s Travertine Creek, the outlet of most of these springs.
Rock Creek outlines the park's western boundary, and on its farther bank
lies the city. Springs of importance within the park pour their waters
directly into its current. All these Platt springs, like those of Hot
Springs, Arkansas, were known to the Indians for their curative
properties for many generations before the coming of the white settler.

The park is the centre of a region of novelty and charm for the visitor
from the North and East. The intimate communion of prairie and rich
forested valley, the sophistication of the bustling little city in
contrast with the rough life of the outlying ranches, the mingling in
common intercourse of such differing human elements as the Eastern
tourist, the free and easy Western townsman, the cowboy and the Indian,
give rare spice to a visit long enough to impart the spirit of a country
of so many kinds of appeal. The climate, too, contributes to enjoyment.
The long spring lasts from February to June. During the short summer,
social life is at its height. The fall lingers to the holidays before it
gives way to a short winter, which the Arbuckle Mountains soften by
diverting the colder winds.

The pleasures are those of prairie and valley. It is a great land for
riding. There is swimming, rowing, and excellent black-bass fishing in
the larger lakes. It is a region of deer and many birds. Its altitude
is about a thousand feet.

The rolling Oklahoma plateau attains in this neighborhood its
pleasantest outline and variety. Broad plains of grazing-land alternate
with bare rocky heights and low mountains. The creeks and rivers which
accumulate the waters of the springs scattered widely among these
prairie hills are outlined by winding forested belts and flowered
thickets of brush. Great areas of thin prairie yield here and there to
rounded hills, some of which bear upon their summits columns of flat
rocks heaped one upon the other high enough to be seen for miles against
the low horizon.

These, which are known as the Chimney Hills, for many years have been a
cause of speculation among the settlers who have nearly replaced the
Indians since the State of Oklahoma replaced the Indian Territory with
which we became familiar in the geographies of earlier days. Who were
the builders of these chimneys and what was their purpose?

"At a hearing in Ardmore a few years ago before a United States court
taking testimony upon some anci