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The Paik at Congiess bpriuj 
 
MI L L E R'S 
 
 GUIDE 
 
 TO 
 
 SAEATOGA SPRINGS 
 
 AND VICINITY. 
 
 JltustratM, 
 
 1SG7 
 
 BY 
 
 T. ADDISON RICHARDS. 
 
 ^^ KEW YORK : 
 
 PUBLISHED BY JAMES MILLER, 
 522 BROADWAY. 
 
 1867. 
 
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 c,-? 
 
 ^^ 
 
 Entered according to act of Congress, in tlie year 1867, 
 
 Bt JAMES MILLER, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
 Southern District of New York. 
 
 Little, Rennie & Co., 
 
 PRrNTERS AND STEREOTrPERS, 
 430 BROOME BTREST, N. T. 
 
OOIiTTEETS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Topography 9 
 
 History 11 
 
 Routes to Saratoga 1*7 
 
 Nomenclature 20 
 
 Hotels 21 
 
 Union Hotel . . . . , 23 
 
 The OW and New Congress Hall 24 
 
 The Clarendon Hotel 25 
 
 Temple Grove Hotel 26 
 
 The American Hotel 26 
 
 The Manrin House 26 
 
 The Columbian Hotel 26 
 
 The Old United States Hotel 27 
 
 The Water Cures 27 
 
 The Saratoga Hop 28 
 
 The Leland Opera House 31 
 
 The Mineral Waters 33 
 
 The Congress Spring 35 
 
 The High Rock Spring 37 
 
 The Empire Spring 41 
 
b CONTENTS. 
 
 PAOB 
 
 The Columbian Spring 43 
 
 The Washington Spring 44 
 
 The Pavilion Spring 45 
 
 The Hamilton Spring 47 
 
 The Putnam Spring 48 
 
 The Star Spring .' 49 
 
 The Excelsior Spring 50 
 
 The "A" Spring 51 
 
 The Ten Springs 51 
 
 The EUis Spring 51 
 
 Reed's Spring 52 
 
 The White Sulphur Spring 52 
 
 The Indian Encampment 53 
 
 The Railway Station 54 
 
 Broadway 55 
 
 The Park 57 
 
 The Churches 58 
 
 Country-Seats 59 
 
 The Saratoga Races 60 
 
 Saratoga Lake 63 
 
 The Cemetery 65 
 
 Wagman's Hill 67 
 
 Chapman's HUl 68 
 
 Barhydt's Lake 69 
 
 Lake Lovely 69 
 
 SchuylervUle 70 
 
 Ballston Springs 71 
 
 Luzerne 72 
 
CONTENTS. . Y 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Styles' Hill "^S 
 
 Waring Hill 74 
 
 Haggerty Hill T4 
 
 Corinth Falls T5 
 
 The Saratoga Battle-Ground 76 
 
 Baker's Falls 80 
 
 Glen's Falls 80 
 
 Lake George — , 82 
 
 Dome Island 84 
 
 Bolton 84 
 
 The Tongue Mountain 85 
 
 Shelving Eock 85 
 
 The Narrows 85 
 
 The Black Mountain v 86 
 
 Sabhath-Day Point 87 
 
 Prisoners' Island 88 
 
 Ticonderoga 89 
 
SARATOGA 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 
 
 The little village of Saratoga, where dwells the benign 
 goddess Hygeia in the midst of her far-famed waters of 
 life and health, is most pleasantly hidden within the heart 
 of a broad stretch of varied table-land, in the upper part 
 and near the eastern boundaiy of the great State of New 
 York. The location is not remarkable for natural beauty, 
 yet its immediate surroundings are by no means without 
 attractions, while within easy reach, all about, may be 
 found many of those beautiful landscape scenes for which 
 the Empire State is so justly renowned. 
 
 The village, while most agreeably secluded from, is yet 
 within the easiest and speediest reach of the busy world 
 around. It is large enough to boast of a fixed population 
 of some seven thousand, which may be trebled in summer- 
 time by foreign incursion ; and it possesses in abundance 
 all the many ways and means of convenient and pleasur- 
 able life, in a liberal furniture of churches, schools, stores, 
 
10 SAEATOGA, 
 
 shops, and all other appointments of home and social ease 
 and comfort ; with all of which it still retains that quiet 
 countiy aspect, so grateful always to the eye and heart of 
 the wearied format escaping from the galleys of Fashion 
 and of Trade, and seeking the recuperating quiet and repose 
 of country life. Even the most thronged portions of the 
 village, where stand the great summer hotels, the flaring 
 emporiums of the city modes, and all the transient glare 
 and glitter of congregated fashion, are gratefully tempered 
 by the screening and cooling shade of verdant trees : 
 while reaching far around this more busy region, stretch 
 long avenues of picturesque cottages, interspersed agree- 
 ably with more stately villas and manorial homes. 
 
 It is a healthful region, within the reach and influence 
 of mountain airs, and is desirable, in this respect, as a 
 summer abode, even apart from the great resom-ce in its 
 exhaustless mineral fountains. Pleasant roads also lead 
 outward in all directions to still pleasanter resorts, as we 
 shall see in other divisions of our story — roads not so fault- 
 less to be sure as the well-graded and hardened di-ives of 
 the Central Park ; for the soil is sandy, and has, at best, its 
 ups and downs : as, indeed, country roads should have, to 
 maintain their proper rural spirit. It may be all veiy well 
 for the professional tourist to reach the summit of Mount 
 Washington or the icy crest of Mont Blanc by the time- 
 table and the rail ; but where in that case is the old 
 traditional and natural romance and adventm'e of countiy 
 life and travel ? In the near neighborhood of Saratoga are 
 the upper waters of the beautiful Hudson, yet fresh and 
 bright from their mountain cradles, not far away. Hard 
 by, in another direction, flows the gentle Mohawk, through 
 
SAEATOGA. 11 
 
 placid and fniitful meadows and plains. Many other pic- 
 turesque streams dance amidst tlie region, and numerous 
 sweet lakes and lakelets lie around. Within the range of 
 a pleasant excursion are the great waters of Champlain, 
 and equally accessible are the smaller but more lovely 
 floods of Lake George, while yet beyond stretches the 
 great wilderness of the Adirondack, with its w^eird lakes 
 and its rock-ribbed hills, — to this day, a terra incognita, 
 scarcely invaded by human habitation, and abounding in 
 all its ancient stores of game, in beast, and bird, and fish, 
 from the wary trout to the lordly moose — profuse even to 
 the disgust of the scientific Walton or Nimrod, who needs 
 the intervention of difliculty to give zest to his sport. 
 
 With so many, so varied, and so pleasant surroundings, 
 the summer resident at Saratoga will be at no loss, when 
 the dust of fashion gathers too thickly about him, to shake 
 it off* at intervals, in more quiet and secluded haunts : 
 returning from a day's, or even a few hours' excursion, 
 with renewed life and invigorated spirits. 
 
 HISTORY. 
 
 There is veiy little doubt that the mineral waters of 
 Saratoga were well known to the aboriginal inhabitants, 
 long before they were visited by the white men, and that 
 they employed them as remedial agents, with the same 
 intuition which they have ever displayed in their discern- 
 ment of the virtues of the herbs and trees of their native 
 wilds. To be sure they subjected the brooks to no scientific 
 analysis, and knew nothing of a sodand sodium, of lime, 
 
12 SARATOGA. 
 
 or magnesia, of hydrogen or oxygen, or of the thousand 
 and one unpronounceable diseases to which the waters 
 gave relief: but they nevertheless always adapted the cure 
 to the complaint as effectually as the most learned Escu- 
 lapius of our own wise age. We may imagine the unctuous 
 " ugh " of content or of disgust, — according to taste, — with 
 which some antediluvian " Hole-in-the-Day " bent down in 
 the primeval woods, and, pushing aside the weeds and 
 snakes, won an appetite for breakfast from the stimulus 
 of the bubbling brook. The scene must have been more 
 picturesque, though maj^-be less comfortable, than that 
 now presented of the beaux and belles daintily touching 
 the crystal goblet with gloved fingers, or guarding their 
 silken robes, as they diink, from the dampness of the tes- 
 sellated marble floors.* 
 
 The Springs fii-st became known to the European set- 
 tlers in the latter part of the last century, when they were 
 visited by Sir William Johnson, then in the service of the 
 British government. This was in the year 1767. Sir 
 William, who held at that period a major-general's com- 
 mission under his majesty George III., had two years 
 before defeated the French forces under the Baron Dies- 
 kau, at the battle of Lake George. In this engagement 
 he received a severe wound, from which, at inteiTals, he 
 was ever afterwards a great sufferer. It was to alleviate 
 the pain of these attacks that he followed the counsels 
 of some friendly Mohawks, and detemiined to visit the 
 Springs. His worthy name was thus that of the first Euro- 
 
 * The author, in the " Kuickerbocker Magazine," October, 1859. 
 
SARATOGA. 13 
 
 pean ever entered upon the visitors' record at Saratoga. 
 Of course he did not travel by rail, as we do to-day, or by 
 post, as did our great-grandmothers, but through the bush 
 and brake of the wild Indian trail, as best he could ; neither 
 did he find shelter under the broad and hospitable roof of 
 any Union or Congress Hall, but rested his weary limbs 
 beneath the shelter of his simple forest tent only. Unhap- 
 pily, he did not benefit himself by his visit so much as he 
 did the thousands who have since followed his valuable 
 guidance. 
 
 In Mr. Wilham L. Stone's admirable "Life and Times 
 of Sir William Johnson " we are told the valiant baronet, 
 *' accompanied by his Indian guides, set out on his journey 
 on the 22d of August, and, passing down the Mohawk in 
 a boat, soon reached Schenectady. At this place, being too 
 feeble either to walk or ride, he was placed on a litter and 
 borne upon the stalwart shoulders of his Indian attendants 
 through the woods to Ballston Lake. Tariying overnight 
 at the log-cabin of Michael McDonald, an Irishman who 
 had recently begun a clearing on the shores of the lake, the 
 party plunged again into the forest, and following the 
 trail of Indian hunters, along the shores of Lake Saratoga 
 and its chief tributary, the Kayaderosscras, reached their 
 destination." 
 
 The particular spring of which Sir William drank, was 
 that very remarkable one now known among the numer- 
 ous group as the High Rock ; and which must therefore 
 receive the honors of, and be duly respected as the vener- 
 able father of this mighty family of magic waters. 
 
 The period of Su* William's visit to the High Rock, it 
 will be seen, was that of the famous war in this region 
 2 
 
14 SAEATOGA. 
 
 between the French in Canada and the English below the 
 St. Lawrence, and their Indian allies on either side. Forts 
 had been erected, and settlements made at various points 
 through the region, as far north as Lake George, but the 
 troublous state of the country forbade any veiy rapid or 
 permanent colonization, until the tomahawk was finally 
 buried and the pipe of peace was smoked. 
 
 It was not rmtil the year 1773, six years after Sir Wil- 
 liam Johnson's initial visit, that the first clearing was made 
 and the first cabin erected at the Springs. The hardy 
 adventurer who accomplished this brave feat was Derick 
 Scowton. He commenced business in the double capacity 
 of hotel-keeper and Indian trader. Unluckily, matters did 
 not thrive between bold Derick and his red neighbors, who 
 made his new home so unpleasantly hot that he found it 
 wise to abdicate, leading his hotel incomplete. 
 
 Derick was followed a year later, and with better suc- 
 cess, by George Arnold, an adventurer from Rhode Island. 
 Arnold took possession of the vacated Scowton House, and 
 " ran " it, as we say at this day, with tdlerable success, for 
 about two years. How many daily arrivals he had is not 
 upon the record, neither does history enlighten us in respect 
 to his bill of fare, or his per diem. Still, it is clear that 
 neither one nor the other in any way approached the 
 Leland " ideas " of our day. 
 
 The third Saratoga landlord was one Samuel Norton, 
 who squatted on the Scowton estate soon after the exit 
 of George Aniold. Norton made various improvements, 
 clearing and cultivating the land around him. He might 
 have made a " good thing " of his enterprise, but, as ill- 
 luck would have it, the first mutterings of the great storm of 
 
SAEATOGA. 15 
 
 the Revolution just then began to greet his terrified ears^, 
 causing him to decamp, and thus leave the Hotel Scowtoni 
 again without a landlord. Norton was at length,, in the- 
 year 1783, succeeded by his son, who, takihg possession of 
 the old property, still further improved it, until 1787,. whert 
 he sold out to Gideon Morgan, who in his turn and within 
 the same year made it over to Alexander Biyan.. 
 
 Bryan became the first permanent settler at the Spiings 
 after the close of the war. He enriched the estate with a 
 blacksmith's shop and an additional log-house.. 
 
 The days of the Scowtons, the Arnolds, the ISTortons,. 
 the Morgans, and the Bryans. were the primitive days of 
 very small things ; indeed the first or exploratoiy epoch 
 in the settlement of the spring. regix)n. They were followed 
 in 1789 by a new and more brilliant era, under the reign 
 of the Putnams — an era and reign which steadily advanced 
 from that hour, and has continued, ever expanding, down 
 to our own days of full fruition. 
 
 Gideon Putnam is deservedly remembered as the father, 
 of Saratoga, by virtue of the many and. varied contribu- 
 tions which he made to the growth and prosperity of the 
 village, from his first settlement in it, in his early youth,, to 
 his death, twenty-three years later. He was a Massachu- 
 setts man, who set out in quest of fortune in the sphit of 
 indomitable energy which he never afterwards failed to- 
 display in all his many undertakings. 
 
 He reached Saratoga, or rather the site of the present vil- 
 lage — for the region was then still a wilderaess in the year 
 1789. Before reaching this his pemianent and final abode,, 
 as it afterwards proved to be, he wandered far through, 
 the wilderness, making various unsatisfactory attempts to 
 
16 SARATOGA. 
 
 ^enshrine his household gods. He fii*st pitched Ws tent 
 and built a hut in Vermont, on the spot now occupied by 
 Middlebuiy, Later he established himself in Rutland. 
 From Rutland he moved on to the "Five Nations," or 
 *' Bemis Flats ; " and from thence he made his final journey 
 to the forest land, now traversed by the streets of Saratoga. 
 The first occupation of the hardy pioneer in his new home 
 was of course to erect a cabin to shelter himself and his 
 family, for the locality boasted no furnished houses to let 
 at that period. He next leased some three hundi'ed acres 
 of land, which he set about clearing and cultivating. Soon 
 after he erected a mill, by means of which he sawed lum- 
 ber, which he sold in New York — realizing from it the 
 means of gtill further advancing his improvements at home. 
 Step by step he laid the foundations of his village, and step 
 by step saw it grow and thrive, until in the year 1802, only 
 thirteen years after his first sight of the spot as a wilder- 
 ness, he commenced the erection of the building since so 
 familiarly known as " Union Hall," and now one of the 
 most spacious and popular hotels in the land. 
 
 It .is -said that Putnam's ambition, from early youth, 
 was to build himself a "great house;" and though that 
 portion of the Union Hotel which he erected — some seventy 
 feet in extent — was but a small part of the present edifice, 
 still it was a mammoth stracture for its day and location. 
 Putnam afterwards commenced the buildiug of that other 
 spacious structure opposite the Union, the late Congress 
 Hall. While the masons were at work on the piazza of 
 the Congress, he was walking upon the scafiblding, which 
 gave way, and precipitated him and others on to the rocka 
 and timbers beneath, breaking some of his ribs and other- 
 
SARATOGA. . 17 
 
 "wise so injuring him that lie never fully recoyei'ed from 
 the effects. 
 
 It is to the enterprise and industry of this hardy founder 
 that Saratoga is indebted, more than to all others put to- 
 gether, not only for her general improvement at this stage 
 of her histoiy, but for the development and utilization of 
 her mineral waters. One after the other, he excavated and 
 tubed the principal fountains, and put them in that condi- 
 tion which has in due time won for them their world-wide 
 renown. He died on the first day of December, 1812, and 
 was the first person buried in the cemetery which he had 
 himself presented to the village. 
 
 The famous hotel of Union Hall, erected by Gideon 
 Putnam, was conducted by himself and his descendants, 
 almost to the present day. The period of its history — from 
 the early time when it displayed the sign of " Put and the 
 Wolf," to the recent day when it passed out of the conduct 
 of the family, and had grown too stately to bear any sign 
 at all — is the period of the growth and maturity of the 
 village and its present enviable fame. The further histoiy 
 of Saratoga may be better read in our proposed glance at 
 the various scenes and objects of interest, as we may meet 
 with them in our rambles over the village and its viciaage. 
 
 ROUTES TO SARATOGA. 
 
 Sir "William Johnson, the first white visitor at Saratoga, 
 
 had, as we have already said in our brief historical chapter, 
 
 considerable difficulty in finding his tedious way thither, 
 
 through forest and dell, with no better guidance than a 
 
 2* 
 
18 SAEATOGA. 
 
 blind Indian trail. Happily for us, tlie roads have been 
 somewhat improved within the hundi'ed years that have 
 gone by since the valiant baronet made his fashionable 
 tour. 
 
 Now-a-days, instead of blazing the forest-trees as we go, 
 we blaze along, thirty miles per horn*, upon the endless, 
 irresistible rail, and in the interval between breakfast and 
 dinner reach our destination from points hundreds of miles 
 removed. Our journey, too, from whatever du-ection, may 
 be as pleasant as it will be speedy, cai-rying us, as it 
 will, through some of the most pictm'esque scenery in the 
 land. 
 
 From New York we reach Saratoga via the charming 
 passage of the lordly Hudson, which we may follow by 
 rail along its banks or on the decks of one or other of the 
 sumptuous steamers which ply the broad waters by day 
 and by night. The hours of travel in this direction will 
 fly fast enough, in the contemplation of the varied and 
 sti-iking scenes which will arrest the eye at eveiy step — 
 the rugged flanks of the Palisade, the great Tappan Sea, the 
 cliffs and crags of the Highlands at West Point, the beau- 
 tiful Bay of Newburgh, the long ranges of the Catskills, 
 and the endless succession of cities, towms, and villas which 
 everywhere bedeck the shores. Rightly to enjoy this part 
 of the trip, the tourist should provide himself with Miller's 
 " Illustrated Guide to the Hudson," recently published in 
 a style uniform with our present volume. 
 
 On reaching Albany or Troy, the tourist will continue 
 and complete his journey by rail. The whole distance from 
 New York to the Springs is about two hundi'ed miles, the 
 time six hom's, and the fare about three dollars and a half. 
 
SARATOGA. 19 
 
 The readiest route is by Troy, where the change from one 
 railway to another is made without trouble in the same 
 depot. The crossing of the river at Albany involves some 
 care, and, perchance, confusion to the uninitiated. 
 
 Before this volume is published it is most likely that 
 the new railway route, via Athens, on the Hudson, will be 
 opened. This will be a better way from New York to 
 the Springs than any other. Passengei*s may leave the 
 Metropolis in the night-boats, and landing at Athens, some 
 thu'ty miles below Albany, take the cars, and be at Sara- 
 toga in good season for breakfast. 
 
 From Boston the route is direct, two hundred miles, via 
 the Western Railway to Albany, and thence as from New 
 York. The journey, though rather long for one day's 
 work, is an interesting one. It leads through the entire 
 length of Massachusetts, calling at Wooster and Spiingfield 
 and Pittsfield, and traversing much of the beautiful moun- 
 tain region in the northwestern part of the old Bay State. 
 Taken in instalments it would be pleasant enough ; but 
 the old saying, " too much of a good thing," etc., is always 
 painfully verified in railway travel, no matter how pic- 
 turesque may be the region through which one is passing. 
 
 Another and perhaps better route from Boston, is via, 
 Fitchburg and Bellows Falls. 
 
 From Buffalo and the West, Saratoga is quickly reached, 
 by the route of the Central Railrc-ad to Schenectady, and 
 thence via Ballston Springs. It 's a pleasant though a 
 long journey, and affords a peep at many important cities 
 and towns and at much picturesque landscape. 
 
 From Montreal and other northern points, the traveller 
 may reach the Springs via Lake Champlain to Whitehall,, 
 
20 SARATOGA. 
 
 and thence by rail ; or he may leave the lake at Burling- 
 ton, and make the rest of his way by the Vermont rail- 
 roads. 
 
 NOMENCLATURE. 
 
 Saratoga is an Indian word of the dialect of the Iroquois. 
 The inflection oga at the end is said to mean place, while 
 the Sa-ra, or, as it is otherwise written, 8ar-at, and again 
 8ar-agh, is supposed to be equivalent to salt, — making the 
 original designation, Saraghtoga, to mean the place of salt 
 spiings. Again, it is by other Indian scholars supposed 
 that Saragh means heri'ings — and thus the Tfvhole word, 
 "the place where herrings are caught;" referring to the 
 shoals of that fish which foi-merly made their way up the 
 Hudson and through Fish Creek into Saratoga Lake. 
 
 The writings of the early French explorei-s in the 
 " Jesuit Relations " seem to point definitely to the latter 
 interpretation in preference to the former. The whole 
 question, however, is so obscure as to make it scarcely 
 worth consideration, except as a matter of curious specu- 
 lation, for the employment of the idle hours of some 
 ennuied visitor, or for the mystification of the nascent intel- 
 lects of some youthful debating club. Should the Jesuit 
 interpretation be the tiTie one, it would seem that the 
 dignity of godfather belongs to the lake in its relation to 
 the Adllage, instead of, as it is generally supposed, to the 
 village in respect to the lake. 
 
SARATOGA. 21 
 
 HOTELS. 
 
 From the time when the old pioneer, Gideon Putnam, 
 built the first seventy feet of the present Union Hotel in 
 the year 1802, Saratoga has been amply furnished with 
 accommodations for man and beast. The late Congress 
 Hall, which stood opposite Putnam's " Great House," 
 almost rivalling it in extent, was commenced in 1811 ; also 
 under the dii-ection of the worthy founder of the village. 
 It was opened to the public in 1815, and was destroyed by 
 fire in 1866. The third of the grand hotels of Saratoga, the 
 late United States, was commenced by John Ford in 1833, 
 and extended in 1825. It afterwards passed into the hands 
 of Marvin & Co., under whose management it gained the 
 reputation of being one of the most excellent and most 
 fashionable, as it was one of the most capacious establish- 
 ments of the kind in the country. It was unfortunately 
 burned to the ground in the summer of 1864. 
 
 This trio of grand hotels, the Union, the Congress, and 
 the United States, became famous all the country through, 
 and for many years continued to divide between them the 
 patronage of the ever-increasing throngs of visitors to the 
 Springs, and year by year they added new lam-els to the 
 reputation of the village as a place of convenient and pleas- 
 ant resort. 
 
 Many other smaller, though scarcely less excellent 
 establishments have grown up, from time to time, and 
 have been well sustained, in the manner and degree of 
 their respective characters and capacities. " 
 
 Since the destruction of the old buildings of the United 
 
22 
 
 SAKATOGA. 
 
 States Hotel, and more recently of the Congress and tlie 
 Columbian, the pubhc accommodations of Saratoga, though 
 still sufficient on a pinch, are of course not so ample as 
 they were, and as they soon will be again. 
 
 PIAZZA SCENE AT UNION HOTEL. 
 
 For the present the traveller may make himself at home 
 in the almost limitless halls of the Union, or within the 
 
Uniou Hotel. 
 
SARATOGA. 23 
 
 narrower, yet still ample boundaries of other hostelries, 
 which will be introduced to his notice in the following 
 glance at the various establishments. 
 
 tmiON HOTEL. 
 
 Union Hotel, at present the largest and most fashion- 
 able hotel in the land, was the first considerable house of 
 the kind erected in the village. It was commenced in the 
 year 1802, while the place was still only a wild forest 
 region, by Gideon Putnam, one of the earliest settlers and 
 founders. At this time the edifice was about seventy feet 
 in length. It has at diff"erent periods been rebuilt and 
 enlarged, until it now covers, with its buildings, cottages, 
 and courts, the broad area of seven acres. The main edi- 
 fices have a front of five hundred and fifty feet and a 
 depth of seven hundred feet, with almost a mile of colonnade 
 and piazza. The entu'e accommodation of the place is 
 sufficient for the comfort of fifteen hundred guests. The 
 noble dining-hall of the Union, which has been added by 
 the present proprietors, is probably the largest in the 
 United States. It is two hundred and fifty feet long, fifty- 
 three feet wide, and twenty feet high, and will comfortably 
 seat twelve hundred people. 
 
 The Union came under the management of Major 
 W. W. Leland, of the Metropolitan Hotel in New York, 
 in the summer of 1864, when the close of the war released 
 him from his duties as chief commissary of the Army of 
 the Tennessee. With his characteristic enterprise, the new 
 host set vigorously to work to enlarge and improve the 
 premises, which he has done and is still doing in such 
 
24 SARATOGA. 
 
 SI manner that there will soon be nothing left to do ; and 
 the gallant Major, like his predecessor, Alexander, may 
 perchance yet be found weeping on the piazza of his hotel, 
 because he can find no more difficulties to overcome. 
 Even now the wide domain of the hotel is too limited in 
 sphere for his expansive heart and genius, and, like his 
 prototype, old Gideon Putnam, he is making the village 
 itself the scene of his far-seeing enterprise and energy, 
 and among other public works, has bestowed upon the 
 place an opera-house, which in extent and appointments 
 is not unworthy of a metropolitan location. Just now, too, 
 he is pushing forward that excellent work, the new " Broad 
 Avenue," fi-om the springs to the lake, which, when com- 
 pleted, will be one of the most inviting drives in the world. 
 May he long live to devise and execute many other schemes 
 for the pleasure and glory of the place. 
 
 THE OLD AND NEW CONGRESS HALL. 
 
 This spacious edifice was commenced by Gideon Put- 
 nam, in tlie year 1811. In 1814 the property was purchased 
 by Grandus Van Schoonhoven, who completed the build- 
 ings the following year, in accordance with the designs of 
 Mr. Putnam. 
 
 Mr. Van Schoonhoven conducted the establishment 
 until 1822, at which time he was joined by his nephew, 
 Samuel H. Drake, and in 1823 by other partners. From 
 1823 to 1855 the house was leased from time to time to 
 different parties, after which it fell under the administration 
 of Messrs. Hawthorne & Hall. These gentlemen extended 
 and greatly improved the property. They added a brick 
 
The Old Congress Hall. 
 
SABATOGA. 25 
 
 wing, which at its eastern end was six stories high, and 
 extended from the older portion on the south side of Bath 
 Street to Putnam Street. Many of the rooms also were at 
 this time improved, and the whole house was refurnished 
 in modern style. In 1857 Richard McMichael succeeded 
 Mr. Hall in the firm, when further important additions 
 were made. The house extended three hundred and 
 seventy-nine feet on Broadway, and east on Bath Street to 
 the west line of Putnam Street. The location is one of the 
 most eligible and most convenient in the village, being in 
 immediate proximity to the Congress Spring and its 
 beautiful Park. The entire edifice was burnt to the ground 
 in the summer of 1866. 
 
 The new and yet more extensive structure which is to 
 take the place of the old building, and which is to be in 
 part completed for the season of 1867, is of brick, with 
 a facade of four hundred feet. 
 
 THE CLARENDON HOTEL. 
 
 The Clarendon is most agreeably situated on Broadway, 
 embowered in a shady grove. Its outward presentment is 
 very agreeable, while its inward appointments fulfil all the 
 requirements of a first-class house. It ranks in all respects, 
 except in size and the prestige of age and long service, with 
 the Union and the Congress. It will accommodate some 
 four hundred guests, perhaps. It possesses the consider- 
 able advantage of including within its grounds the popular 
 fountain known as the "Washington Spring. 
 
26 SAEATOGA. 
 
 TEMPLE GROVE HOTEL. 
 
 This excellent house, on Lincoln Avenue, stands in the 
 shade of a fine maple and oak grove, upon an elevated 
 site, which agreeably overlooks the village and its vicinage. 
 It is a pleasant place, especially for families making a long 
 sojourn at the Springs, and liking a quieter life than is to 
 be found in the larger and more crowded houses. 
 
 In the winter season Temple Grove is favorably known 
 as a Young Ladies' Seminaiy, under the charge of the 
 Rev. Dr. Beecher. 
 
 THE AMERICAN HOTEL. 
 
 This house stands upon Broadway, between the Union 
 and the old United States hotels. It has been much im- 
 proved of late j^ears, and is growing in the popular favor. 
 It is one of the few of the large Saratoga hotels which are 
 kept open all the year round. The charges, we believe, are 
 less at the American than at the more fashionable resorts. 
 
 THE MARVIN HOUSE. 
 
 The Mamn affords excellent quarters for some two 
 hundi*ed and fifty guests. It is most eligibly located, and 
 possesses all the needful comforts of a first-class house. 
 
 THE COLUMBIAN HOTEL. 
 
 This well-known house was unfortunately destroyed by 
 fire in the summer of 1866. Its old guests, returning in 
 
•9 ■^SJW^'^?^^^ ^ '^ ^iv •=. ^^-^ 
 
 Saratoga Water-Cure. 
 
SAKATOGA. 27 
 
 1867, will be well pleased to find it rebuilt in better style 
 even than before. The Columbian is conveniently situated 
 a little way up Broadway. 
 
 THE WATER CURES. 
 
 The water-cure establishments of Dr. Bedi'otha and of 
 Dr. Hamilton are side by side on Congress Street and 
 Broadway, directly opposite the Union Hotel. They are 
 both excellent houses of their kind, and are always well 
 filled. We scarcely need to commend them to invalids 
 visiting the Springs. 
 
 THE OLD UNITED STATES HOTEL. 
 
 The late United States Hotel was a spacious and famous 
 establishment. The various buildings were covered with 
 a mile and a half of roofing, and with the grounds and 
 courts occupied the generous area of six acres. The house 
 was built in part in 1823, by John Ford. It passed after- 
 wards into the hands of James M. Marvin & Co., by whom 
 it was successfully conducted, until the time of its desti-uc- 
 tion by fire in 1864. 
 
 There were guests of the United States who had sum- 
 mered under its hospitable roofs year after year, from youth 
 to age, storing up thousands of happy memories of the old 
 place, which were rudely disturbed when it passed away. 
 It is appetizing even to think of the luxurious dinners and 
 
28 SAEATOGA. 
 
 tlie dainty suppers which were spread for so many years 
 upon its generous tables ; and the gouty foot becomes the 
 light fantastic toe again, at the remembrance of all the gay 
 revelry it once shared in the old festive halls. Endless and 
 varied are the associations which cling to the spot, and 
 both happy and sad the memories it will awaken. Many 
 staid matrons and grave su-es, now thousands of miles 
 away," who whilom danced and sighed together in the van- 
 ished parlors and the silent groves, will recall scenes of 
 great pith and moment, which perchance gave color — rosy 
 color, let us hope — to all their after-life. 
 
 THE SARATOGA HOP. 
 
 "Music and dancing are of course very important items 
 in the catalogue of Saratoga occupations, as they are at all 
 spas and places of summer recreation ; and the appoint- 
 ments at our Springs, in this wise, are most ample and 
 excellent. In former days, the watering-place " institution " 
 known as the Hop was a rarer and more serious aflfair, in 
 the preparation, than it is in om- improved age. Long 
 intervals separated the happy occasions, and all sorts of 
 preparatory labor was required. The dining-halls had to 
 be vacated for the nonce, so that the apartments could be 
 seasonably converted into ball-rooms : thus the dinner of 
 the day became a hurried affair, and " tea " had to be 
 snatched as best it might. Now each of the principal 
 hotels has its especial altar to Terpsichore, and the lamp 
 of incense is forever trimmed and burning. The guest 
 dines and sups at ease and leisure, and when the diurnal 
 
The Ldte United ^tdtes Hotel. 
 
SAKATOGA. 29 
 
 hour arrives for the saltatory devotions of the evening, he 
 or she steals a glance at the approving mkror, calls the 
 conquering smile to the lips, points the expectant toe with 
 required grace, and floats at once into the elysian maze. 
 
 The " Hop," when it reaches the proportions and dig- 
 nity of a ball, is an occasional and more elaborate mystery, 
 and is held at one particular "house," in behalf of the 
 whole : the toilette becomes a matter of life and death, to 
 the utter forgetfulness of tlie price of gold and " universal 
 sufii-age." The order of the dancing, and the programme 
 of the orchestra are solemnly considered and formally 
 announced ; and last, though not least, agreeable refresh- 
 ments are provided for the sustenance of the exhausted 
 devotees. On these signal occasions, the whole village 
 population, both exotic and native, unite in joyous 
 reveliy. 
 
 It is not, however, on occasions only, frequent as they 
 may be, that Saratoga dances. On the contraiy, it is for- 
 ever dancing or drinking — the one exercise being the ome- 
 ga as the other is the alpha of its butterfly life. Each 
 and every night bands of skilled musicians discourse at 
 the hotels, and those who will may waltz and polk un- 
 ceasingly. 
 
 A peep at these gay and brilliant scenes, and at the 
 beaux and belles, in all their gorgeous array of trailing 
 robes and gleaming jewels, will explain to the wondering 
 novice the meaning and use of the travelling arks, known 
 at the present time as " Saratoga trunks." One has but to 
 watch for a single day the successive toilettes, as they change 
 ft-om morn to noon, from noon to eve, and from eve to 
 night — to see that the massive structures are, comparatively 
 3* 
 
30 SAEATOGA. 
 
 speaking, and considering what they are required to hold- 
 nothing but carpet-bags after all. 
 
 It is just possible that the packing of these little bags, 
 with their little stores, may have cost some painful priva- 
 tions and some pitiful pinching around the fireside at home ; 
 or it may be followed, anon, by the lost credit and the 
 broken heart of some over-indulgent pater-familias, delving 
 in his Wall Street lair ; but what of that ! we have had 
 SI meiiy and a jolly time, our little vanity and our petty 
 pride have been gratified to the full — we have happily 
 excited each other's envy — perchance his hate — and have 
 picked up mutual impressions, good or bad, as wide of the 
 truth as is desirable for people who may possibly become 
 intimately associated in after-life. 
 
 Should any such idle reflections as these flit across the 
 minds of the fan* wives and daughters and sisters and 
 fiancees^ as they seek their late repose, they will doubtless 
 find a sufficiently soothing balm when they awake, and 
 picking up the morning paper, read Jenkins' brilliant de- 
 scription of their triumphs of the night before ; — as how, for 
 example, the lovely Mrs. Col. D — h — y, of New York, wore 
 a white tarleton double sknt ; the under sku-t elaborately 
 trimmed with ruchings of green and white tarleton ; the 
 corsage of white silk, cut low and pointed, and headed with 
 green leaves, with berthe and sleeves of white tarleton, 
 puffed and trimmed with green ruchings, to correspond 
 with skirt ; glove of delicate light green, hair crepecl, head 
 light and waterfall heavy, with clusters of pearls and 
 diamonds. 
 
 Or how the charming Miss B — r — y, of Philadelphia, 
 was deliciously robed in a white organdie, with deep 
 
SARATOGA. 31 
 
 flounce, with pufl3ngs of the same, lined with pink ribbons, 
 corsage decolette, and berthe with tucks and insertings : 
 sleeves long and full : a wreath of pink and white roses, 
 dropping from the right shoulder, diagonally to the head 
 of the flounce in the skirt. Hair powdered with diamond 
 dust, and waterfall of neglige curls. 
 
 Jenkins will be gracious and pardon us, we trust, if our 
 text fails, as is likely, to do justice to his amiable and 
 facile pen. 
 
 THE LELAND OPERA HOUSE. 
 
 For those who cannot exist in the countiy without all 
 the luxurious adjuncts of city life, Saratoga has built its 
 Opera House, where may be witnessed, from time to time, 
 as the " stars " may happen to shine on the village, the 
 mysteries of the Thespian art and the strains of the lyric 
 stage. 
 
 Though not pretending to rival La Scala or the Grand 
 Opera, the Saratoga house nevertheless makes excellent 
 attraction in opera and concert — sometimes ofiering the 
 best talent and genius of the time. Of course neither 
 visitors nor residents neglect to avail themselves of all the 
 opportunities it afl'ords. The building is also veiy useful 
 for the various miscellaneous entertainments which fortune 
 may provide, and for such impromptu festivals — fairs, 
 tableaux, and the like — which the wit and genius of the 
 visitors may suggest. 
 
 The Opera House is one of the many great debts which 
 the people and guests of Saratoga owe to the large and 
 
32 SAEATOGA. 
 
 liberal enterprise of Major Leland, the popular host of the 
 " Union." It is the property of the Messrs. Leland, by 
 whom it was devised and built, at a cost of some eighty 
 thousand dollars. 
 
 The house stands a little way south of the rear of the 
 Union Hotel. It is imposing in its exterior, and has every 
 possible convenience and comfort within, with accommo- 
 dation for an audience of fifteen hundred or more people. 
 It is surrounded, indeed almost buried, by colonnade and 
 piazza, which afford delightful breathing-room on sultry 
 summer nights. 
 
 The Opera House was appropriately inaugurated on the 
 night of the Fourth of July, 1865, with the grand ball, 
 which followed the memorable dinner given on that day 
 by Major Leland, of the Union Hotel, to his confreres of 
 the Army of the Tennessee ; at which a larger number 
 of illustrious generals, majors, colonels, captains, and 
 ofScei"s of all ranks assisted, than ever met before on any 
 field. 
 
 At another time the house was used for the successful 
 exhibition of tableaux vkantSj which was given b}' the 
 guests of the " Union " in aid of the sufferei-s by the fatal 
 Portland tire. This latter occasion, no less than the open- 
 ing ball, will be long pleasantly remembered in connection 
 with the new Opera House. The net proceeds of the 
 tableaux entertainment reached the generous sum of nearly 
 two thousand dollars. Major Leland contributing the use of 
 the building, and Mr. Kent, one of the guests, defraying the 
 other expenses. 
 
SARATOGA. 33 
 
 THE MINERAL WATERS. 
 
 The valley stretch, which is more or less occupied by 
 the Saratoga watei-s, is of veiy considerable extent, reach- 
 ing from the banks of the Hudson, — even as far south as 
 the city of Albany — to a distance of about sixty miles, to 
 Argyle, in Washington County ; the general course being, 
 from the most southerly pomt, northwest, via Ballston, to 
 the village of Saratoga, and thence northeastward. The 
 waters are of course most abundant at the particular local- 
 ity from which they are named — and in a business sense 
 may be said to exist there alone. 
 
 The springs issue from the limestone strata, which 
 everywhere underlies the sandy loam upon which the vil- 
 lage is built, most of them showing themselves along the 
 banks of the little brook which traverses the place. 
 
 The medicinal virtues of the Saratoga waters are of a 
 rare and very varied character, efficacious in the treatment 
 of many troublesome complaints, and invaluable to the 
 partial invalid and all generally dilapidated and used-up 
 visitors, as a pleasant and sure cathartic and tonic. Taken in 
 reasonable quantity, and particularly in connection with the 
 fresh air, exercise, physical and mental repose, and the 
 pleasurable recreations incident to the routine of Saratoga 
 life, the waters never fail to provoke appetite, promote 
 digestion, exorcise the blues and the bile, and to generally 
 purify, sti-engthen, and cheer both body and mind. For 
 a detailed and scientific account of their properties and 
 virtues in relation to the various classes and stages of dis- 
 ease, in the cure ana correction of which they may be used, 
 
34 SAKATOGA. 
 
 the suffering reader is referred to the excellent Handbook 
 of Dr. R. L. Allen, a distmguished resident physician. 
 
 Of course the waters are employed chiefly in the sum- 
 mer season, but they are said to be equally beneficial when 
 taken during the coldest winter months. Change of season 
 does not appear to affect their temperature, specific gravity, 
 or chemical composition ; and they lie too deeply imbedded 
 in the bosom of old mother earth to be at all vexed by the 
 fresh waters on the surface or by the spring or autumn 
 raiiis. 
 
 Besides the immense quantities daily consumed by 
 visitors at the fountains, large supplies of some of the 
 waters are bottled and exported, for home use, to all parts 
 of the country ; so much so indeed that they are to be 
 found among the specifics of every considerable di'ug-store 
 in the land. 
 
 The whole categoiy of the Saratoga waters embraces 
 a list altogether too extended for individual mention ; but 
 there are soi^ie dozen or more, distinguished from the 
 crowd, and possessing general fame and favor, of w:hich it 
 will be proper to speak in some detail in our chapter upon 
 the mineral waters, of which the few pages just written are 
 meant to seiTC as preface. 
 
 Among these stars in the liquid firmament are the 
 Congress, the most popularly known of all the group, the 
 Empire, the High Eock, the Columbian, the Hamilton, the 
 Putnam, the Pavilion, and the Star or Iodine, as it was 
 formerly named. 
 
;':':!llili!'l!!bii;; 
 
 ■i I'i 
 
 I il 
 
 ■Hi 
 
 ■I 
 
 T 
 
 III 111 
 
 ISik; 
 
 ■i 
 
 ,11! ii' 
 
 ii|!;W 
 
SARATOGA. 36 
 
 CONGRESS SPRING. 
 
 Congress Spring, the most famous and most fashionable 
 of the Saratoga waters, was discovered in 1792, just seventy- 
 five years after the visit of Sir Wilham Johnson to the 
 High Rock. 
 
 A hunting-party happened to observe numerous deer- 
 tracks, leading in a particular direction ; and, following the 
 trail with some curiosity, to see whither it led, they stum- 
 bled upon a new mineral spring, which the deer, it appears, 
 were in the habit of visiting in their search for salt. The 
 water issued from a rock about three feet in height, through 
 an apertm'e midway between the top and the ground. 
 Among the Nimrods was a member of Congress named 
 Oilman, and in honor of this gentleman and his high posi- 
 tion, the new fountain was christened Congress Sprmg. 
 
 The water was at first secm-ed by pressing a cup against 
 the rock, through which means not more than one quart 
 per minute was obtained. To increase the yield, and to 
 economize the loss by this primitive mode of drawing, 
 Gideon Putnam, who was at all times wide awake, set 
 about clearing and tubing the spring. He first turned the 
 brook some few feet from its original course, and, guided 
 by the bubbles of gas, which rose from the channel of the 
 stream, he sunk a shaft into the rock. The water there- 
 upon ceased to issue from the old aperture, but rose in 
 ample supply from the new opening, and was at once se- 
 cured as completely as was practicable, by means of a tube 
 made of pine planks. Putnam, we are told, had, at one 
 time, two potash kettles employed in evaporating the 
 
36 SAKATOGA. 
 
 water and precipitating salts, which he put up in small 
 packages, and sold, to the amount, sometimes, of several 
 hundi-ed dollars a year. The speculation, however, soon 
 ceased to be profitable, when it was found that the salts, 
 redissolved, did not produce Congress water. 
 
 The property upon which the Congress Spring is situ- 
 ated was purchased in the year 1826, by Mr. John Clarke, 
 a gentlemen of culture and enterprise, and who had had 
 considerable experience in the management of such mattei"s. 
 To him, indeed, belonged the honor — ^such as it was — of 
 having opened the first soda fountain in New York. 
 
 The spring had risen gradually in reputation from the 
 day of its discovery, and when it fell under the control 
 of Mr. Clarke, it had acquired a wide-spread fame, which 
 his administration did not fail to heighten and extend. 
 He veiy soon began to bottle the water for exportation, 
 and with so much success as to realize from that source 
 alone a very handsome income. 
 
 Mr. Clarke added to his possessions in the vicinity from 
 time to time, and to such an extent that, when he died, in 
 1846, he was the owner of no less than one thousand acres 
 of land in the neighborhood of his spring. That he was 
 a man of fine taste and of liberal views, is evident from the 
 admirable improvements which he made all around, as in 
 the decoration of the fountain, and more particularly in the 
 chai-ming park which lies south and east of the spring, and 
 which his enterprise conjured from the slimy swamp. 
 
 The water of Congress Spring is an excellent cathartic, 
 veiy agreeable to the palate, and most cheering to the 
 spirits. It is employed with good result in almost all cases 
 of weak digestion, of dyspepsia, and of general debility. 
 
SABATOGA. 37 
 
 Crowds gather around the pretty fountain in the early 
 summer mornings to win appetite for breakfast, and life for 
 the pleasures of the day. Old or young, sick or well, every- 
 body drinks; for the Congress fountain is the morning 
 exchange to which all resort, even as the ball-room is the 
 gathering-place at night. It is a gay group, that, which 
 the rising sun always looks down upon by the Congress 
 fountain, and as pleasant to see as any of many bright 
 tableaux mvants to be found at Saratoga. 
 
 The Congress water, by recent analysis, is found to be 
 composed as follows : 
 
 To one Gallon. 
 
 GRAINS. 
 
 Chloride of Sodium, 360.560 
 
 Carbonate of Soda, 8.000 
 
 Carbonate of Lime, 82.321 
 
 Carbonate of Magnesia, '78.242 
 
 Carbonate of Iron, 3.645 
 
 Iodide of Soda, 4.531 
 
 Silica, 0.510 
 
 Alumina 0.231 
 
 Solid contents, .... 538.040 
 
 Carbonic Acid, 340.231 
 
 Atmospheric Air, 4.000 
 
 Gaseous contents, .... 344.231 
 
 THE HIGH ROCK SPRING. 
 
 This curiously formed fountain is the oldest of the great 
 and numerous Saratoga family of waters, being the veritable 
 4 
 
38 
 
 SAEATOGA. 
 
 spring at which the first white visitor to the region — Sir 
 William Johnson— di'ank, just one hundred years ago. 
 
 HIGH ROCK SPRING. 
 
 The High Rock Spring is unusually interesting, both 
 from its medicinal virtues and for its singular geological 
 structure. 
 
 The rock from whence the spring issues is a conical 
 deposit of limestone, three feet and a half high and twenty- 
 four and one-third feet in circumference. On the top there 
 is an aperture, of cylindrical fonn and a foot in diameter. 
 Recent bold excavations, under the direction of its present 
 proprietors, show that their singular formation, which has 
 for so many years been a subject of speculation and mys- 
 
SAEATOGA. 39 
 
 teiy, extends only a few inches below the surface, and may- 
 be easily moved. Upon displacing it, it was found to con- 
 tain a chamber about two feet in diameter, and below it 
 there was a reservoir filled with the bubbling water to the 
 depth of ten feet. Hidden in this unveiled reservoh*, there 
 were found numerous tumblers, w^hich had been accident- 
 ally dropped, from time to time, through the aperture. 
 The soil in all directions was incrasted with the deposits 
 from the water ; but directly beneath the rock there was 
 found, strange to relate, the trunk of a tree, a foot and a 
 half in diameter, and of sufficient solidity to admit of its 
 being sawed in pieces and removed. This tree unquestion- 
 ably fell, on the spot where it lay, before the time when 
 the formation of the rock above it commenced — that is 
 to say, about three thousand years ago ! 
 
 Still a few feet below this most venerable dead man of 
 the woods, there was also found the body of an oak of 
 about eight inches in diameter, and but slightly decayed. 
 
 When the excavations, by means of which these singu- 
 lar facts were brought to light, had reached to the depth of 
 twelve feet, it became evident that further digging would 
 expose the crevice in the solid rock, from which the foun- 
 tain flows, and bolder venture was forebome. 
 
 The High Rock, thus displaced, is to be again set over 
 the fountain, when it is expected that it will be overflown 
 by the water, as it has been through so many centuries 
 gone by. The rock has been foimed by the mineral sub- 
 stances which are held in solution in the springs, as mag- 
 nesia, lime, and iron, intermixed with the leaves and twigs 
 of trees, and other particles. 
 
 The highly-charged water of this spring, upon rising to 
 
40 SAEATOGA. 
 
 the air, can hold but one volume of the gas in solution, and 
 "has tlierefore precipitated its excess of carbonates, particle 
 l)y particle, around the apei-ture of the fountain, until the 
 accumulation and the uniting of these precipitates has, in 
 the lapse of time, formed the great mass of calcareous tufa 
 so long known as the High Rock. 
 
 Other fomiations of the kind are to be seen at Saratoga, 
 in a greater or less extent. The Flat Rock displays similar 
 deposits, and at the mouth of the Empire Spring there was 
 found an accumulation of tufa about the size of an inverted 
 two-quart bowl. Similar deposits are indeed always being 
 made under like conditions ; but they rarely remain so un- 
 disturbed, by currents of water or other agencies, as to 
 obtain any very great bulk, and never the extraordinary 
 dimensions of the High Rock, which is supposed to be the 
 largest and most wonderful specimen of the kind in the 
 world. 
 
 Dr. Valentine Seaman, in his description, in 1809, of this 
 celebrated spring and its magnificent tufa, says : " The 
 more we reflect upon it, the more we must be convinced 
 of the important place this rock ought to hold among the 
 wonderful works in nature. Had it stood on the borders 
 of the Lago D'Agnans, the noted Grotto del Cani (which, 
 since the peculiar properties of carbonic acid have been 
 known, burden almost eveiy book which treats of the gas), 
 would never have been heard of beyond the environs of 
 Naples ; while this fountain, in its place, would have been 
 deservedly celebrated in story and spread upon canvas, to 
 the admiration of the world, as one of its greatest curi- 
 osities." 
 
 The High Rock Spring is situated in the more northern 
 
SAKATOGA. 41 
 
 part of the village, but a short distance from the Empiix3 
 and the Star or Iodine springs. In the rear of ihe springs 
 the rocks rise to the height of thirty to forty feet, affording 
 opportunity for more picturesque embellishments than the 
 spot yet displays. The water of the High Rock is abun- 
 dant and of very uniform quality. It is an admirable tonic, 
 and of greater force as a stimulant than the more frequented 
 Congress fountain by which it has been, in a gi-eat meas- 
 m*e, supplanted in the popular esteem. 
 
 Dr. Allen's latest tests of this spiing show the following 
 component parts : 
 
 To one Gallon. 
 
 GRAINS. 
 
 Chloride of Sodium, . 190.223 
 
 Carbonate of Magnesia, 62.100 
 
 Carbonate of Lime, 71.538 
 
 Carbonate of Soda, 18.421 
 
 Carbonate of Iron, . . 4.233 
 
 Iodide of Soda 2.177 
 
 Silex and Alumina, . . \ 2.500 
 
 Hydriobromate of Potash— a small quantity. 
 
 Solid contents, . . . 351.197 
 
 THE EMPIRE SPRING. 
 
 The Empire, the most northerly of the series of springs, 
 lies beyond the High Rock, at the head of and to the right 
 of Broadway. Next to the Congress, it is the most fashion- 
 able fountain in the village, although it did not come into 
 notice until the year 1846. Directly behind the spring 
 there lies a bluff of Mohawk limestone, about forty feet in 
 4* 
 
42 SAKATOGA. 
 
 height, resting on a ledge of calciferous sandstone. The 
 water issued through a perforation in this sandstone, which 
 circumstance greatly facilitated the securing of it, with its 
 full complement of gas, by allowing a tube to be scribed to 
 the surface of the rock. 
 
 The column of water in the tube above the rock is nine 
 and a half feet — the tube itself being eleven and a half feet. 
 The fountain yields the liberal supply of seventy-five gal- 
 lons per hour. Despite its remote position, it has ah*eady, 
 in the comparatively short time in which it has been in use, 
 acquired a high reputation, and is attended daily by large 
 numbers of -sasitors. 
 
 It is considered to be an excellent cathartic and alter- 
 ative water, and is serviceable in a very wide range of 
 cases. 
 
 The component parts of the Empire Spring, as seen in 
 the analysis of one gallon of the water, are given as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 To one Gallon, 
 
 GRAINS. 
 
 Chloride of Sodium, ... .... 270.000 
 
 Carbonate of Lime, 145.321 
 
 Carbonate of Magnesia, 43.123 
 
 Carbonate of Soda, 30.304 
 
 Carbonate of Ii-on, 3.000 
 
 Iodide of Soda 8.000 
 
 Smca, 1.000 
 
 Solid contents, . . . 500.748 
 Gaseous contents, . . . 700 
 
 Specific gravity, . . . 1.0056 
 
SARATOGA. 
 
 43 
 
 COLUMBIAN SPRING. 
 
 This pleasant water, with its pretty protecting dome, is 
 familiar enough to all visitors to Saratoga, — standing as it 
 does in such close proximitj'- to the Congress Spring, in full 
 
 COLUMBIAN SPRING. 
 
 view from the piazza of the Union Hotel. It is one of the 
 oldest of the mineral springs, having been opened by Gideon 
 Putnam asearly as 1806. 
 
 The water of the Columbian is feiTuginous, and contains 
 
44 SARATOGA. 
 
 a great quantity of carbonic acid in a free state, which, 
 bubbling to the surface, gives it the appearance of a boiling 
 spring. 
 
 The general properties of this water are veiy much the 
 same as those of its neighbor, the Congress, though varying 
 in theu" relative qualities. It is a very strong tonic, and, 
 in consequence, should be used with caution, and not too 
 freely. 
 
 The following ingredients are found in an analysis of 
 one gallon of the Columbian fountain : 
 
 GRAINS. 
 
 Chloride of Sodium, 290.501 
 
 Carbonate of Soda, 26.000 
 
 Carbonate of Magnesia, 40.321 
 
 Carbonate of Lime, 90.000 
 
 Carbonate of Iron, 6.000 
 
 Iodide of Soda, 3.000 
 
 Silica and Alumina, 1.531 
 
 Solid contents, . . . 457.353 
 
 Carbonic Acid, . . . 330.000 
 
 THE WASHTNGTON SPRING. 
 
 The Washington, othei-\Ndse known as White's Spring, 
 lies about six hundred feet southeast of the Congress foun- 
 tain, in the grounds of the Clarendon Hotel. It is the only 
 spring of all the group which is situated on this, the west 
 side of Broadway. It was opened as early as 1806, by old 
 •Gideon Putnam, but remained unused until 1858, when 
 
SARATOGA. 45 
 
 Mr. John H. White, into whose hands the property had 
 passed two years before, undertook to restore it, by tracing 
 the water to the place of its escape from the rock. The 
 undertaking proved to be both toilsome and hazardous. 
 
 A shaft, eleven feet square and thirty feet long, was sunk, 
 but no water rose through it. The explorations were then 
 continued a distance of thirty feet, by means of a substantial 
 tunnel. During the operations, the earth gave way, when 
 the water and gas poured in with such velocity, as to leave 
 the laborers barely time to escape with their lives. No 
 less than twelve thousand gallons of water, and twice as 
 much carbonic acid gas, entered the shaft in the brief space 
 of fifteen minutes. 
 
 After a while another shaft was sunk, and the earth 
 broke through a second time, again endangering the lives 
 of the workmen. The thh'd attempt, which was made at 
 another point, proved more successful. The shaft used at 
 this time was twenty feet in diameter, and was constructed 
 in a veiy massive and substantial manner. When it was 
 completed the explorers had the satisfaction of seeing their 
 oft-renewed efforts amply repaid. The water rose spark- 
 ling and bright thi'ough the tube, and has ever since con- 
 tinued to flow over the top in free and full supply. 
 
 The fountain is highly esteemed, and is much resorted 
 to. The water is of a very lively character, and is service- 
 able in a great variety of ways. 
 
 THE PAVILION SPRING. 
 
 The Pavilion lies a few feet east of the pleasant prome- 
 nade called the Willow Walk, in the rear of the Columbian 
 
46 SARATOGA. 
 
 Hotel. A few rods southeast of the Pavilion is the Flat 
 Rock Spring ; and the Emph-e, High Rock, and Star foun- 
 tains are not far above. 
 
 This spring was discovered at an early day, but was not 
 utilized until the year 1839, when it was tubed, with much 
 cost and labor, by Daniel McLaren, the owner of the prop- 
 eity at that period. 
 
 It lay in the midst of a deep morass, from which it rose 
 through an alluvial deposit of forty feet in depth. Under 
 Mr. McLaren's efforts, and afterwards through the enter- 
 prise of the Messrs. Walton, into whose possession the 
 grounds again fell, the morass was cleared, and otherwise 
 greatly improved. The channel of the brook was turned, 
 pleasant walks were made, and shade-ti*ees were planted, 
 so that the spot is at this time an agreeable place of 
 resort. 
 
 The analysis of the Pavilion shows the following 
 properties : 
 
 * 
 
 To one GaUon. 
 
 GRAINS. 
 
 Chloride of Sodium, 183.816 
 
 Carbonate of Soda, 6.000 
 
 Carbonate of Lime, 59.593 
 
 Carbonate of Magnesia, 58.266 
 
 Carbonate of Iron, 4.133 
 
 Iodide of Soda and Bromine of Potasea, , . . 2.566 
 
 Silex and Alumina, 1.000 
 
 Solid contents, . . 315.372 
 Gaseous contents, . . 372.499 
 
SABATOGA. 47 
 
 THE HA]^IILTON SPRING. 
 
 The Hamilton Spring is another of the many which 
 were discovered and tubed by Gideon Putnam, in the early 
 part of the present century. It is situated a few rods north- 
 east of Congress Spring, and in the rear of the late Congress 
 Hall. It was retubed and placed in its present condition 
 by the late Dr. Clarke, to whom the village and the public 
 at large are so much indebted for improvements, not only 
 in the development of the mineral resources of the valley, 
 but for contributions to the growth and beauty of the town 
 in many valuable ways. The water rises in the tube al- 
 most to the level of the ground, bubbling up by means of 
 the rapid escape of fixed air, not unlike a boiling spring. 
 Dm'ing the past thirty or fort}' years it has been employed 
 satisfactorily as an alterative. It is beneficial also as a 
 cathartic, in cases of very weak stomachs, where rude, 
 active waters — as those, for example, of the Congi-ess Spring 
 — might be too active and exhausting. 
 
 The following is the analysis of this spiing, as made by 
 Dr. Allen 
 
 To one GaMon. 
 
 GRAIK9. 
 
 Chloride of Sodium, 298.050 
 
 Carbonate of Soda, 34.250 
 
 Carbonate of Lime, 97.990 
 
 Carbonate of Magnesia, 39.006 
 
 Carbonate of Iron, 4.025 
 
48 SAKATOGA. 
 
 6RAIKS. 
 
 Iodide of Soda, 3.598 
 
 Silex and Alumina, 1.000 
 
 Solid contents, .... 479.191 
 
 Carbonic Acid, 320.777 
 
 Atmospheric Air, 1.461 
 
 Gaseous contents, . . . 322.238 
 
 Temperatui-e, 48<' 
 
 THE PUTNAM SPRING. 
 
 The Putnam Spiing is but a few steps to the northeast 
 of the Hamilton, and midway between Broadway and Put- 
 nam streets. It was tubed and brought into use in the year 
 1835, by Mr. Lewis Putnam. Since that time it has been 
 retubed and improved in various ways. The w^ater has 
 been bottled, and is freely used by visitors with veiy satis- 
 factory results. It contains more iron among its ingre- 
 dients than any of the mineral waters of the neighborhood, 
 — excepting, perhaps, the Columbian. The taste is by no 
 means unpleasant. Attached to this spiing is an excellent 
 bathing-house, in which the mineral water is used. There 
 are, also, well-ordered bathing facilities at the Hamilton 
 Spring, last referred to in om- catalogue. Many visitors 
 find as much benefit from the use of the Saratoga waters in 
 this way as in taking them internally. The external appli- 
 cation, indeed, while at all times a veiy pleasurable and 
 exhilarating remedy, is much less likely to produce injuri- 
 ous efiects through excessive use, than is the di'iuking of 
 the waters as indulged in by many visitors. 
 
SAEATOGA. 49 
 
 ANALYSIS OF THE PUTNAM SPRING. 
 To one Oallon. 
 
 GRAINS. 
 
 Chloride of Sodium, 220.000 
 
 Carbonate of Soda, 15.321 
 
 Carbonate of Magnesia, 45.500 
 
 Carbonate of Lime, 70.433 
 
 Carbonate of Iron, ........ 5.333 
 
 Iodide of Soda, 2.500 
 
 Silex and Alumina, 1.500 
 
 Solid contents, . . 360.587 
 
 Carbonic Acid, 317.753 
 
 Atmospheric Air, 3.080 
 
 Gaseous contents, . 
 
 Temperature, 48" 
 
 THE STAR SPRING. 
 
 The Star Spring was at one time known as the Presi- 
 dent, and yet more recently as the Iodine. It is situated in 
 the upper part of the village, not far from the High Rock. 
 It has been analyzed by Dr. Allen, with the following 
 results : 
 
 To one Oallon. 
 
 GRAINS. 
 
 Chloride of Sodium, 180.731 
 
 Carbonate of Soda, 8.000 
 
 5 
 
50 
 
 SARATOGA. 
 
 Carbonate of Mao^iesia, 30.000 
 
 Carbonate of Lime, 74.213 
 
 Carbonate of Iron, 1.000 
 
 Iodide of Sodium, 3.235 
 
 Silica and Alumina, . . .500 
 
 Solid contents. 
 
 Carbonic Acid and Atmospheric Air, . . 335.000 
 
 STAB SPRING. 
 
 THE EXCELSIOR SPRING. 
 
 The Excelsior is a name recently bestowed upon one of 
 the group of mineral fountains known as the Ten Springs. 
 It flows directly from the primeval rock, and is of great 
 purity and excellence. It possesses, like its numerous sister 
 
SARATOGA. 51 
 
 waters, sti'ong diuretic, alterative, and tonic vii'tucs. The 
 latest analysis shows the Excelsior to be composed as 
 follows : 
 
 GKAIN8. 
 
 Chloride of Sodium, 375.8996 
 
 Carbonate of Lime, 76.0100 
 
 Carbonate of Magnesia, . ^ 30.4437 
 
 Carbonate of Soda, 10.3520 
 
 Silicate of Potassa, 6.9827 
 
 Silicate of Soda, 3.7672 
 
 Carbonate of Iron-, 2.8086 
 
 Sulphate of Soda, 1.5503 
 
 Solid contents in one gallon, . . . 507.8203 
 
 THE "a" SPRESTG. 
 
 This fountain is situated some twenty rods above the 
 " Empu-e." It was opened in 1866, and promises to become 
 a very popular resort. 
 
 THE TEN SPRINGS. 
 
 The Ten Springs are grouped within the circumference 
 of an acre of gi-ound, about a mile northeast of the village, 
 and may be reached either by a carriage-road or by a pleas- 
 ant winding path through the woods. They were discov- 
 ered in the year 1814. 
 
 THE ELLIS SPRING. 
 
 This fountain springs from the side of a deep ravine 
 about two miles south of the village. A densely wooded 
 
52 SARATOGA. 
 
 brook traverses the gorge, and presents some picturesque 
 features worth seeing. The water here is an agreeable bev- 
 erage, and if situated othei*wise than amidst such a wealth 
 of waters as this region offers, would be of great value. 
 
 reed's smmG. 
 
 This fountain may be mentioned in our resume of the 
 Saratoga waters, though it is not included in the village 
 group. It lies, indeed, far away in South Argyle, in Wash- 
 ington County, the northern terminus of the great mineral 
 valley. It is an acidulous carbonated water, and escapes 
 through a fissure in a stratum of Mohawk limestone. It is 
 not a veiy sparkling water, but is at least harmless, and, 
 witli its slightly acidulated taste, is by no means disagree- 
 able to the palate. 
 
 It is sometimes used as a yeast, in the concoction of the 
 diet known in the vicinity as " spring- water rolls." 
 
 THE WHITE SULPHUR SPRING. 
 
 This fountain is situated on the east side of Saratoga 
 Lake, in a little picturesque ravine about a mile and a half 
 below Snake Hill. Not far from the lake, a distance say 
 of twenty rods, the visitor will see a niche in the south 
 bank of the small brook which runs through the ravine 
 just mentioned, and in the heart of this niche, at the base 
 of the bluff, he will find the spring. The water is heavily 
 impregnated with sulphurated hydrogen gas, and is not to 
 be commended as an agreeable drink, whatever may be its 
 sanitaiy merits. 
 
SARATOGA. 53 
 
 The water boils up in a basin some eight feet wide by 
 two feet in depth. It is so remarkably clear, that it is said 
 a needle's eye may be distinctly seen at the bottom of the 
 fountain. The gas bubbles up from among the pebbles and 
 sand in a veiy lively style, inviting the unwaiy to drink and 
 be — veiy little pleased with the flavor of the dose. 
 
 At one time a hotel and bathing-house oflfered accept- 
 able accommodations at this spring, but like so many of the 
 Saratoga hotels, they w^ere unluckily burned one day. 
 
 The grove and greensward in which the spring is cen- 
 ti-ed is a pretty place, and is much affected by the village 
 picnic parties. 
 
 THE INDIAN ENCAIUPMENT. 
 
 Not the least interesting of the regular pastimes of Sara- 
 toga is a visit to the Indian Encampment, to be seen on the 
 sku'ts of the village every year, as the summer days come 
 round. These red-men visit the place, not as they follow 
 the war-path, nor in quest of game, nor even to drink of 
 the waters and be healed, as did their forefathers some- 
 times in ages gone by ; but simply with an eye to business, 
 like the fashionable modiste, whose gorgeous sign appears 
 in Broadway eveiy season about the same time. 
 
 They are not to be mistaken for the Massasoits, the 
 Philips, the Canonicuses, the Black Hawks, and the Tecum- 
 sehs of the old warrior age of aboriginal story — nor for the 
 interesting gentiy of that stripe who figure in poetly and 
 fiction : on the contrary, they are of a veiy opposite and de- 
 generate class, being simply a gipsey band — half or quarter 
 breeds, of Canadian French and negro blood, with plenty 
 
64 SAEATOGA. 
 
 of tlie vicious reality and but little of the beautiful romance 
 of the conventional Indian character. 
 
 Their encampment, notwithstanding, affords scenes and 
 incidents most agreeable to the eye, and themes of thought 
 quite worth considering. The white tents, gleaming 
 amongst the forest verdure, and the bright costumes and 
 varied action of the changing groups, make pleasant pic- 
 tures to frame in one's memoiy of the place. And there is 
 much to see and study in the variety of their manufacture 
 and merchandise ; their gorgeously decorated bows and 
 quivers — harmless enough now, alas ! — the pretty bead- 
 work of the squaws — the papooses oscillating in their mstic 
 cradles, and many rare curiosities, for use or ornament, and 
 peculiar to Indian life. If generously disposed, the visitor 
 may set up pennies for targets, and as prizes for the little 
 red gargons when they bring them down, as they are sure 
 to do with their flying arrows. In the evening hours the 
 light of the camp-fires lends a new and yet brighter charm 
 to the scene. 
 
 THE KAIL WAY STATION. 
 
 The stage-office, the steamboat-landing, or the railway- 
 station, as the case may be, is always a point of interest to 
 visitors at a watering-place. In the busy city, people may 
 come and go by thousands, but who ever thinks of the 
 arrivals or the departures, unless, perchance, he have a 
 friend now and then to welcome in or to speed away ? 
 Who, indeed, will even stop to shake hands, much less to 
 cross the street, to greet an acquaintance unseen for months, 
 
SARATOGA. 55 
 
 and who may, for aught that is known, have shivered at 
 the poles or roasted on the equator within the interval ? It 
 is not thus at the lazy summer retreats. Here there is time 
 enough for more than mere civility. Here the hard, pre- 
 occupied business air, the devil-take- the-hindmost expression 
 of selfish absorption, is exchanged for the ready recognition, 
 the cordial greeting, and an amiability and even an aflfection- 
 ateness of welcome worthy of the heart of a " Chenyble " 
 brother. With leisure enough for friendly curiosity and 
 for active sympathy (if the heart is by nature large enough 
 for the high humanities), people at Saratoga, as at all sum- 
 mer lounges, are interested in the incomings and outgoings 
 of their fellow-men ; and, as the best means of gratifying 
 this laudable feeUng, and perchance of killing a dull hour 
 at the same time, they are daily Jidbituees of the railway- 
 station, at such times as the ups and downs may be falling 
 due, — watching with more or less eagerness if perchance 
 some friend may turn up, and saluting even a slight city 
 acquaintance with a warmth undreamed of in the colder 
 social temperature of the town. There is nothing like such 
 pleasant leisure and grateful rest to thaw the frozen heart. 
 
 At Saratoga the facilities for such greetings and fare- 
 wells are excellent, for the railway-station is a most agree- 
 able spot, standing in a broad, open square, and within a 
 brief walk of all the chief hotels. 
 
 BROADWAY. 
 
 Pity 'tis that the godfathers and godmothers of the chief 
 
 street in " our village" did not bestow upon it a patronymic 
 
56 SAEATOGA. 
 
 less suggestive of dust and dirt, of hurry and unrest, than 
 are the frightful syllables, to countiy -loving ears, of " Broad- 
 way." Still, a rose with any other name, the poet tells us, 
 will smell as sweet ; and our Saratoga Broadway is unques- 
 tionably a noble avenue, miles in length, ample in breadth, 
 and withal shaded, for the most part, with splendid elms. 
 It has its crowds, to be sure, as has the Broadway below, on 
 Manhattan Island ; but they are crowds of holiday loungers 
 — not huiTjdng bulls and bears ; of gay-liveried equipages — 
 not lumbering drays and omnibuses ; and should you meet 
 a friend, after a year or so's absence, you may, en passant^ 
 give him somewhat more than a hasty nod. Neither are 
 we troubled here with noisy pavements, Russ, Belgian, or 
 asphalte; and sad-eyed mendicants beset us not as we 
 move along. 
 
 The entire length of this fine street is more than three 
 miles in a direct line, and even in the more thronged por- 
 tions the crowd is lost amidst the verdure of the double line 
 of beautiful trees which traverses the whole promenade : 
 or the varied hues of the gay attire, contrasted with and 
 seen, here and there, amidst the green leafage, produces 
 still a feeling of rural rather than of metropolitan life. 
 Much of the street, also, is at all times quiet and country- 
 looking enough, for the hotel and business quarters occupy 
 only a comparatively small part, at the lower extremity. 
 This quarter, as far as it extends, is gay enough, with the 
 showy shops of the migratory modistes, the restaurants and 
 saloons, and the other appendages of a fashionable water- 
 ing-place, superadded to the local business of the village. 
 To all this is to be added the throngs which lounge on 
 the broad piazzas of the hotels, or which are coming and 
 
SARATOGA. 57 
 
 going to and from tne many fountains. Altogether our 
 Saratoga Broadway is a very pleasant sort of Broadway — 
 a clever rus in urhe. 
 
 THE PARK. 
 
 The beautiful crescent-shaped grounds around the Con- 
 gress Spring were reclaimed from the deep and dank swamp 
 by Mr. John Clarke, the former owner of the property, who 
 purchased the farm, in which it was included, of the Living- 
 stons, in 1826. 
 
 This tract, once so dreary and doleful, is now one of the 
 chiefest landscape beauties of the village. The topography 
 of the grounds is very agreeably diversified, showing fine 
 reaches of meadow and lawn, and pretty hill-slopes, open 
 glade, and shady copse, all interspersed with little winding 
 walks or broader promenades. The sunny hours may be 
 chaiTttingly spent in the bosky nooks of the Park, in the 
 quiet companionship of books, or in cosy gossip with some 
 of the many old friends always to be found at the Springs. 
 The Park presents a brilliant face on a bright summer 
 morning, when the throngs of tripping feet tend hither 
 from all points, to drink the sparkling waters of the famous 
 Congress or Columbian springs ; and when many an early 
 riser, bent upon enjoying " the free, the fresh, the early 
 morning air," takes his " constitutional " along its prome- 
 nades. On soft summery moonlight nights, too, when the 
 gentle zephyrs bring grateful coolness to the heated brow, 
 what a delight it is to steal away from the glaring halls and 
 the torrid ball-rooms of the thronged hotels, and wander 
 up and down the wee hills and dales ! It is possible that 
 
58 SARATOGA. 
 
 there may be gouty sires, or aged dowagers, or grim un- 
 social bachelors, who may think this sort of thing all bosh ; 
 but it won't do to say so to Damon and Chloe, as they glide 
 along the shadiest walks — the shadiest even in moonlight — 
 linked arm-in-arm, perchance hand-in-hand, drinking in 
 from eye and lip deep draughts, sweeter to the taste and 
 more stirring to the blood than all the carbonates of all the 
 springs from one end of the mineral valley to the other. 
 
 THE CHUECHES. 
 
 Saratoga, with all its fun and fashion and its material 
 enjoyments, is not without its share of serious life, any more 
 than are graver and duller places ; as the church-spires, 
 here and there, will testif}^ No one, whatever may chance 
 to be his creed, need, from want of opportunity, neglect his 
 religious devotions in the rush of worldly delights ; since 
 the temple-doors are everywhere open to all sects and 
 denominations, Jew or Gentile, Catholic or Protestant, 
 High Church or Low Church, orthodox or heterodox, what- 
 ever he may be. 
 
 Some of the church edifices are elegant affairs ; quite 
 worthy of the oblation of the most refined city congrega- 
 tions, and ministered to by pastors of culture and repute. 
 
 The Episcopal church, on Washington Street, is a mod- 
 ern edifice of stone, most pleasing in its architecture, and 
 suitable in all its interior adornments. A handsome contri- 
 bution to the exchequer of the society was made recently 
 through the medium of an amateur exhibition of tableaux 
 vivants on the stage of the Leland Opera House. 
 
SARATOGA. 59 
 
 The Presbyterian church is a fine brick edifice, of ample 
 dimensions, pleasantly located some little distance up 
 Broadway. The site, we believe, was presented by Heniy 
 Walton, one of the early residents and benefactors of Sara- 
 toga. Mr. Walton was a gentleman of great taste and 
 enterprise, which he displayed in various contributions to 
 the progress and embellishment of the place. Among other 
 good works, he created the beautiful estate known as 
 ** Woodlawn," and built the pleasant residence of " Pine 
 Grove," occupied by the venerable Chancellor Walworth. 
 
 The Baptist church is on Washington Street, opposite the 
 Episcopal church. The site was presented by the old 
 pioneer Gideon Putnam, when he left the land to the first 
 religious society which might be ready to occupy it. 
 
 The Methodist church is also conveniently located among 
 the other places of w^orship on Washington Street. 
 
 The Catholic church occupies a commanding and most 
 agreeable location upon Broadway, just above the Claren- 
 don Hotel. 
 
 COUNTRY-SEATS. 
 
 The villa residences of Saratoga are numerous and 
 attractive, though they do not make so marked a feature in 
 the character of the place as at Newport. They may do 
 so, however, by-and-by, as the high virtues of the climate 
 come to be better appreciated, and as the means and appli- 
 ances of luxurious life increase. The neighborhood, cer- 
 tainly, offers great inducements for summer, if not perma- 
 nent residence ; with its unusual facilities for country seclu- 
 sion, within call of all the gayeties of city life. The bracing. 
 
60 SARATOGA. 
 
 healthful atmosphere, the invaluable mineral waters, the 
 varied social resources, the picturesque scenery, and the 
 easy access, all combined, should certainly surround the 
 Springs with a cordon of sumptuous villas and picturesque 
 " boxes," unsurpassed by any locality in the land. 
 
 To some people it may be, sometimes, too much of a 
 good thing to live always in the hurly-burly of the great 
 hotels ; but then to these even, a quiet private home, apart 
 from and yet within immediate reach of the great world, 
 seems to promise the desired juste milieu. 
 
 It is not within the scope of our purpose here to make 
 individual mention of the private homes of the village, but 
 the visitor will not fail to see and enjoy them in his rides 
 and walks through the neighborhood. 
 
 THE SARATOGA RACES. 
 
 Our village gives fair promise of soon becoming — even 
 if it is not already — the head-centi'e of the sports of the 
 tm"f in America. Its famous race-course, which lies one 
 and a half mile out of town, and which was surveyed and 
 laid out in 1803 by Charles H. Ballard, is the largest in the 
 Union, not even excepting the great Fashion Course on 
 Long Island, and the more modem Jerome Park in New 
 York. It is a favorite resort of the leading " horse-men " of 
 the land, and the best-blooded steeds are brought hither 
 eveiy season for the display of their prowess in wind and 
 limb. The great equine contests come off in July or Au- 
 gust, when all the region runs mad with excitement, 
 scarcely less infectious than that which may be seen at 
 
SARATOGA. 61 
 
 Epsom, through the wild doings of a Derby-day. Eveiybody 
 goes who has the good fortune to tind a carriage or a cart, 
 a cab or a cob to cany them, or who is able to traverse the 
 short distance on that universal self-acting vehicle, vul- 
 garly known as Shank's mare. The programme of exer- 
 cises offei's more than the usual variety to which the item 
 of "running races" has been added within two or three 
 years past. Of course it is a jolly occasion, and the inter- 
 est, if not the betting, runs high. Such sports are always 
 inspiriting, and at Sai-atoga they stir up the blood as effec- 
 tually as the waters of the most highly charged of the min- 
 eral springs. People who have had no experience in the 
 matter beyond the sight of a run-away nag, may not " see 
 the joke," but let such skeptics, even the most hardened, 
 seat themselves amidst the brilliant crowd which gathers on 
 the grand stand ; let them watch the eager and the exult- 
 ant eyes of all around, at the approach of the impatient 
 steeds, and see the thickening interest as they start on their 
 course, an interest rising into breathless, almost painful in- 
 tensity as the goal is neared, and if they fail to catch the 
 general infection, then are they stoics indeed, who had bet- 
 ter tuna hermits and eschew the weak humanities of this 
 mortal world. 
 
 There are many good people who would not, if they 
 could, in any way enjoy the sports and pleasures of the turf, 
 but, on the contrary, shun them and their allurements as 
 snares of Satan and as roads to i-uin ; but why this should 
 be so we cannot say, unless upon a general principle,, which 
 might forbid the use of any goods which the gods provide, 
 because, forsooth, they may be abused. It is tnie that the 
 Race is a popular pastime, from which fact, and from the 
 6 
 
62 SABATOGA. 
 
 manner in which it has been and is often conducted, has 
 acquired a vulgar repute. This, however, is purely an acci- 
 dent, which may be easily corrected. The " betting-book," 
 common to the excitement of the sport, may tempt to unjust 
 gain or to unhappy loss of fortune. So indeed may, in a 
 greater or less degree, all the chances of this chanceful 
 world and its occupations. There are '* betting-books " in 
 Wall Street, not little pocket-editions for occasional use, but 
 great ponderous volumes, which are poured over with grave 
 brows from mom to eve by the worthiest folk, and every 
 merchant's ledger is, indeed, in its way, only a " betting- 
 book." The turf may lead to dissipations, harmful to 
 health and due sobriety— so, too, may any gentleman's 
 well-spread mahogany ; or, may-be, a loss of precious time : 
 but how much time is daily lost without reproof ! On the 
 whole, is it not better and wiser and braver to manfully 
 pluck the flowers which bestrew our path, rather than to 
 deny ourselves their sweet fragrance, in fear of being stung 
 by some intermingled thorn or nettle ? 
 
 Certain it is that the gay sport grows in favor with the 
 growth of the popular intelligence and refinement. It is 
 gradually passing from the control of its former rude mas- 
 ters into the hands of gentlemen of character and cultm'e. 
 Day by day it is becoming an amusement more elegant 
 and more fashionable, and fair ladies, in all their drawing- 
 room grace and gorgeousness, now sanctify it with their 
 eager presence. We know, indeed, some very excellent 
 men, whom even the worldlings reverently call reverend, 
 who handle the ribbons with a genuine zest, and who do 
 not despise a hoi-se on account of his speed. 
 
SAEATOGA. 63 
 
 SARATOGA LAKE. 
 
 A ti'ip to " the Lake" would be a pictorial necessity to 
 all Saratoga visitors, even if it were not, as it is, the termi- 
 nus of the principal and most convenient " drive " from the 
 village, and only some five miles away. 
 
 It is a lovely water in eveiy aspect, not grand in its 
 characteristics, to be sure, but replete with quiet and gentle 
 beauty. It is, too, of very commanding proportions, hav- 
 ing a liberal length of nine miles, and a breadth, in its widest 
 division, of nearly five miles. Many and varied scenes of 
 beauty occur within this broad range of water and shore. 
 The boldest feature of the lake is the elevation to be seen 
 on the right, and familiar to visitors as " Snake Hill." It 
 may be reached by the little steamer which plies between 
 the Lake House and the Sulphur Spring, or by foot across 
 the long bridge, and thence by a romantic path, which 
 winds along the shore on the crest of a line of cedar bluffs, 
 upon one of which is a refreshment station, known as 
 Meyer's Lake House. The piazzas of this hotel afford an 
 agreeable view of the lake and its surroundings. 
 
 It is said that there existed, once upon a time, a terrible 
 lair of rattlesnakes, midway on the flank of the hill — hence 
 its rather forbidding name. The visitor, however, may 
 tiTidge fearlessly onward at this day, since St. Patrick seems 
 to have given his careful attention to the region, and the 
 snakes of old are now happily noji est. It is said that thene 
 once dwelt on the hill an old fellow, whose profession it 
 was to catch the varmints for public exposition and sale, 
 and who at length was bitten by them and slain. But we 
 
64 SARATOGA. 
 
 have heard of this " old fellow " on eveiy snake-hill or hol- 
 low which we have ever visited, and also of his untimely 
 and inevitable end. 
 
 A more interesting, if not a more historically reliable 
 reminiscence is an oft-quoted tradition, " scribed " to the 
 poetry of the spot by that charming raconteur^ N. P. 
 Willis. " There is," he says, " an Indian superstition at- 
 tached to this lake, which probably has its source in its 
 remarkable loneliness and tranquillity. The Mohawks 
 believed that its stillness was sacred to the Great Spirit, 
 and that if a human voice uttered a sound upon its waters, 
 the canoe of the offender would instantly sink. A stoiy is 
 told of an Englishwoman, in the early days of the first set- 
 tlers, who had occasion to cross this lake with a party of 
 Indians, who, before embarking, warned her most impres- 
 sively of the spell. It was a silent, breathless day, and the 
 canoe shot over the smooth surface of the lake like an 
 arrow. About a mile from the shore, near the centre of 
 the lake, the woman, willing to convince the savages of the 
 weakness of their superstition, uttered a loud ciy. The 
 countenances of the Indians fell instantly to the deep- 
 est gloom. After a moment's pause, however, they re- 
 doubled their exertions, and in frowning silence drove the 
 light bark like an arrow over the waters. They reached 
 the shore in safety, and drew up the canoe, and the woman 
 rallied the chief on his credulity. ' The Great Spirit is 
 mei'ciful,' answered the scornful Mohawk ; ' He knows 
 that a white woman cannot hold her tongue.' " 
 
 The lake is rich in material for piscatory sport. There 
 was a time when it was famous for its supplies of trout ; 
 and before the building of the mills at the entrance of Fish 
 
SAKATOGA. 65 
 
 Creek (the outlet of the lake into the Hudson), shad and 
 herring came up to try the water in the spring of the year. 
 Although these fish are now to be seen no more at Sara- 
 toga, there remain other varieties hardly less attractive to 
 the fisherman and the gourmet. Among them are the perch, 
 the pickerel, the muscalonge, and the black or Oswego bass. 
 The best locality in which to look for perch is said to be 
 the deep water opposite Snake Hill, where they are fre- 
 quently taken of the agreeable weight of three and even of 
 four pounds. For pickerel one should try the ground at 
 the end of the lake just above Staff'ord's Bridge. Near the 
 east end of the bridge boats and bait and lines may be pro- 
 cured of" Uncle John" Tale, who makes it his occupation 
 to supply these needs of the Saratoga Waltons. 
 
 When your fish is caught, you may have it cooked in 
 marvellous style, in the cuisines of the excellent hotel on 
 the banks of the lake, known far and near as the Lake 
 House, and administered by Mr. Moon, a landlord of high 
 repute, especially in the concoction of those epicurean lux- 
 uries — game-dinners. 
 
 THE CEMETERY. 
 
 A village cemetery is always an object Of as much inter- 
 est to the stranger as to the resident, though from different 
 feelings and different points of view. The one resorts to its 
 quiet haunts to read over again the changeful chapters in 
 his own past life, and to recall memories of absent mates 
 and friends ; while the other finds there curious hints and 
 histories of the character and story of the people among 
 6* 
 
66 
 
 SARATOGA. 
 
 whom his interests and sympathies are, for the moment, 
 cast. Then, too, these cells of the silent are, for the most 
 part, provided and preserved with generous hand and 
 thoughtful care, making them objects of attraction to the 
 eye no less than to the heart. 
 
 GLIMPSE EASTWARD FK03I THE CEMETERT. 
 
 Our Saratoga cemetery is, it is true, not old enough to 
 have gathered within its pale many records, and few of 
 that striking individuality of character often to be read on 
 
SARATOGA. 67 
 
 ancient and lichen-covered tombs ; yet it has its tale of 
 love and sorrow, and its annals of good and noble lives, 
 which do honor to those who are left and to the region 
 where they dwell. Besides what the stranger may learn in 
 the village cemetery of Saratoga, of the character of the 
 place — from the records he will see there of the names and 
 deeds of her departed sons and daughters — he will find 
 much satisfaction and pleasure in wandering through the 
 well-ordered walks which ti'averse in all directions the 
 slopes of the picturesque acres, piously devoted here to the 
 memoiy of the departed ones ; and in looking abroad from 
 the more lofty portions of the ground, at the glimpses 
 afforded here and there of the far-reaching meadows and 
 the distant hills. 
 
 WAGMAN'S HILL. 
 
 About three miles beyond Chapman's Hill, in a general 
 northeast course, lies the yet loftier elevation called Wag- 
 man's Hill. It offers a charming view in all directions. 
 The western picture is made up of the blue ranges of the 
 Kayaderosseras, and the inteiTening table-lands, dotted 
 eveiywhere with fruitful farms and happy homesteads. 
 In the remoter north are the yet loftier peaks of the great 
 Adirondack range ; eastward may be seen the green hills 
 of old Vei-mont, and far in the south stretch the Helderberg 
 and the Catskill cliffs. In the intervening plains may be 
 watched the windings of the Hudson, just started ou its 
 great journey to the sea ; and the small but not less lovely 
 waters of the Mohawk, of the Kayaderosseras and Fish 
 Creek, and many other streams and lakes and ponds of 
 
68 SABATOGA. 
 
 exquisite beauty, as thus seen gleaming and gloaming far 
 off in the sunlight and shade of a soft summer eve. 
 
 Wagman's Hill is not more than seven miles from Sara- 
 toga, and presents a motive for a moderate excursion, either 
 to commence or to close the day ; or it may be put in as a 
 postscript, and taken pleasantly by moonlight. The return 
 trip may be made by Stafford's Bridge and Avery's Lake 
 House. 
 
 CHAPMAN'S HILL. 
 
 If the visitor should be at the Lake, and disposed to 
 continue his drive, rather than to amuse himself in angling, 
 rowing, or sailing, or in enjoying Mr. Moon's eminent hos- 
 pitality, he may turn his horses' heads across the bridge, 
 and, after following the shore for a mile or more, turn up- 
 wards to the left, when he will soon find himself high up 
 on the eminence known as Chapman's Hill, Here he will 
 stand one hundred and eight feet above the level of the 
 lake, and gaze abroad upon a panorama well worth the 
 seeing. Directly below sleep the peaceful w^atei*s, stretch- 
 ing their mirrowing surface over an area of twenty square 
 miles. Looking westward, the lake shore is seen to ascend 
 boldly to the reach of table-land above. This table-land 
 spreads back a dozen miles to the base of the Kayaderos- 
 seras Mountains, and the mountains continue the view in 
 fresh and varying beauties, their lofty flanks contrasting 
 gratefully with the intervening meadows, fallow, and 
 farms. The Kayaderosseras Hills rise some two thousand 
 feet above the level of tide-water, and extend over a long 
 range of fiftj^ or sixty miles. When life at the Springs 
 
SARATOGA. 69 
 
 grows weary, renew it by a peep at such inspiriting scenes 
 as this and other neighboring localities aiford. 
 
 BARHYDT'S LAKE. 
 
 There is a little tarn in the grounds of Dr. Russell 
 Childs, who lives in a pretty Italian villa upon its banks. 
 In former days and before it fell into the possession of its 
 present occupant, it was a place of popular resort, espe- 
 cially by tourists in quest of piscatorial exercise. Then, 
 there was a tavern by the shore, where dwelt Mynheer 
 Barhydt, a Dutchman of the most legitimate and most 
 stolid stock. This most worthy Boniface equipped his 
 guest with boats and bait, and whether he were successful 
 or not in his sport, provided him a board bounteously 
 spread with dainty and luscious trout. 
 
 LAKE LOVELY. 
 
 Not a great distance from the village, and accessible by 
 way of Union Avenue, — a broad carriage-road, opened dur- 
 ing the year 1866, — is an interesting sheet of water, bearing 
 the euphonious name of Lake Lovely. Though not of very 
 great extent, it has many points of considerable attraction, 
 in its bold hilly shores, overrun with tangled shrubs and 
 crowned with ancient hemlock of loftiest stature. In one 
 of the deep glens about the lake, nearly opposite Al:)ers 
 Lake House, the visitor may " call on Echo," and be an- 
 swered in Echo's softest and most musical strains. 
 
70 SAEATOGA. 
 
 SCHUYLEKVILLE. 
 
 At the point where Fish Creek, the outlet of Saratoga 
 Lake, enters the Hudson, is the village of Schuylerville : 
 a pleasant place, in the heart of a very interesting region. 
 It was once the residence of General Schuyler, of Rev- 
 olutiouaiy memory, and was named in his honor. 
 
 Schuyler's homestead and all its appurtenances were 
 destroyed by the enemy, under Burgoyne, in 1777. The 
 memorable locality where the British commander surren- 
 dered his conquered sword to General Gates, is said to be 
 only a little way to the northward of the site of the old 
 Schuyler mansion. 
 
 The veteran must surely have found some consolation 
 for his private loss, as he wandered from the ashes of his 
 homestead to the adjoining grounds, so interesting and im- 
 portant in his country's history. 
 
 General Schuyler contributed much to the settlement 
 and gi-owth of Saratoga. In 1783 he opened a road thither 
 from his own home at the mouth of Fish Creek, and, pitch- 
 ing his tent in the forest, remained there with his family 
 during some weeks, hunting the game in the woods and 
 drinking the water from the springs. The following year 
 (1784) he erected a small frame-house — the first one ever 
 built in the village, and which he occupied every summer 
 during the rest of his life. The neighborhood should not 
 be overlooked, as few localities in the land awaken associa- 
 tions of such thrilling interest in the hearts of all who de- 
 light in musing upon the by-gone trials and triumphs of 
 their native land. 
 
SAKATOGA. 71 
 
 BALLSTON SPRINGS. 
 
 Ballston, once renowned for its mineral fountains — more 
 so even than Saratoga itself— lies upon the railway route, 
 seven miles distant, and is passed on the approach to Sara- 
 toga from Albany to Schenectady. It is situated in pleas- 
 ant valley-land upon each side of a small tributary of the 
 Kayaderosseras Creek. 
 
 The mineral waters of Ballston were known earlier than 
 those of Saratoga ; and when Sir William Johnson visited 
 the High Rock, he went via Ballston, and was accompa- 
 nied by Michael McDonald, who had settled there in 1768. 
 
 The township of Ballston was organized in 1788, and 
 was incorporated in 1807. It is at this time the county- 
 seat of Saratoga, and thus adds to its other attractions the 
 possession of the public buildings of the region. 
 
 A log-house was erected for the accommodation of 
 guests at Ballston, in 1772, which was enlarged and im- 
 proved in 1790, when, the war being over, the suspended 
 business of the settlement began to be renewed. 
 
 The first modern monster-house was erected by Nicholas 
 Low, in 1804. This house was the present Sans-Souci^ 
 now three stories in height, with a length of one hundi'ed 
 and sixty feet, and wings of one hundred and fifty. 
 
 For a long time the mineral waters of Ballston were held 
 in high repute, and the village grew and prospered. Soon, 
 however, the Saratoga star began to rise above it. The 
 Ballston waters proved difficult to secure, owing to the 
 peculiar character of the substratum which underlies the 
 region, and the place lost its prestige. 
 
72 SAKATOGA. 
 
 The most approved fountains at Ballston are the United 
 States, the Fulton Chalybeate Spring, the Franklin Sulphur, 
 and the Low Well, the waters of which are still used with 
 success, though they have ceased to be bottled, as they once 
 were. The quantity of gas in these springs and the manner 
 of its escape is said to vary very much — sometimes rising in 
 great force, and sometimes passing off in small particles only. 
 On one occasion, but for a short time only, the gas rose in 
 such force and quantity as to produce a jet several feet in 
 height. 
 
 There are yet many who delight in Ballston as a sum- 
 mer-home, and in its waters as remedial agents. The Sara- 
 toga guest will find the village an agreeable place to visit, 
 going by the rail, or making it the goal of an afternoon's 
 ride. The neighboring brooks and ponds and the pleasant 
 country all about are well worth exploring. The village 
 was named in honor of the Rev. Eliphalet Ball, who estab- 
 lished himself, at an early day, some two miles and a half 
 to the southward. 
 
 LUZERNE. 
 
 Luzerne is a pretty hamlet, lying within reach of the 
 lower spurs of the Adirondack, at the confluence of the 
 Upper Hudson with the Sacandaga. It is in the neighbor- 
 hood of Corinth Falls, and may be reached by the Saratoga 
 and Lake Ontario Railway, though of course no pleasure- 
 seeking tourist will approach it by that prosaic means. 
 
 The vicinity of Luzerne is famous as a hunting and fish- 
 ing ground. Trout and pickerel abound, and partridge and 
 woodcock are to be had for fair asking. When the game 
 
SARATOGA. 73 
 
 is bagged, the hospitable landlord, Mr. Rockwell, will see 
 to it that it is served as such dainties should be served, 
 and as only landlords themselves experts in the gentle 
 sports of field and flood know how to do it. 
 
 Among the landscape incidents of the region is a singu- 
 lar-looking cone, known as Potash Kettle, which rises 
 boldly in the foreground of a mountain picture. The Hud- 
 son may be seen here, wildly rusliing over rocky ledges in 
 its hurried race to join the scarcely less turbulent waters of 
 the Sacandaga a little way below. 
 
 The jagged shores of the river are united by a well- 
 conditioned bridge, and the waters are utilized for saw-mill 
 industiy. 
 
 STILES' HILL, 
 
 Stiles' Hill may be reached in a drive of a few miles 
 along the base of the Palmerton Mountain. In the vicinity 
 of the locality known as Eli Stiles', a remarkably interest- 
 ing panorama may be obtained — a panorama revealing the 
 varied landscape for sixty miles to the south, following the 
 gliding course of the Hudson and the Mohawk rivers. To 
 the eastward there may be seen the mountain ranges on the 
 borders of the Connecticut Valley, and northward the green 
 hills of Vermont stretch away through many a mile of peak 
 and pass, beyond the verdant and fertile plains which lie 
 along the shores of Lake Champlain. 
 
 To the intelligent obseiwer the country around will re- 
 call, also, many a thrilling recollection of historic story and 
 romance ; for it is, to those who know it, all hallowed 
 ground. 
 
 7 
 
74 SARATOGA. 
 
 WARING HILL. 
 
 Taking the road towards Mount Pleasant, the tourist 
 may, after a ride of sixteen miles, find himself on the crest 
 of Waring Hill, a point two thousand feet above tide-water 
 and overtopping all the other highlands around. 
 
 It is a good specific for dyspepsia, bile, or blues to bear 
 the forehead to the fresh airs of these high latitudes, diy 
 and pure, and sparkling with electric life. Put aside your 
 " yellow covers," and thnist from your brain all memory of 
 their maudlin dreams, O gauzy guest ! and shake yourself 
 into life with a spanking course over their wide-awake and 
 health-giving reaches of valley and hill. Be assured that it 
 will do you good, body and soul, and give you a truer no- 
 tion of the relative values of niches, ribbons, waterfalls, and 
 Empress trails. 
 
 From Waring Hill the spectator will look down upon 
 the villages of Saratoga, Ballston, Mechanicsville, Schuyler- 
 ville, Schenectady, and Waterford, with many other less 
 important hamlets and settlements, all intei*spersed and 
 enlivened by the gleam of sunny waters. Saratoga Lake 
 spreads its broad surface to the gaze ; Ballston Lake also, 
 and Round Lake, Owl Point, the winding ways of Fish 
 Creek, and of the Kayaderosseras ; and over and above all, 
 the great Hudson, in all its course from the Sacandaga to 
 the labyrinths of the distant Catskills. 
 
 HAGGERTY HILL. 
 
 Haggerty Hill is a fine eminence of about eight hundred 
 feet above tide-water, half a mile west of Greenfield Centre. 
 
SAKATOGA. 75 
 
 It is six miles north of Saratoga by the plankroad leading- 
 to Luzerne, on the Hudson. 
 
 Returning, it will be pleasant to take the road east,, 
 through Greenville Centre, crossing " Meeting House Hill," 
 St. John's Comers, and thence, by the right-hand road,, 
 over the Hewit and the Westcott hills. This itineraiy wilL 
 afford a veiy delightful ride through broad meadow-lands,, 
 watered by pretty brooks and studded with thiifty fanns, 
 The hill-points on the route will give the tourist the same 
 fine distant mountain-passages, with more or less variation, 
 which are to be had from other elevations around Saratoga. 
 The glimpse eastward, bounded by the shadowy ranges of 
 the Green Mountains, is remarkably attractive. But ride 
 whither one may, hereabouts he cannot fail to enjoy the 
 exercise, if the weather be fine, the roads in fair order, and 
 the heart tuned to the melodious voices of the smiling 
 scenes around him ; for after all, it is veiy true what poor 
 Slingsby says, " that no sky is blue, no leaf is verdant — it is- 
 the heart alone that has the azure and the green." So, good 
 reader, be careful to ride forth always with a clear con- 
 science void of all offence, if in your musings with fair 
 nature you would hear her *' voice of gladness," feel " her 
 smile and eloquence of beauty," and be blessed by her 
 " mild and gentle sympathy." 
 
 CORINTH FALLS. 
 
 The cataract known as Coiinth Falls is a bold passage; 
 in the Upper Hudson, some fifteen miles north of Saratoga 
 and one mile from the old Jessup's Landing. A long line 
 
76 SAEATOGA. 
 
 of rapids gives admonition of the impending crash of waters, 
 l^rhen the lately placid stream, as if preparing for the crisis 
 "before it, gathers itself into the naiTow limits of fifty feet 
 space or less, and then i-ushes headlong down through a 
 gorge of one hundred and fifty feet. Reaching the goal, the 
 floods spread forth again as if to draw breath before then* 
 next and final plunge, over a dark precipice of sixty feet. 
 It is a noble sight even now, when the detracting hand of 
 modern improvement has in some measure robbed it of its 
 coriginal beauty. 
 
 The falls may be seen to advantage from the Luzerne 
 rside of the river, by crossing at the landing and climbing to 
 the crest of the bluff, which stands a hundred feet or more 
 above. The village, at the old Jessup Landing, will afford 
 all reasonable ways and means for that recuperation of the 
 physical forces which is required occasionally even by vis- 
 itors of the highest poetical natures. Roaiing cataracts and 
 gurgling brooks are each and at all times extremely enjoy- 
 able ; but the adjuncts of an appetizing sandwich and of a 
 wee drop of bourbon, say, rarely, if ever, lessen their effect 
 upon the imagination. 
 
 THE SARATOGA BATTLE-GROUND AT BEMIS 
 HEIGHTS. 
 
 A visit to the scene of the great battle of Saratoga, 
 which ended in the suiTender of the British anny under 
 General Burgoyne to the Americans under Gates, will 
 occupy a pleasant though a somewhat long day's excur- 
 
SAKATOGA. 77 
 
 sion ; or the spot may be reached sooner fi'om the Springs 
 by the aid of the railway tending thither. 
 
 The battle was fought and won upon the elevated lands 
 at Bemis Heights, two and a half miles from the Hudson, in 
 the town of Stillwater, in Saratoga County. The visitor 
 may obtain all desired information respecting the precise 
 localities of the struggle from residents and cicerones on 
 the grounds. At the time of the eventful Battle of Sara- 
 toga the American troops were in high feather at their 
 successes in the defeat of St. Leger and at Stark's brilliant 
 performance at Bennington, which had occurred during the 
 latter part of the preceding month. The enemy's forces in 
 the neighborhood were believed to be in a bad way gener- 
 ally, and all parties were ignorant of the British progress on 
 the Hudson below and yet further south. Troops poured 
 in from all quartei-s, and General Gates was in good tiim 
 for the work which soon fell to him. 
 
 As an illustration of how chance seems to rule in war, 
 there is recorded a story, which, with a different sequel, 
 might have entirely altered the relative fortunes of Bur- 
 goyne and Gates at that time. Clinton, the English com- 
 mander on the Hudson, had despatched a messenger to 
 Burgoyne, announcing his success and promising him re- 
 lief; which message, had it but safely reached its destination, 
 might have led to an avoidance of the fatal rencontre into 
 which the English genei-al was led at Saratoga. The mes- 
 sage contained the brief words, " twus y voic% and nothing 
 between us but Gates." It was enclosed in a silver bullet. 
 
 The messenger fell in with a squad of American troops, 
 whom he unluckily mistook for friends, as they chanced 
 just then to be arrayed in red coats, recently captured from 
 7* 
 
78 SARATOGA. 
 
 an English storeship. He incautiously divulged his errand, 
 when he discovered his sad mistake, and Burgoyne lost his 
 saving message and the Battle of Saratoga. 
 
 The happy position of the American army on the 
 Heights was chosen by the Polish ally Kosciusko, who 
 served informally as chief engineer on the occasion. It 
 may be curious also to recall the fact, as we stroll over the 
 once gory ground, that much of the success of the day was 
 owing to the impetuous ardor and daring braveiy of the 
 veiy Arnold who, at a later day, so wofully marred his 
 patiiotic record at West Point. So highly did Washington 
 esteem Arnold's services at that time, that he bestowed upon 
 him, with other marks of consideration, one of three sets 
 of military ornaments which had been sent to him by some 
 person in France, " for the First of American captains, and 
 the two chieftains he might consider worthy to share the 
 compliment with him." 
 
 The great struggle occurred on the afternoon of the 7th 
 of October, 1777. Burg03Tie was observed to be moving 
 his troops, with an evident inclination to work, should the 
 opportunity offer; when Gates, in his turn, detennined 
 " to indulge him," and gave order " to begin the game." 
 Colonel Morgan was at once despatched towards the British 
 right, while Poor was ordered to look after his left. Both 
 officers executed their commissions so effectually that, in 
 exactly fifty-two minutes after the first shot was fired, the 
 enemy beat a retreat, leaving behind two twelve and six 
 six-pounders, with the loss of more than four hundred 
 officers and men, killed, wounded, and captm-ed, among 
 whom were General Frazer, Major Ackland, and Sir 
 Francis Cook. 
 
\ 
 
 SAKATOGA. 79 
 
 Scarcely had the enemy re-entered his lines, when he 
 was followed by General Arnold and Colonel Brooks in a 
 furious assault upon his entire works from right to left, witli 
 such effect, that when the night put a stop to the contest, 
 Burgoyne was glad of the opportunity to withdraw to a 
 stronger position on the heights and nearer to the river, 
 where he might avoid another engagement with the foe, 
 who already possessed parts of his works, and was evi- 
 dently ready to renew the attack with the retmiiing 
 light. 
 
 Thus ended the important action on Bemis Heights, 
 though it was not until some time later that Burgoyne, 
 di'iven to his last resource, and finding his position utterly 
 desperate, laid down his arms and surrendered to his vic- 
 torious foe. 
 
 After the decisive victoiy of the glorious 7th of October 
 the spirits of the American troops rose high, and Gates 
 threw heavy detachments higher up the river to oppose the 
 retreat of the enemy. No attack was made ; but neverthe- 
 less Burgoyne was compelled to abandon his strong post. 
 He retreated on the night of the 10th October towards Sara- 
 toga, with the loss of his hospital and a part of his baggage 
 and stores. Taking a new position on the Hudson, he 
 again found himself beset by his antagonist, who was 
 already on the opposite side, ready to dispute his passage.. 
 The British anny was now surrounded by a numerically 
 superior force, which was constantly increasing, and was 
 flushed with success. Burgoyne's gallant array of eight 
 thousand men had been reduced to three thousand five 
 hundi-ed, and his provisions were nearly exhausted. Thus 
 circumstanced, and being smTounded by a force four times 
 
80 SAKATOGA. 
 
 jis great as his own, and with every avenue of escape closed 
 against him, he was obliged to open a treaty with Gates, 
 which terminated in the formal surrender of the remnant 
 of his army. 
 
 The spot where the defeated commander gave up his 
 sword, and which is called the " Surrender Ground," is a 
 few miles further up the river than the battle-field. 
 
 BAKER'S FALLS. 
 
 These fine cascades are in the Hudson River, about four 
 miles below Glen's Falls. The waters here make a descent 
 of about seventy feet in one hundi'ed rods, falling in a series 
 of bold rapids, and at intervals in little pictm'esque and per- 
 pendicular leaps down rugged glens. 
 
 The spot may be conveniently visited in connection with 
 Glen's Falls, in the river above, and may be reached from 
 Saratoga by railway fifteen miles to Moreau Station, and 
 hence by an agreeable stage-ride over pleasant hills and 
 dales. 
 
 GLEN'S FALLS. 
 
 This remarkable passage in the waters of the Upper 
 IBEudson is about twenty miles northeast of Saratoga and on 
 the route from the Springs to Lake George. It is a spot of 
 •great attraction, from its historical and poetical associations 
 no less than for its natural beauty. 
 
 Here the river, but now so gentle and peaceful in its 
 •course, makes through a ravine of bold jagged rock of some 
 
SARATOGA. 81 
 
 nine hundred feet in length. Looking at the broad stately- 
 floods of the Hudson, nearer to the sea, one would hardly 
 suspect it of being capable of such mad tantrums as it is 
 led into by the tortuous crags which it here encounters. 
 But this is the period of its youth, when it may be allowed 
 to sow a few wild-oats. In its native aspect, before the 
 hand of civilization robbed the wilderness of its trees, and 
 replaced them with factory and mill, this must have been 
 a wild, even a weird spot. The volume and the impetuous 
 rush of the waters over the rude rocks is still a grand sight, 
 despite the many materials of industry which obtrude them- 
 selves upon the eye, and which seem to be vainly striving 
 to turn poetiy into prose. 
 
 The spot still possessed all its primeval wilderness in 
 the warlike days of the French and Indian incursions ; and 
 no fabrics of human art were to be seen there at the later 
 period of the Revolution, excepting a military blockhouse 
 here and there, or occasionally a more pretentious defence, 
 dignified with the high-sounding name of fort. 
 
 The rushing floods were not degraded to the ignoble 
 work of turning mills, and the marble clifl*s were all un- 
 quarried, when ** The Last of the Mohicans " stole with 
 stealthy step through the wild ravines, and Cooper's gentle 
 heroines, fair Alice and Cora Mimroe, were sheltered there 
 from the search of their treacherous foes. 
 
 It was in this neighborhood that the unfortunate Jenny 
 McCrea was murdered by the Indians, allies of the British 
 duiing the Revolution. She dwelt at the time in the lone 
 house of an old Scotch widow, and on the night of the 
 murder was unprotected save by the companionship of an 
 old negro woman. In the apprehension of danger, a guard 
 
82, SAEATOGA. 
 
 had been placed in the vicinity, but, by an odd chance, this 
 very protection proved the poor maid's ruin. According to 
 the stoiy, the murdering red-men had been sent to bring 
 her away to a place of greater secm-ity by a youth to whom 
 she was about to be married. On their way the messengei-s 
 were beset by the guard, whom they dispersed or de- 
 spatched, and then afterwards falling into a dispute as to 
 the division of the whiskey which had been promised them 
 in reward for their good services in bringing away the hap- 
 less girl, killed her as the readiest way of settling the quar- 
 rel. Thus, by such slight mischance was Jane McCrea 
 changed from a poor ignorant countiy gui into a deathless 
 heroine of romance. 
 
 LAKE GEORGE. 
 
 As the Saratoga guest will of course avail himself of his 
 proximity to Lake George, to visit that most beautiful re- 
 sort, it is proper that we should say, in brief, what he may 
 and what he should see there. The trip from the Spiings 
 to the Lake and back, may be done pleasantly in a couple 
 of days, if no more time should be at command ; and a 
 more agreeable diversion cannot be imagined. Besides, 
 Lake George must be seen, even at a sacrifice of conve- 
 nience, being as it is the most charming place of its kind in 
 America, if indeed it is to be surpassed anywhere in the 
 wide world. 
 
 The distance from the Spiings to the Lake is about 
 thirty miles, fifteen of which will be ti-avelled by rail to 
 Moreau Station, and the rest by stage over a fine plankroad 
 and through a very pleasant countiy. 
 

 ''^'f!]|fc,V>||j|'filif 'if! 
 
 
SARATOGA. 83 
 
 When within nine miles of the Lake the tourist will 
 reach the village of Glen's Falls, where he may see the 
 grand cataracts of the Upper Hudson, which we have de- 
 scribed upon another page. 
 
 Five miles yet nearer his point of destination, he will 
 pass, on the immediate road-side, the interesting historical 
 ground known as the Bloody Pond. Here Colonel Wil- 
 liams was slain in an unfortunate encounter with the 
 French and Indians, on the 8th of September, 1755. The 
 victims of the disaster were rudely buried beneath the slimy 
 waters of the pond. The ancient boulder close by is called 
 Williams' Rock. 
 
 The first view of the Lake as we approach in this direc- 
 tion is surpassingly beautiful, much of the wide expanse of 
 water coming suddenly upon the sight as we reach the crest 
 of the bordering hills. From this point the descent to the 
 shore is rapid ; reaching which, we may halt at the village 
 of Caldwell, or, as most people will prefer to do, continue 
 half a mile further around the beach, to the right, and find 
 ourselves happily at home in the elegant halls of the Fort 
 William Henry Hotel, as pleasant a resting-place as may 
 be found the a)untry through. 
 
 Lake Geo^ is, from the head or southern extremity at 
 Caldwell, to the foot or northern end, at the village of 
 Ticonderoga, about thirty-six miles long, and may be trav- 
 ersed in the pretty steamers which ply the waters daily to 
 and fro. Should the weather be propitious, nothing more 
 delightful could be desired than this little voyage up and 
 down the lovely waters, with their bold and ever-changing 
 mountain shores, their innumerable islands, and their vol- 
 umes of thrilling historic remembrances. 
 
84 SARATOGA. 
 
 Fort William Henry Hotel stands upon hallowed gi-ound, 
 the site being that of old defences of the period of the 
 French and Indian War. Near by, also, are the ruins of 
 Fort George, which was a work of interest and importance 
 in its day. 
 
 The fauy voyage is scarcely begun before we pass 
 Diamond Island, which fronts Dunham Bay. It was here 
 that Burgoyne, in 1777, established a militaiy depot, and 
 had a skirmish with the American troops. 
 
 To the north of Diamond Isle lies Long Island, in front 
 of Long Point, which makes into the Lake from the east. 
 Between the north side of this point and the mountains is 
 Han-is Bay, where Montcahn moored his boats and landed 
 in 1767. % 
 
 DOME ISLAITD 
 
 lies midway between the shore, about twelve miles above 
 Caldwell. It was a temporary shelter for Putnam and his 
 party on their eiTand to General Webb, with advice of the 
 movements of the enemy at the mouth di the Northwest 
 Bay. \ 
 
 BOLTON 
 
 is a steamboat-landing in this neighborhood, which is one 
 of the finest parts of the Lake. An excellent hotel will be 
 found at Bolton, anil a small hamlet lies at'-a little distance 
 from the landing. The neighborhood is a favorite head- 
 quarters for visitors who delight themselves in the sports 
 of the angle, and many fine trout are still to be found here- v 
 abouts. \ 
 
SAKATOGA. 85 
 
 THE TONGUE MOUNTAIN 
 
 steps with its bold stiide southward into the waters, in the 
 neighborhood of Bolton, fonning the Northwest Bay on one 
 side, and the main passage of the Lake, called the Narrows, 
 on the other. The Tongue is a very picturesque mountain- 
 ridge, and goes a great way in forming the natural beauties 
 of the Lake, dropping in as it does so admirably in many 
 of its most striking views. It is not long since the deer was 
 successfully hunted here, and the game may yet be found 
 with industrious search. 
 
 SHELVING ROCK. 
 
 On the east side of the Lake and at the southern enti*anco 
 to the Narrows is a semi-circular hill, faced with bold pali- 
 sade cliffs. At the base of these rocks rattlesnakes once 
 abounded, and may yet be found, if the chase should be 
 interesting. 
 
 The widest part of the Lake is hereabouts ; the distance 
 from shore to shore at Bolton being from three to four 
 miles as compared with the average breadth of two miles. 
 The most beautiful of the many islands lie within this 
 magic circle, and prominent among them is that curiously- 
 shaped spot known as Ship Island. 
 
 THE NARROWS 
 
 is the contracted passage of the Lake from the bay at the 
 lower point of the Tongue Mountain to the wider waters 
 8 
 
86 SARATOGA. 
 
 around Sabbath-Day Point above. The hills here rise in 
 magnificent proportions, and present stining pictures 
 scarcely less bold than the transit of the Hudson thi'ough 
 the gorges of the Highlands. 
 
 THE BLACK MOIINTAIN, 
 
 lying on the east side of the Lake in its passage through 
 the NaiTows, and dividuig it from the lower waters of Lake 
 Champlain, is the loftiest of the mountain peaks, with its 
 elevation of twenty-two hundred feet. It is stately and 
 massive in form and extent, and of fine contour, artistically 
 viewed, being indeed the chiefest pictorial incident of the 
 Lake. It is itself an admirable passage in many of the pic- 
 tm*es to be seen from the waters and shores, while from its 
 rocky crown magnificent views may be obtained of the 
 entire expanse of the Lake and of the country for many 
 miles around. At the base of the mountain on the east lie 
 the waters of Champlain, and beyond, the Vermont hills, 
 marshalled by the lofty peaks of Mansfield and the Camel's 
 Hump. Upon the south is the French Mountain. Lying 
 back from the Lake and northward, with many an inter- 
 vening valley and hill, are the grand peaks and ridges of 
 the Adirondack. 
 
 It is rarely that a panoramic view is so extended and at 
 the same time so varied in incident as that which may be 
 seen from the crest of Black Mountain, and yet very few 
 tomists venture upon the toil of making the somewhat 
 rugged ascent. The enteiprise, however, would scarcely 
 fail to make an acceptable contrast to the quieter life on the 
 peaceful shores and watera below. 
 
SARATOGA. 87 
 
 SABBATH-DAY POINT 
 
 is approached as our steamer emerges from the northern 
 end of the passage of the Narrows. The " Pomt" is formed 
 by a sunny little stretch of meadow and pebbly beach, 
 which hereabouts steps gently into the Lake, in pleasant 
 conti-ast with the bolder rocky shores around it. 
 
 Sabbath-Day Point was named by General Abercrom- 
 bie, in memoiy of his departure thence (on a Sunday morn- 
 ing), on his way to attack the French at Fort Ticonderoga 
 above. The spot was the scene of a skirmish, in 1756, be- 
 tween the colonists and a party of French and Indians ; 
 when the latter, though much the superior force, were 
 diiven from the ground with very considerable loss. 
 
 A battle also occurred here in 1776, between a party of 
 American militia and a force of Indians and Tories, in 
 which the latter were repulsed with some forty or more of 
 their number killed or wounded. 
 
 The Lake widens into a spacious bay above the Nar- 
 rows, which is shut in on the north by the rocky barriers 
 of Rogers' Slide and Anthony's Nose. On the west shore 
 of the bay the road winds along through shady groves 
 past Gai"field's old hotel, where there is a steamboat land- 
 ing and an agreeable place of sojomn — a place, at one 
 period, of very fashionable resort. 
 
 Rogers' Slide is a ragged promontory, four hundred feet 
 in height, which steps into the Lake face to face with 
 Anthony's Nose, the two headlands approaching each other 
 so nearly as to leave but a comparatively naiTOw passage 
 for the waters of the bay below to that above. The pass 
 
88 SAEATOGA. 
 
 thus formed makes a bold and pleasing picture, and is a 
 favorite subject of the pencil. Rogers' Slide is, for the 
 most part, a precipitous wall of nigged rock, adorned here 
 and there with a shmb or two, and crowned with a scant 
 coveiing of bushes and trees. 
 
 The tradition which accounts for the origin of the name 
 of Roger's Slide is doubtless familiar enough to the reader ; 
 as how its gallant godfather, being once upon a time pur- 
 sued to the brink of the precipice by the Indians, made his 
 escape, as they supposed, by fearlessly sliding down the 
 face of the granite cliff! Perhaps he did, for nobody 
 knows, and perhaps he knew the spot well enough to de- 
 scend with more safety if with less romance. 
 
 prisoners' island 
 
 is two miles above the pass of the Slide. This spot was a 
 prison station of the English at the period of the Colonial 
 War with the French and Indians. The lake-shore here 
 loses its bold aspect, and drops down into gentle verdant 
 slopes. The water, too, which in some parts is veiy deep, 
 grows so shallow as everywhere to show the pebbles and 
 sand beneath. This last feature was a blessing in the olden 
 time to the captives on Prisoners' Island, as it often permit- 
 ted them to evade the eyes of their offlcera and wade 
 ashore. 
 
 Howe's Landing is west of Prisonei*s' Island. At this 
 point there once debarked a flotilla, the like of which will 
 never probably be again seen on the marge of these placid 
 waters, even should the spot again become the gathering- 
 point ot contending armies. 
 
SARATOGA. 89 
 
 Near by where Howe landed in years gone by, the tour- 
 ist, at the present day, will also land ; and, stepping into 
 the waiting stage, will begin his overland tiip of about four 
 miles to the old fort. 
 
 TICONDEROGA, 
 
 or " Tye," as it is familiarly named in the vicinity, is a little 
 village at the north end or foot of Lake George, on the 
 stream which bears the waters of Horicon to those of Lake 
 Champlain. It is a picturesque brook, this outlet of the Lake, 
 full of charming bits of rapid and waterfall, and at its con- 
 fluence with Champlain are the famous ruins of Ticonde- 
 roga — iTiins unsurpassed in the wide Union for romantic 
 eflfect, both in themselves and in the beauty of the spot 
 which they adorn. 
 
 Veiy much of the old militaiy wall is yet standing, 
 enough indeed to show fully the extent and design. Seen 
 by moonlight, with the waters of old Champlain and 
 the bordering mountains in the mysterious background 
 these venerable ruins are as suggestive as any castle crags 
 on the poetic Rhine. Just below the old fort and on oppo- 
 site shores of the Lake, are Mount Defiance and Moimt 
 Independence. 
 
 Ticonderoga was erected by the French in 1756, and 
 was then called Fort Carrillon. It was naturally a place 
 of great sti-ength, being surrounded on three sides by water 
 and the rear protected by an impassable swamp. Un- 
 luckily, however. General Burgoyne found a means of 
 overcoming these considerable advantages by placing his 
 8* 
 
90 SAEATOGA. 
 
 guns upon the pinnacle of Mount Defiance, on the south 
 side of the Lake George outlet and seven hundred and fifty 
 feet above, from whence he sent his shot with ease and 
 provoking certainty into the midst of the unsuspecting 
 garrison. 
 
 Every one is familiar enough with the anecdote accom- 
 panying the capture of this work by the American troops 
 imder Ethan Allen,' at the opening of the Revolutionaiy 
 War ; when Allen and his Green Mountain Boys surprised 
 the commandant one fine night, and arousing him from his 
 peaceful di-eams, demanded the surrender of the place 
 " in the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental 
 Congress ! " 
 
 From Ticonderoga the traveller may return to Saratoga 
 through Lake George, or he may step on board one of the 
 Champlain steamers, in their daily calls at the fort, and 
 sail down the Lake to Whitehall, and thence speedily back 
 to the Springs by rail. 
 
 Before we leave the neighborhood, it behooves us to 
 speak of the pleasures to be found on the waters of Lake 
 George, in the manly and romantic exercises of boating and 
 fishing. For these delightful sports the means and appli- 
 ances are ample. 
 
 Nothing can be pleasanter on a fine fresh summer-day, 
 or on a soft zephyrous moonlight night, than to pull at 
 will over the pellucid waters, landing here and there, as 
 the beauty of the scene may tempt, upon the rocky or the 
 pebbly shore or amidst the verdure of the countless islands. 
 Neither can any amusement better please those who like 
 it than the di'opping of the treacherous line, and the rewarci 
 it seldom fails to 3'ield of glorious prize of trout or bass. 
 
SARATOGA. 91 
 
 Lake George was poetically named, in the Indian 
 tongue, Horicon, or the Lake of the Silvery Waters ; and 
 by the English it was, from the singular pmity of the 
 floods, sometimes called Lake Sacrament. 
 
 THE END. 
 
HK196-78 
 

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