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remain open during the whole year. Besides
these, there are several respectable hotels of less
note, affording good accommodations both sum-
mer and winter. Near the springs there are sev-
eral public bathing-houses, where cold and warm
water, and shower baths, can at all times be ob-
tained.
The celebrated mineral waters, which are the
great cause of attraction to this place, require a
more particular notice. They issue from the
limestone formation, which underlies the whole
surface of sandy soil upon which the village is
built; most of them coming out near the margin
of a small stream which runs through the village,
in the narrow valley on the E. of the principal
street., It is not known at what precise period
these springs were first discovered. It is said
that the whites discovered them by remarking the
track of the deer, who frequented them in such
numbers as to wear a path to the spot. In 1773,
a settlement was established here for the double
purpose of trading with the Indians, and of accom-
modating invalids who might seek the benefit of
two of these fountains of health, which were then
all that were known. These were those since dis-
tinguished as the Flat Rock and the High Rock
Springs, which had made themselves more ob-
vious than the rest by a remarkable limestone
deposit around their orifices.
There are now ten or twelve different springs
coming to the surface, within the extent of about
half a mile, in whose waters the mineral elements
of soda, magnesia, lime, and iron, with others in
less volume, are combined, in different propor-
tions, with carbonic acid gas. Their prevailing
character is that of saline and chalybeate waters.
Congress Spring, Washington Spring, Putnam's
Spring, Pavilion Spring, Iodine Spring, Hamilton
Spring, Empire Spring, and the Flat Rock and
High Rock Springs, may be mentioned as the
most celebrated for their medicinal virtues. A
cluster, known as the “ Ten Springs,'' is situated
about a mile E. of the village, the most valued
of which is known as the Union Spring. The
Mansion House, a well-kept summer establish-
ment, is near to this locality.
The Congress Spring is ,the most copious, the
most frequented, and the most salubrious of all
the springs in Saratoga. It was discovered in
1792, by a member of Congress, named Gillman,
issuing from an aperture in the side of a rock,
which formed the margin of a little brook. Af-
ter several years, the supply from this small ori-
fice in the rock being wholly insufficient to meet
the increasing demands of visitors, an attempt
was made to remove the obstructions to its more
abundant flow; in consequence of which the
spring for a time disappeared, and was supposed
to be forever lost. But at length signs of gas
were observed rising through the water, from the
bottom of the brook, which led to the ultimate
recovery of this most invaluable fountain. By
turning aside the stream, and digging about 8
feet through marl and gravel to the rock, its per-
manent source was found, and over it a tube 10
inches square was placed, through which an
abundant supply of the finest mineral water con-
tinually rises to the surface. The Pavilion Spring
also is brought from an orifice in.the rock 40 feet
under ground, and tubed up at great expense.
This spring contains more of the carbonic acid
gas than any other, and next to the Congress is
most resorted to. |
These waters are highly efficacious in many
inveterate cases of disease. But even this is not
their most important benefit. They have an al-
most magic effect upon the healthy system, to
renovate and invigorate its energies, when relaxed
from long confinement to business, or from sed-
entary habits, and to remove the latent causes of
languor and disease. Their chief medicinal
properties are of the cathartic and tonic kinds.
Large quantities of these waters are bottled,
transported, and sold in the various cities, which
is one of the methods in which the springs,
which are mostly the property of individuals,
are made a source of profit to their several own-
ers. For the use of the water at the springs
no expense is incurred, except what is volun-
tarily given to those in waiting. It is a sufficient
proof of the estimation in which they are held,
to state that upwards of 35,000 persons generally
visit Saratoga during the summer season,, and
that there are sometimes not less than 3000 vis-
itors at the same time in the various hotels and
boarding-houses.
We copy the following analysis of several of
the above-named springs from the little work of
Dr. R. L. Allen, a physician resident at Sara-
toga : —
Congress Spring. To one cubic gallon: chloride
of sodium, grs. 390.246 ; hydriodate of soda, and
bromide of potassium, 6.000 ; carbonate of soda,
9.213; carbonate of magnesia, 100.981 ; carbon-
ate of lime, 103.416; carbonate of iron, 1.000;
silex and alumina, 1.036. Solid contents, 611.892
Carbonic acid gas, 386.188 ; atmospheric air,
3.261. Gaseous contents, 389.449.
High Rock Spring. To one gallon: chloride
of sodium, grs. 190.233; carbonate of magne-
sia, 62.100 ; carbonate of lime. 71.533 ; carbonate
of soda, 18.421; carbonate of iron, 4.233 ; hydri-
odate of soda, 2.177 ; silex and alumina, 2.500;
hydriobromate of potash, a small quantity. Solid
contents, 351.197.
Carbonic acid gas, 331.666 ; atmospheric air,
2.000. Gaseous contents, 333.666.
Hamilton Spring. To one gallon : chloride of
sodium, grs. 290.500; carbonate of soda, 33.500 ;
carbonate of lime, 95.321 ; carbonate of magne-
sia, 38.000 ; carbonate of iron, 4.500 ; hydriodate
of soda, 3.500 ; bromide of potash, a trace ; silex
and alumina, 1.000. Solid contents, 466.321.
Carbonic acid gas, 340.777 ; atmospheric air,
2.461. Gaseous contents, 343.238. Tempera-
ture of the water, 48°.
Putnam's Spring. To one gallon : chloride of
sodium, grs. 220.000 ; carbonate of soda, 15.321 ;
carbonate of magnesia, 45.500; carbonate of lime,
70.433 ; carbonate of iron, 5.333 ; hydriodate of
soda, 2.500; bromide of potash, a trace; silex
and alumina, 1.500. Solid contents, 370.587.
Carbonic acid gas, 317.753; atmospheric air,
3.080. Gaseous contents, 320.833. Temptera-
ture, 48°. j
Iodine Spring. To one gallon: chloride ‘of
sodium, grs. 147.665; carbonate of magnesia,
73.348 ; carbonate of lime, 28.955 ; carbonate taf
soda, 3.000 ; carbonate of iron, .900 ; hydriodate
of soda, 3.566. Solid contents, 257.434. \
Carbonic acid gas, 344.000; atmospheric aiff,
2.500. Gaseous contents, 346.5. T
Pavilion Spring. To one gallon : chloride on
sodium, grs. 183.814; carbonate of soda, 6.000}
carbonate of lime, 59.593 ; carbonate of magnesia!
58.266 ; carbonate of iron, 4.133 ; iodide, sodiumj |
