<P> President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Antiquities Act on June 8, 1906 . As early as 1889 Congress authorized the President to reserve the land on which the well known Casa Grande Ruin was located . In 1904, Dr. Edgar Lee Hewett made a review of all the Indian ruins on Federal lands in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah . He recommended many sites for protection . Based on Hewett's report and many individual request and reports from throughout the west, between 1906 and 1916 the Interior Department recommended and Presidents Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson proclaimed twenty National Monuments . </P> <P> On September 24, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed Devils Tower as the first National Monument . Devils Tower is a Wyoming landmark, a 600 - foot (180 m) high tower of rock, visible for nearly 100 miles (160 km). It has been a guidepost and a religious site . In December of that year, three more National Monuments were created . El Morro, New Mexico, is a wayside in the rugged desert lands used by Indians settlers and travelers for centuries as a watering hole and a place to leave their marks . The site includes prehistoric petroglyphs and hundreds of inscriptions from 17th century Spanish explorers and 19th century American emigrants and settlers . Montezuma Castle, Arizona, is one of the best preserved cliff dwellings . Petrified Forest, Arizona, is world - renowned for its petrified wood, Indian ruins and petroglyphs . Three of these original National Monuments later became the core of National Parks . Mukuntuweap became Zion, Sieur de Monts grew into Acadia, and Petrified Forest which was expanded by Congress to become a National Park of the same name . Three of the smaller areas were later abolished, those being Lewis and Clark Caverns, Shoshone Cavern, and Papago Saguaro . </P> <P> Mineral springs have been used for their medicinal properties since ancient times . By 1800, places like Saratoga Springs, New York, Berkeley Springs and White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, and French Lick, Indiana, were becoming popular American resorts . In 1832 Hot Springs, Arkansas, was set aside as a Federal reservation to protect 47 hot springs . In 1870 the area was protected by Congress as the Hot Springs Reservation and in 1921 it was made a National Park . Hot Springs National Park is a health resort and spa rather than a scenic area . </P> <P> In 1902 the Federal Government purchased 32 mineral springs near Sulphur, Oklahoma, from the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians . The Sulphur Springs Reservation was placed under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior who shortly acquired some additional land . In 1906 Congress created Platt National Park which included the Sulphur Springs Reservation . </P>

When did hot springs become a national park