36-8-304. Public baths and public campgrounds.

The department of state parks and cultural resources shall retain one-fourth (1/4) of the water in the main or largest principal spring on the state land on the eastern bank of the Big Horn River with sufficient quantity of the land adjacent thereto, upon which suitable bathhouses may be constructed, which shall be open, with preference of use given free to persons who are indigent and suffering from ailments for which bathing in the waters of the Big Horn Hot Springs will afford relief. The department may make necessary rules and regulations governing free baths, the manner and time of bathing, and may require medical examination of applicants for baths. The bathhouse shall remain open not less than ten (10) hours a day each weekday and not less than six (6) hours on Sundays and holidays. The rules shall meet the minimum requirements of rules adopted by the department of agriculture governing public pools and spas. The department, in consultation with the commission, may set apart a suitable location and portion of the lands for public camping purposes but may contract for operation of any campgrounds by competitive sealed bid. Should the department, in consultation with the commission, operate any campground within Hot Springs State Park, the charges per night shall not be less than one-half (1/2) of the average charges imposed by private campground operators within a five (5) mile radius of the Hot Springs State Park. The balance of the water and lands may be leased by the department, in consultation with the commission, for a term not less than five (5) years nor longer than ninety-nine (99) years. The length of the term of each individual lease shall be determined by the department, in consultation with the commission, in accordance with the value of the improvements proposed and actually placed upon the leasehold. The department may by rule provide for special use permits for limited purposes. The department may make rules and regulations with respect to the erection of buildings and improvements upon the individual leaseholds and may prescribe the plans and specifications of, and the materials to be used in the buildings to be erected. The department, in consultation with the commission, in any lease may provide for such plans and buildings and such use thereof as will best carry out the purposes of this chapter in retaining the lands and waters thereon for the treatment and cure of diseases and the pleasure of the general public. The department, in consultation with the commission, may conduct through pipes or otherwise any portion of the waters of the hot springs reserved for free use under this section and to provide baths and bathhouses for the use of the water at such rental or rates as it prescribes.