Fall River County and Hot Springs

Fall River County has a history built around water. Early industries, such as the Refinite Mineral Processing Plant at Ardmore, were built to enhance the water; other businesses--bathhouses in Hot Springs and Edgemont, the Michael J. Fitzmaurice Veterans Home (originally named the Soldiers Home), and the VA Black Hills Medical Center (known by longtime residents as the Battle Mountain Sanitarium) in Hot Springs--were established here because naturally warm water and the moderate climate enhanced their missions. Back in the day, small towns had flour mills, creameries, and ice companies, and the towns flourished with each industrial boom. Out in the county, on the government-run experimental farm, crops were tested and people attended agricultural classes and meetings. Oil wells were drilled, sandstone was quarried, and farmers and ranchers worked the land and the cattle. Through the years, county residents have been warm and welcoming, much like the water.

With over 200 historical images gathered mostly from private collections, Peggy Sanders documents the dramatic changes in county industries and the lives of everyday people. As a member of the Fall River County Historical Society Board, Sanders is the originator and chairman of the Focus on Fall River County History Conference, held in Hot Springs the second Saturday in January. Her great-grandparents Ira and Hattie Tillotson homesteaded near Cascade in 1881. Since then, six generations of Tillotson descendents have lived and worked in Fall River County. Peggy Sanders is the author of four previous Images of America books.