Saratoga and How to See It | Page 9

Just before us, as we reach a point where the avenue turns towards the Excelsior, is the fine summer hotel known as the Mansion House, and the pretty cottage residence of Mr. Henry Lawrence.
[Illustration: BOTTLE MARK.]
[Illustration: TRADE MARK.]
History.
The Excelsior Spring has been appreciated for its valuable qualities by some of the oldest visitors of Saratoga for more than half a century. The water, however, was not generally known to the public until in 1859, when Mr. H.H. Lawrence, the former owner, and father of the present proprietors, retubed the spring at a considerable expense, having excavated it to a depth of fifty-six feet, eleven of which are in the solid rock. By this improvement the water flows with all its properties undeteriorated, retaining from source to outlet its original purity and strength. Since then, the present proprietors, under the firm of A.R. Lawrence & Co., by a new and improved method of bottling and barreling the Excelsior water under its own hydrostatic pressure, have given it an increased reputation and it is rapidly attaining a wide-spread popularity.
Properties.
The water of this spring is a pleasant cathartic, and has also alterative and tonic properties, and is moreover a very delightful beverage. Two or three glasses in the morning is the dose as a cathartic. As an alterative and diuretic, it should be taken in small quantities during the day. We have seen stronger commendations of this water from the highest medical authority than of any other.
Exportation of the Water.
After a refreshing draught from this sparkling and delicious fountain, let us not fail to examine the proprietors' peculiar and very perfect method of bottling and barreling the Excelsior water by its own hydrostatic pressure. Since last season a handsome brick bottling-house has replaced the ancient wooden structure. Entering this bottling-house we find our way to a capacious and well-lighted cellar, in which we discover a perpendicular opening some ten feet in diameter; this proves to be a circular brick vault, in whose depths the process of filling is performed. Twelve feet below the surface of the spring a block tin tube conveys the water into reservoirs placed at the bottom of this vault. These reservoirs are strong oak barrels, lined with pure block tin in such a manner as to be perfectly gas-tight, and furnished with two tubes, one quite short and the other extending from the top to the bottom of the reservoir. Then, by filling the reservoirs through the long tube by hydrostatic pressure, the air is excluded, while the gas is not allowed to escape. When sold on draught, it is necessary simply to connect the long tube with the draught tube, and the short tube with an air pump, when the water can be forced out by the pressure of the air, and will flow forth sparkling and delicious as at the spring, without being re-charged with gas.
[Illustration: GEYSER SPRING THE SPOUTING SPRING]
Having concluded our investigation, and tarried to notice the MINNEHAHA, UNION, and other springs which bubble up in this immediate vicinity, we have now the choice of continuing along the banks of a winding stream to the Eureka and White Sulphur Springs, or of returning by the way of Lake avenue. But should we prefer the healthful exercise of walking, we may dismiss our carriage and stroll into those magnificent woods that border the hill and valley for half a mile between Excelsior Spring and the village. Through them there is a wide and shady path, well known to visitors who love the picturesque, and along its winding way is found the shortest walk to the center of the village.
The beauty of this region would seem to indicate it as the proper site for the future Central Park of Saratoga.

THE GEYSER SPOUTING SPRING
Is about a mile and a half below the village, on the Ballston road, and near the railroad. Business address, "Geyser Spring."
History.
This wonderful mineral fountain was discovered in February. 1870. There had been indications of mineral water in this neighborhood, which had been noticed for a long time. The building which is now used as a bottling-house, and beneath which the spring was found, was used as a bolt factory. The proprietors, Messrs. Vail and Seavy, determined to bore for a spring. They were successful, and when they had reached a point 140 feet below the surface rock, they struck the mineral vein. The water immediately burst forth with vehemence, and the marvelous phenomenon of a spouting spring was established.
The orifice bored in the rock is five and a half inches in diameter and 140 feet deep. The tubing is a block tin pipe, encased with iron, eighty-five feet in length and two inches in diameter. The diameter of the orifice of the tube is three-eighths of an inch. The tube is firmly secured at