Saratoga and How to See It | Page 3

and on that account do not, like iron, opium, quinia, etc., exhibit single effects; they exercise rather, with rare exceptions, combined effects, and these are again modified by various modes of employment and the time and circumstances of their use.

The Discovery of the Springs.
All the older springs have been found in beds of blue marl, or clay rather, which cover the valley more or less throughout its whole extent. On digging into this clay to any considerable depth, we are pretty certain to find traces of mineral water. In some places, at the depth of six or eight feet, it has been discovered issuing from a fissure or seam in the underlying limestone, while at other places it seems to proceed from a thin stratum of quicksand which is found to alternate with the marl at distances of from ten to forty feet, below which bowlders of considerable size are found.
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."
Mr. Jessie Button, to whom we are indebted for both the Glacier and the Geyser springs, seems best to understand the process of successfully boring artesian wells, having made these his special study and profession. Like Moses of old, he strikes, or taps, the rock and behold streams of water gush forth.

Are the Springs Natural?
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. Such wonders as the spouting springs, the "strongest" in Saratoga, come from so small an orifice in the ground, as to preclude the least possibility of adulteration. Besides, the manufactured article would be too costly to allow such immense quantities to flow away unused.
But to argue this question would be a reductio ad absurdum. _Nature is far better than the laboratory._ Artificial waters may simulate the natural in taste and appearance, but fall far short of their therapeutic effects.

The Commercial Value
Of the various springs differs as widely as does people's estimate of their individual merits. Spring water property is very expensive. It costs large sums of money to manage some of the springs. The old method of tubing, by sinking a curb, may cost several thousand dollars, and is uncertain then. Moreover, it is no small work to keep the springs in perfect repair, and in a clean and pure condition.
The artesian wells cost not far from $6 per foot for the boring, and are much less expensive.
Most of the springs are owned by stock companies, with a capital ranging from several hundred thousand to a million dollars. 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. of profit is not enormous. The use of mineral water, both as a beverage and for medicinal purposes, is increasing, and there may be "a good time coming," when these springs will bring wealth to the owner as they give health to the drinker.

The Medicinal Value of the Waters.
There is no doubt of their power to promote evacuations of effete accumulations from the kidneys, skin and bowels.
Dr. Draper, an eminent physician, in speaking of the springs, says: "They restore suppressed, and correct vitiated secretions, and so renovate health, and are also the means of introducing many medicines into the system in a state of minute subdivision, in which they exert a powerful alterative and curative action."
The value of mineral water has been shown in the treatment of obscure and chronic diseases. In many instances persons have been restored to health, or greatly relieved, by the use of