough obstacles as it is in reclaiming their heritage without the corrupted form being offered by Manataka diluting it.

"The federal government has covered up the Story of Manataka for nearly 200 years. Government agents were especially aggressive in this effort just prior to and immediately after the Removals (Trail of Tears) when hundreds of ancient artifacts and religious objects were either sold, lost or destroyed. Regardless of this fact, NPS curatorial collection today still has over 414,000 objects, nearly 46% remain un-catalogued, stored in dilapidated, unsecured buildings. "

Actually, there are over 28 million items in NPS overseen collections, from plant specimens and fossils to pieces of architecture. Add to this 14,000 linear feet of archives. None of this has anything to do with “government agents” trying to hide the so-called “Story of Manataka".  If anything, if the story was true, collections under NPS would have preserved it.

The Hot Springs National Park museum alone contains 300,000 documents. This includes thousands of letters, hundreds of reports, and some 3000 maps and drawings.  Yet, not one of these items supports MAIC's claims. 

"Their lust to remove all traces of indigenous cultures has gone from frenzied greed, to sordid indifference, to outright denial that our ancestors were ever here. A more insidious tactic used in recent times is to craft promotional material about the park that state, "...People have used the hot spring water in therapeutic baths for two hundred years..." - as if no one was ever here before then."

There are dozens and dozens, if not hundreds, of studies and literatures that discuss human habitation of the Hot Springs area and Arkansas, at least back to the Paleo-Indian period before 8000 B.C.   Exactly whose ancestors these were would be pure speculation.  Arkansas has over 39,300 recorded archeological sites, and over 4,700 archeological projects.  Yet, not one of these support MAIC's claims.

"Another example of the way the government attempts to bury the truth about this sacred site is the fact that it gives it false Indian names. Government bureaucrats placed two bronze plaques in the downtown area for tourists to read that give conflicting stories about the name of this ancient site. The first says Indians called the valley Nowasalon (Breath of Healing). This name only refers to the healing waters and not to the entire area. The second plaque says Indians called this site Tanico. This is also incorrect. Tanico was the main village of the Tula people who made their home along the Caddo River near what is known today as the town of Caddo Gap, located approximately 45 miles southwest of Hot Springs. Today, a large statue of an Indian stands in the middle of Caddo Gap declaring the area was known as "Tanico" by local Indians."

MAIC continually insists on linking Tanico with the Tula.  The site of Tanico, and the people of Tanico, were not of the Tula. 

The confusion of the plaques and statue is a result of the DeSoto Commission, which Manataka chooses to believe in placing DeSoto in the vicinity of Hot Springs.  Even Grayhorse, Manataka's proclaimed "Keeper of Manataka, provided a benediction at the unveiling of the monument on Saturday, May 22, 1937.  The monument was a WPA project initiated by Attorney Osro Cobb of Little Rock, formerly from Caddo Gap, and an associate of Colonel John R. Fordyce. As mentioned in other parts of this expose, Fordyce was both a Desoto Commission member and Hot Springs promoter. These "government bureaucrats" - as Randy Moore calls them - were actually local people promoting the area.  
 
"There are no plaques or statues designating this area as Manataka (The Place of Peace). Yet, the bureaucrats know this is its holy name.

Today, there are no monuments to the gentle people who were the ‘keepers’ of Manataka. There is barely a remembrance of the spiritual power the Great Manataka gave to the people. This sacred ground held great meaning for all native people and is part of their ancient lore."

"Manataka" as a spiritual place is virtually unknown outside of the organization and those who have fallen for it's glib claims.  Nor is there a "Great Manataka" found in the many different American Indian religious traditions. 

"Will Manataka always be held captive by government bureaucrats never to breath again? Will the Rainbow Woman who sleeps deep within the mountain awaken once more? Will the giant of American Indian spirit reawaken and its awesome strength be unleashed to give life back to the people of the land? "

Pagans and New Agers enjoy transporting deities out of their matrix and changing them to suit whims. IxChel’s (Rainbow Woman) sacred island is Cozumel, off the eastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. Why would MAIC want her to stay at Hot Springs?

"Today, there are many signs showing the great resiliency of native cultures. Our sons and daughters are returning to the old ways in search of peace in their daily lives. Everywhere you look there is renewed interest in native culture. It was foretold that this would be so."

Unfortunately, much of this interest is exploited by pseudo-Indian organizations such as the "Manataka American Indian Council". 

The last paragraph of this "Story of Manataka", and the following two sections on "Anger" and "Tears", deserve no comments.  Rather than waste space here, the reader may go to the original MAIC website to read them, if wished.

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