Saratoga and How to See It Part 6

Our German citizens, with their usual sagacity, have discovered this fact, and the consumption of the water by them is daily on the increase.

The importance of this American Seltzer Spring will be somewhat appreciated by the reader, when informed of the fact that nearly two millions of stone jugs, holding one quart each, of the Na.s.sau Seltzer are annually exported from Germany.

Properties.

The water of this spring is very pleasant to the taste, being slightly acidulous and saline, but much milder than that of the other Saratoga springs. It is an agreeable and wholesome beverage. When mixed with still wines, etc., it adds the peculiar flavor only to be derived from a pure, natural Seltzer. It enlivens them and gives them the character of sparkling wines.

Saratoga possesses numerous objects of interest for the German population, surpa.s.sing even the famous Spas of Europe, and the discovery of the Seltzer will doubtless attract large numbers of this intelligent and genial people.

The a.n.a.lyses of the Saratoga and the German Seltzer springs are almost identical.

No people in the world, perhaps, consider a summer's excursion to a watering place so absolutely essential to life, physically, dietetically, morally and politically considered, as the Germans, and we are happy to know that they are beginning to realize the attractions of Saratoga.

[Ill.u.s.tration: STAR SPRING.]

The United States Spring is also successfully used for mixing with the still wines, and is attaining a popularity among the Germans.

THE STAR SPRING

Is located on Spring avenue near the termination of Circular street.

Star Spring Co., proprietors, Melvin Wright, Superintendent.

History.

Under the name of President Spring, and afterwards Iodine Spring, the fountain now called the Star has been known for nearly a century; long enough to test its merits and long enough to sink it in oblivion if it possessed no merits. Its l.u.s.tre is undimmed, and it promises to be a star that shall never set. During these many years a goodly proportion of tottering humanity have found in this spring an amendment to their several crippled const.i.tutions. It was first tubed in 1835. In 1865 the Star Spring Co. was formed, and in the following year the spring was retubed under their direction. In 1870 they erected the finest bottling-house in Saratoga. Great care is taken to preserve the spring in a pure condition and perfect repair. The water has become immensely popular in New England, where it is "the spring," and throughout the United States and Canada.

For Commercial Use.

The water is sold in cases of quarts and pints, and besides, owing to the large amount of gas which is finely incorporated with the water, the company are enabled to supply families with it in kegs of fifteen gallons, in which the water keeps as well as in bottles, and at one-fourth to one-sixth the cost. This method seems to give entire satisfaction and is fast coming into general use. This is the only spring that supplies the water in bulk to families. The price to druggists in bulk is twenty cents per gallon, to families $4 per half barrel, to the trade in cases at $21 per gross for pints, and $30 per gross for quarts.

Properties.

The Star water is mildly cathartic, has a pleasant, slightly acid taste, gentle and healthy in its action, and yet powerful in its effects.

It is far more desirable for general use as a cathartic than the preparations of the apothecary.

Rev. Dr. Cuyler, in one of his peculiarly charming letters, gives the Star Water preference over all others as an active and efficient cathartic.

THE TEN SPRINGS.

This is the name which was formerly given to several springs in the immediate vicinity of the Excelsior, and embracing the Union and the Minnehaha, which have been recently tubed. The other springs have been neglected, and the name "Ten Springs" has been abandoned.

THE UNITED STATES SPRING

Is located under the same colonnade as the Pavilion, and less than ten feet distant from it. When the Pavilion was being retubed, in 1868, a new spring was discovered flowing from the east (the Pavilion and nearly all the other springs flowing from the west). It has been carefully tubed and christened the United States. It seems to be tonic in its properties, with only a very slight cathartic effect. It is now used for mixing with the still wines by our German citizens, who find in it the virtues of their own Na.s.sau Spring. There are very few of the Saratoga waters that can be used successfully with the red and white wines, the presence of a very large proportion of chloride of sodium being considered an objection. The United States Spring seems to fully answer the purpose, giving to the wines a rich flavor and sparkling character.

It is a matter of surprise to visitors that two springs, welling up their waters so near together, should yet be widely different. Where nature in her subterranean laboratory obtains all the elements, and how she can manage that from one crevice shall issue a water whose ingredients shall never materially differ, and whose temperature shall remain constant throughout the year, while within a few feet she sends up an equally unvarying, and yet widely different spring, is indeed a problem, and the oftener one reflects on subjects of this kind, the oftener is the old fashioned observation repeated, that "let a man go where he will, Omnipotence is never from his view."

THE WASHINGTON SPRING

Is situated in the grounds of the Clarendon Hotel, on South Broadway.

History.

This fountain was the first tubed in this mineral valley, being opened by Gideon Putnam, in 1806. It was used for bathing purposes chiefly.

Dr. Steel writes of it in 1828, that it is "found of eminent service when applied to old, ill-conditioned ulcers, and obstinate eruptions of the skin." A cl.u.s.ter of bushes formed a shelter for the external use of the water.

In 1858 a shaft eleven feet square was sunk round the spring to a depth of thirty feet. The stream seemed to come from a lateral direction, and a tunnel was excavated for a distance of thirty feet.

At this point the earth gave way, and the water and gas flowed in so suddenly that the workmen hardly escaped with their lives, leaving their tools behind them. In fifteen minutes 12,000 gallons of water, and double that quant.i.ty of gas, filled the excavation. Rotary pumps, worked by a steam engine, were insufficient to remove the water.

Another shaft, near the end of the tunnel, was sunk to a depth of twenty-eight feet, when the water burst into this also, and it had to be abandoned. A third shaft, twenty feet in diameter, and held by a strong coffer dam, was sunk southeast of the former. When the rock was reached two streams were found issuing from a fissure; one of them was tubed, and water rose to the surface.

This brief sketch will give a little idea of the difficulties and dangers incident to the tubing of some of these springs.

Properties.

This is a chalybeate or iron spring, having _tonic_ and diuretic properties. It is not a saline water, and the peculiar inky taste of iron is perceptible. It should be drank in the afternoon or evening, before or after meals, or just before retiring. One gla.s.s is sufficient for tonic purposes. Many regard this as the most agreeable beverage in Saratoga. It is frequently called the "Champagne Spring"

from its sparkling properties.

The grounds in the immediate vicinity are very picturesque, and in the evening are lighted by gas. The Clarendon Band discourse their music on the neighboring piazza, and large numbers of fashionably attired people throng beneath the majestic pines, forming one of those peculiar group pictures which render Saratoga so charming.

EUREKA WHITE SULPHUR SPRING

Is about a mile east of Broadway and only a few rods distant from the Eureka Mineral and the Ten Springs. Lake avenue and Spring avenue lead directly to it. Stages run between the spring and the village every hour, pa.s.sing the princ.i.p.al hotels. Eureka Spring Co. are the proprietors.