Saratoga Springs

“ The bottom of the gorge was a wide, sandy wash much cut up by rains, full of boulders and grown over with brush. The vegetation became ever greener and more luxuriant. The wash looked like a wind-tossed green river between crumbly, precipitous mountains of many colors. Some were a dull red, some sage-green, [Pg 156] some buff, some dark yellow, while an occasional purple crag gave the canyon a savage appearance. These mountains had the velvet texture which we had seen at Saratoga Springs, especially the sage-green ones. ”

“ Is a question that will probably seem absurd to those who are at all familiar with mineral springs or Saratoga waters. Nevertheless, it is a not unfrequent and amusing occurrence to hear remarks from strangers and greenies who have a preconceived notion that the springs are doctored, and that a mixture of salts, etc., is tipped in every night or early in the morning! Strange that the art should be limited to the village of Saratoga! The incredulity of some people is the most ridiculous credulity known. ”

“ At this time the spring became the property of the Pavilion and United States Spring Co., composed of enterprising business men, under whose management the grounds have been rendered quite attractive and the water is becoming celebrated as one of the leading cathartic springs of far-famed Saratoga.
Properties.
There is a liveliness and pungency to this water which makes it a pleasant beverage. An abundance of gas, so much desired in a mineral spring, is so intimately associated with the water, and is so well "fixed" as to hold the medicinal constituents in a clear and permanent solution. ”

“ Arriving at Schnectady, we found the railroad train about to start for Saratoga springs; and, taking our places, we arrived at this Malvern of America about ten at night, after a delightful day's ride.
Next morning I got up early, and took a lounge about Saratoga. The nominal attraction to this place is its water, which is much in vogue, and may be procured all over the States, being bottled and sold under the name of Congress water; as in all such places however, pleasure, not health, is the end pursued by the majority of visitors. ”

“ The vicinity of Saratoga Springs possesses no attraction. Promenades are not yet constructed. The only pleasure which can be enjoyed must be sought in company. A large piazza is built before Congress Hall, to the pillars of which wild vines are attached, which almost reach the roof. I passed the evening in the lower parlour by the fire, with the governor and Mr. Schley, from Maryland, in very agreeable and instructive conversation. The ladies did not entertain us with music, because it was Sunday. ”

“ Nevertheless, Saratoga will always be the great watering-place of the New World. Newport has endeavored in vain to rival it; but, being at the sea-side, Newport will always have its worshipers, and so will Nahant, Cape May, and Rye Beach—especially for Western people, and those living in the interior—but for those living permanently at the sea-side, Sara-toga, Niagara, Sharon Springs, Oatskill Mountains, and Lebanon, offer the most attractions, and are always crowded with elegant people. ”

“ The Congress, Empire and Hathorn Springs send their bottled waters all over the world. The springs are all wonderfully clear and sparkling, most of the waters pleasant to drink, and it is such a Saratoga fashion to go about imbibing and tasting these waters of rival virtues, that the visitors sometimes get into a plethoric condition that becomes uncomfortable if not dangerous. ”

“ But the springs are not the chief attraction of Saratoga, and in fact the veteran 225 visitors do not partake of them at all, but freely confess that they come not to drink the waters, but to see the life and be "in the swim," for in the season the crowd at Saratoga, unlike anywhere else, includes the leaders of all sets. The proximity of the Adirondacks gives the bracing ozone of mountain air, and in the cosmopolitan throng is generally included the best the country can show of fashion and wealth. ”

“ Turning from Broadway to lesser streets of cheap hotels and plain boarding cottages, where weary women and girls had drudged all day long, and washerwomen moaned and fluting and ruffling were the amusements of the poor, Andrew Waples became haunted with the idea that Saratoga was poisoned, that every soul in the village was dead, and that he was to be the last man of the century to drink of the Springs. ”

“ The spouting springs have been found by experimental boring. As this is the cheapest and more certain method, it is "the popular thing" at present, and the day may not be far distant when all Saratoga will be punched through with artesian wells reaching hundreds of feet, if not through to China, and thus an open market made for the Saratoga waters among "the Heathen Chinee." ”

“ We needed a man accustomed to living on the desert, who knew the valley thoroughly, who could work in its heat and brightness, and who had the courage to take two ignorant enthusiasts there. We had lost the easy assurance with which we had talked at Joburg about going to Death Valley. No wonder the inhabitants of that town had been stunned when we said that we were on the way there! The unspeakable road beyond Saratoga Springs and the little gravel-ridge which we could not climb were sufficient warning of the nature of the undertaking. Mojave is not easily to be known as we would know her. ”

“ In air and scenery no more glorious summer residence could be imagined. The Coloradian of the future, astonishing the echoes of the rocky foothills by a railroad from Denver to the springs, and running down on Saturday to stop over Sunday with his family, will have little cause to envy us Easterners our Saratoga as he paces up and down the piazza of the Spa hotel, mingling his full-flavored Havana with that lovely air, unbreathed before, which is floating down upon him from the snow peaks of the range. ”

“ If the Saratoga waters are really what they have the reputation of being—and certainly no one who has witnessed their effects can deny their wonderful power—the purity of the water which is supplied to invalids, at a distance from the springs, becomes a matter of the utmost consequence. ”

“ On dit that the proprietors of the Geyser Spring were offered $175,000 for their fountain, and probably the Congress could not be purchased for quadruple that amount. It would not be a very profitable bargain if some of the springs could be bought for a song, even, and yet there is not enough mineral water in all the springs now discovered in the Saratoga valley to supply New York alone, if artificial waters were to be abandoned. The only profit of the springs is in the sale of the water in bottles and barrels; and as the method of bottling requires great care, and is expensive, the per cent. ”

“ We learned that this route was impossible for a car, and so dry that even pack-animals could hardly enter the valley that way. However, we could make a detour of nearly two hundred miles, striking the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad again at Zabrisky or Death Valley Junction, and possibly get in that way. During the debate the sheriff of Silver Lake, a silent person decorated with pistols, volunteered to go with us beyond the Avawatz as far as Saratoga Springs, and as much further as we could drive the car. ”

“ Owens Lake is a remarkable body of water, which is more than twice as salt as the Atlantic Ocean, Volcanic mineral springs are lugubriously situated in Death Valley, and Saratoga Springs at the south end of Funeral Range, south of Death Valley. ”

“ The walks to the springs in the early morning—the display of an elegant breakfast toilet upon the gallery or promenade—bowling in the forenoon—strolls to the Indian encampments, musical matinees, private concerts, lessons in the new dances in the ball-room, battledore upon the lawns and in the parlor, sherry cobblers, mint juleps and brandy smashes, groups for intellectual conversation, everywhere—then the dinner toilet preparations, the evening drives, excursions upon the lakes, moonlight flirtations and pleasant dreams—combine the excitements of a Saratoga day and night. ”

“ But for its vicinity to some tracts of beautiful scenery, Saratoga must be a very dull place to persons shaken out of their domestic habits, and deprived of their usual occupations; and the beauties of the scenery must be sought, Saratoga Lake lying three miles, Glen's Falls eighteen, and Lake George twenty-seven miles from the Springs.
At dinner Mr. R., the gentleman of our party, announced to us that he had been able to engage a pretty double gig, with a pair of brisk ponies, for ourselves, and a light cart for our luggage. The day was very cold for an open carriage ”

“ The most remarkable feature is, however, the break, or vertical fissure, which occurs in the Saratoga valley, which you see indicated in the cut. Notice, especially, the fact that the strata on one side of the fissure have been elevated above their original position, so that the Potsdam sandstone on the left meets the edges of the calciferous sand rock, and even the Trenton limestone on the right. It is in the line of this fissure, or fault, in the towns of Saratoga and Ballston that the springs occur. ”

“ The number of specific designs is limited, many of them being reproduced from two to six or seven times, thus seeming to partake of the character of personal names.
In a communication dated Saratoga Springs, at the lower part of Death valley, California, February 5, 1891, Mr. E. W. Nelson says that about 200 yards from the springs, and on the side of a hill, he found [61] several petroglyphs. He also furnished a sketch as an example of their general type, now presented as Fig. 18. The locality is in the lower end of Death valley. Mr. Nelson says:
Fig. ”

“ II. MINERAL SPRINGS. The mineral springs in the state of New York, in excellence and variety, are unsurpassed in any part of the world. The most famous are called by the general name of the Saratoga and Ballston Springs, and are embraced in an extent of about twelve miles in the county of Saratoga. The first spring discovered in the neighborhood of Ballston stands on a flat. ”

“ Herr Barhydt is an old Dutch settler, who, till the mineral springs of Saratoga were discovered some four miles from his door, was buried in the depth of a forest unknown to all but the prowling Indian. The sky is supported above him, (or looks to be,) by a wilderness of straight columnar pine-shafts, gigantic in girth, and with no foliage except at the top, where they branch out like round tables spread for a banquet in the clouds. ”

“ There are other noted springs—the Hamilton, a mild cathartic; the Putnam, chalybeate, and having a bathing establishment; the Pavilion, a cathartic; the United States, a mild, agreeable tonic; and the Seltzer, rising through a tube several feet high, over the rim of which it flows, a sparkling and invigorating drink. The Empire closely resembles Congress water; the Red Spring is charged with much iron; and the Saratoga "A" Spring is a mild cathartic. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The mother of all these spouting wells—the Geyser Spring—is rearing quite a family of interesting children. We have heard it predicted that the time is not very distant when every citizen of Saratoga will have a mineral fountain in his door-yard. At present no successful efforts have been made to obtain a spouting spring in the village. We know of no reason to render success impossible or improbable. ”

“ You have left the American citizen and his wife, the orchestras, the pools, the precocious infants, the cocktails, the importations from Worth, but a mile or two behind, but already the forest is primeval and the landscape is without figures. Nothing could be less manipulated than the country about Saratoga. The heavy roads are little more than sandy wheel-tracks; by the tangled wayside the blackberries wither unpicked. The horizon undulates with an air of having it all its own way. ”

“ The spring is at some little distance from the business part of Saratoga, and, since the bottling-house was destroyed no special efforts have been made to attract a crowd of visitors, though many who know the virtues of the water take the pains and trouble to go out of their way to obtain it, fresh from the spring in all its purity, as it is held in the highest estimation by all who have used it. ”

“ And so we are at Saratoga. Now, of all places to stay at in the summer-time, Saratoga is the very last one to choose. It may have attractions in winter; but, if one wishes to rest and change and root down and shoot up and branch out, he might as well take lodgings in the water-wheel of a saw-mill. The uniformity and variety will be much the same. It is all a noiseless kind of din, narrow and intense. There is nothing in Saratoga nor of Saratoga to see or to hear or to feel. ”

“ The walk through the woods to Excelsior Spring is by far the most beautiful in Saratoga. To reach the grove, pedestrians and carriages will pass along Lake Avenue a little past Circular street, when a small sign will be found pointing the way to the "Walk to Excelsior Spring." No tourist should fail to visit this place. A pleasant hour may be spent in the woods, after a stroll through which, the delicious water of the Excelsior will be refreshing indeed. ”