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CONCISE HISTORY 
 
 OP 
 
 HIGH ROCK SPRING. 
 
 i^ t lU 
 
 Br HENRY McGUIER. 
 
 ALBANY: 4 
 
 PRINTING HOUSE OF C. VAN BENTHCY^EN A; 80N8. 
 1868. 
 

 HIGH ROCK CONGRESS SPRING. 
 
 The proprietors of this Fountain have adopted the following 
 TARIFF OF PRICES: 
 
 JlT SARATOGA. 
 
 Pints, per dozen $2 00 
 
 Quarts, " 3 00 
 
 Orders at Saratoga embracing 
 one gross or more- 
 
 Pints, per dozen $1 75 
 
 Quarts, '' 2 50 
 
 AT NEW YORK. 
 
 Pints, per dozen $2 25 
 
 Quarts, •' 3 50 
 
 Orders at New York embracing 
 one gross or more. 
 
 Pints, per dozen $2 00 
 
 Quarts, " 3 00 
 
 This water is put up in cases containing two, four, five and six 
 dozen pints, and two, three and four dozen quarts. 
 
 C:?* Southern Depot for the sale of this water, Nos. 542 and 544 
 Broadway, New York. 
 
NATURAL HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 MINERAL FOUNTAINS OF SARATOGA. 
 
 " "Whence the origin of your mineral springs?" 
 
 This is a question often propounded to us by persons both of 
 aur own and other countries, who visit our world-famed watering 
 place. And, undoubtedly^ to those who have not made the com- 
 plex operations of nature their study, there is very much of 
 mystery connected with this matter. Nor, indeed, is there suffi- 
 cient reason why our astonishment should be excited at this fact; 
 for, amid the eternal activities of nature, and the illimitable 
 resources from which she draws so largely for the production of 
 her varied and ever varying phenomena, which "' amid ceaseless 
 changes seeks the unchanging pole," the naturalist, alone, finds 
 in the laborious study and contemplation of those phenomena, a 
 certainty which admits of no question, and a reward, the munifi- 
 cence of which baffles the skill of the mathematician in his attempts 
 at computation. Nor, indeed, are any of her works so insignifi- 
 cant (if that be not a profanation) as not to demand his most 
 serious and careful consideration. 
 
 That the reader may be enabled fully to understand the facts 
 bearing upon this subject, it seems necessary to state, succinctly, 
 t,he geological character of this locality. 
 
 Immediately upon the north of the village of Saratoga Springs, 
 and within about three miles, we have the metamorphic rocks 
 (the Taconic system of Emmons and the " Quebec group" of the 
 Canadian survey) in mountainous ridges; traversed diagonally 
 
4 HISTORY OF 
 
 by basaltic dikes, and at right angles, or nearly so, by thin thread 
 like veins of a subsequently formed granite, showing thereby, fre 
 quent and extensive occurrences of volcanic activity. 
 
 Superimposed upon its southern slope reposes the ' Potsdam 
 sand stone" of Emmons, and No. 1 in the ascending series of th© 
 New York and Silnrean systems, with a dip to the southeast, 
 varying from five to twenty degrees, and in transitu. Resting^ 
 upon the Potsdam sandstone is the " Calciferous sandrock" of 
 Eaton, No. 2 of the above systems, with a dip corresponding 
 with the preceding, as to amount and direction. This rock em- 
 braces, at this point, an area of about four square miles, and if 
 bounded on the south and east by the valley in which our min 
 eral fountains are developed. The "Trenton limestone," No. 3 
 (and by this designation I refer to the Chazy, Bird's eye, Black 
 river and Trenton limestones) is well developed upon our south 
 west, about three miles distant, and loaded with its characteristic 
 fossils, occupying a horizontal position and in situ. Directly upon 
 our south and east is developed the " Black" or " Utica slate" of 
 Vanuxem, No. 4 of the above systems, overlaying the limestone^ 
 having its strata also horizontal. 
 
 Now, if we leave the railroad depot at this point, and pass 
 south along the line of the track for the distance of about two 
 miles, we shall pass from the tilted up surface of number two, 
 directly on to the horizontal surface of number four, without 
 deviating perceptibly from a horizontal line, thereby exhibiting 
 the existence of & fault or fracture in the rocks; and the tilted 
 up and fragmentary condition of the rocks upon the north of it, 
 showing that they must have been broken off and thrust upward 
 the whole thickness of numbers three and four, estimated at about 
 half a mile. 
 
 It is conceded that if the strata of numbers two and four of 
 this system, at this point, had the same dip throughout, it would 
 be difficult to determine the existence of a fault, for the rocks 
 might " over-lap;" but it occurs to find, in several localities, upon 
 the north and west side of the valley, patches of the lowest por- 
 tion of the Trenton limestone, superimposed upon the calciferous 
 sandrock and having the same dip, but occupying a higher level 
 than the uppermost portion of the same rock, just across the val- 
 
HIGH ROCK SPRING. 
 
 'ey ; while upon the opposite side of the f.iult, where it occurs in 
 vlace, and is well developed, the strata are perfectly horizontal; 
 a fact which could not exist had there been no displacement. 
 
 If this bird's-eye view of the geology of our locality be borne 
 In mind, the reader will be enabled to comprehend the applica- 
 bility, or otherwise, to our present subject, of conclusions based 
 upon the existence of such fault. 
 
 Two theories have been advanced by which to explain or 
 account for the origin of the mineral constituents of our springs, 
 to wit : 
 
 1st. The solvent action of the water on the rocks, and their 
 imbedded minerals, over or through which it passes. 
 
 2d. The sublimation or consolidation of the various gases 
 thrown off by the internal fires of the earth, upon coming into 
 contact with veins or bodies of pure water. 
 
 From the universally recognized solvent property of water, in 
 its action upon the rocks, especially the calcareous and argilla- 
 ceous, as well as upon many of their imbedded minerals, and its 
 mechanical power of suspension exerted upon some of their con- 
 stituents, the opinion has very generally obtained that most, if 
 not all, mineral waters are produced in this manner; and the 
 more especially when, as it sometimes happens, a powerful chemi- 
 cal agent, in the form of a gas of some kind or other, is present 
 to aid in the production of such a result. Nor has this opinion 
 failed to find adherents among those who class themselves with 
 the scientific few. And perhaps, indeed, there is some truth 
 upon which to base such an opinion; for, from the extensive dis- 
 semination of the various acids in a gaseous form, and the greater 
 facility with which water is thereby enabled to erode the rocks 
 subjected to its action, and the consequent increased amount of 
 mineral matter found in such waters," seems to warrant something 
 like such a conclusion. And yet the condition under which such 
 waters occur, must not be lost sight of The sulphur watersof 
 the Hudson river valley, extending north and south a distance of 
 at least 150 miles, with a width of some twelve or fifteen miles, 
 developed in the " Black slate," (No. 4,) and depositing their 
 sulphur upon coming into contact with the atmosphere, will not, I 
 think, be attributed to a similar source as that from whence our 
 
D HISTORY OP 
 
 mineral waters r.re derived; for if we examine the slate we shall 
 find it abundantly charged with the sulphuret of iron by which 
 the phenomena of these sulphur waters may be reasonably ex- 
 plained. But even in this respect the rule is not persistent, eithei 
 in relation to the origin of the sulphureted hydrogen gas, or the 
 mineral constituents of waters charged with such gas. 
 
 Professor Lewis C Beck, chemist of the New York State 
 Geological Survey, in speaking of the sulphur waters of Monroe 
 and Genesee counties, says: " To show how abundantly sulphu- 
 reted hydrogen is evolved in this district, it is only necessary to 
 notice the Caledonia springs in the town of "Wheatland, where a 
 large volume of water gushes out of the earth, forming a stream 
 nearly one-quarter the size of the Geensee river at Rochester, 
 and so sour as to char the vegetable matter over which it flows." 
 
 Of the various sulphur springs in Genesee county, he says of 
 a single locality: " There is another locality of a similar kind a 
 hundred rods west ot Byron hotel, and two miles east of the for- 
 mer," (one previously noticed,") "which is remarkable, in conse- 
 quence of the great quantity of acid. It is a spring which arises 
 from the earth, in sutficient quantity to turn a light grist-mill. 
 Such an immense laboratory of sulphuric acid is here conducted 
 by nature, that the water which supplies this perennial stream 
 possesses acidity enough to give the common test with violets, and 
 to coagulate milk." 
 
 " It was my intention to have added to this general view of the 
 sulphureted waters of our State, some remarks concerning the 
 origin of the sulphureted hydrogen gas thus largely evolved; but 
 I have only space to repeat what has already been suggested, 
 that the cause ordinarily assigned, viz: the decomposition of the 
 sulphuret of iron, seems to me to be whr>lly inadequate, and that 
 we must refer it to some agency far more general and eflfective.^ 
 
 An argument which we consider conclusive, is found in the faCt 
 that the sand rock, number two, and the black slate, number four, 
 do not contain chloride of sodium, magnesia, soda or iodine, and 
 especially iodine, which is never found in the rocks. And among 
 the altered sediments of the '' Quebec group," (7,500 feet thick,) 
 no one has ever thought of looking for rock salt; consequently 
 the advocates of the solvent theory will be driven to look some- 
 
HIGH ROCK SPRING. 7 
 
 where else for those ingredients of our mineral waters. Nor is it 
 true, so far as our observation extends, or upon the authority of 
 others, that water passing over or through lime rock ever liberates 
 carbonic acid gas in quantities sufficient to exhibit its presence by 
 its passage through, or escape from such waters. And an import- 
 ant tact to be remembered in regard to the sulphur Avaters of the 
 Hudson river valley, above alluded to, formed by solution, is, that 
 they do not exhibit the least ebullition from the escape of the 
 sulphureted hydrogen gas, but which is sufficient to impart its 
 odor to the atmosphere for a considerable distance. 
 
 But we have actual demonstration; for within one hundred and 
 fifty yards of one of our most remarkable mineral springs we have, 
 issuing from the same rock, of precisely the same temperature, z 
 copious flow of pure fresh water. It therefore remains for the 
 advocates of the solvent theory to reconcile this obvious " incon- 
 sistency with itself." 
 
 In examining the second theory, three questions very naturally 
 suggest themselves, viz: 
 
 Are the saline ingredients found in our water produced by tha 
 process of sublimation of gases thrown off by the internal fires of 
 the earth, any where in nature? 
 
 Are waters ever charged with mineral constituents by such 
 process? 
 
 Are the conditions of the geological formations at Saratoga 
 favorable to the development of those elemental gases? 
 
 "We find in our mineral waters chloride of sodium, forming 
 about one-half their mineral constituents. Of which mineral 
 Humboldt says: "The vapors that rise from the fumarolles" 
 (small volcanic vents) '' cause the sublimation of the chlorides of 
 iron, copper, lead and ammonium; iron glance and the chloride 
 of sodium (the latter often in large quantities) fill the cavities of 
 recent lava streams and the fissure of the crater." (The chlorides 
 of sodium, iron glance, sulphur, and indeed some fifteen or 
 twenty different metals and minerals are being formed upon the 
 inner surfaces of the cones of the craters of Etna and Vesuvius, 
 when not in a state of eruption, by the sublimation or consolida- 
 tion of the gases emitted by the internal fires of the earth, through 
 
8 HISTORY OP 
 
 those avenues In fact the rocks,, and all the solid substances of 
 the crust of the globe, and even water itself, owe their origin to 
 the process we are now considering.) And hence we may very 
 pertinently ask whence the salt in sea-waterl If we are answered 
 from solution, we reply that the origin of fossil salt is not sug- 
 gested by such an answer; and because the cause is not adequate 
 to the effect. It must be remembered that we have thousands of 
 cubic miles of sea- water, and there are no known deposits of salt 
 of sufficient capacity, in the aggregate, to supply such an enor- 
 mous demand. But even if this were so, water, in no condition 
 whatever (if as in the ocean that condition be permanent), can 
 receive its saline ingredients by solution, and again deposit them; 
 for the principle which causes the water to deposit the salt, would 
 prevent it from taking it up in the first place. The Mediterra 
 nean is depositing crystals of salt on some parts of its bottom, at 
 present. Lake Oorooraiah, in Persia, has deposited upon its bot- 
 tom permanent alternating layers of salt and sand, a specimen of 
 which water, examined in 1844, was found to contain about one- 
 quarter part of solid salts. The waters of Lake Elton, in Asiatic 
 Russia, and other lakes adjoining the Caspian sea, have deposited 
 thick beds of rock salt at their bottom. The same is true of 
 Lake Indersk, on the Steppes of Siberia. (Daubeny on Thermal 
 and Mineral Waters, lire's Geology.) And we find the process 
 going forward in the great Salt Lake of Utah. Now, as solution 
 is incompetent to impart to water the power to deposit salt, we 
 are compelled to look to some other source for the salt contained 
 in those waters which do deposit it at their bottom. 
 
 It may possibly be objected, that we have treated of a single 
 one of the ingredients of our waters only. We reply, that all of 
 the other constituents, even to iodine, are found in sea- water; and 
 if the greater has its origin in the process of sublimation, it seems 
 to us very rational to suppose that the less, existing in the same 
 combination, should have its origin in the same cause. 
 
 In relation to the second inquiry, \'iz -. Are waters ever 
 charged with their mineral contents by the process of sublima- 
 tion? "We answer, unhesitatingly, yea; for it must be obvious to 
 all, that if, as we have shown is true, those gases do sublimate or 
 resolve themselves into solid compounds upon coming into contact 
 
HIGH ROCK SPRING. 9 
 
 with the atmosphere, they most assuredly will upon coming iato 
 contact with a denser medium. But happily for us, this position 
 is not unsupported by very high authority. President Hitchcock 
 in quoting Prof. Daubeny upon this subject, says: " When these 
 fprings" (thermal — which is the character of our springs) ''occur 
 in volcanic districts, their origin is very obvious. The water 
 which percolates into the crevices of the strata becomes heated by 
 the volcanic furnace below, and impregnated with salts and gases 
 by the sublimation of matter from the same focus." 
 
 Dr. Daubeny has shown that "thermal springs not in volcanic 
 districts, in a large majority of cases, rise either from the vicinity 
 of some uplifted chain of mountains, or from clefts and fissures 
 caused by the disruption of the strata; and are, therefore, in all 
 cases, probably the result of deep seated volcanic agency, which 
 may have long been in a quiescent state." 
 
 Humboldt says, " "We see issue from the ground, steam and 
 gaseous carbonic acid, carbureted hydrogen gas and sulphurous 
 vapors. Such effusions from the fissures of the earth not only 
 occur in districts of still burning or long extinct volcanoes, but 
 they may likewise be observed occasionally in districts where 
 neither trachyte or any other volcanic rocks are exposed on the 
 earth's surface. • • • t^^q ^qq in Germany, in the deep val- 
 ley of the Eifel, in the neighborhood of the lake of Laach, in the 
 crater-like valley of the Wehr and in western Bohemia, exhala- 
 tions of carbonic acid gas manifest themselves as the last efforts 
 of volcanic activity in or near the foci of an earlier world." 
 
 Now, if we revert to the geologic epitome presented by us in 
 the outset, we shall discover that we are in the immediate 
 '' vicinity of some uplifted chain of mountains ;" that Nos. 1 and 2 
 of the New York and Silurean systems are made to assume a 
 parallelism with the southern slope of the mountains upon our 
 north, i. e. having a dip of about 20 degrees, and in some instances 
 as at the Empire Spring, of full 45 degrees, and which necessarily 
 Implies a disruption of the strata, unless they were in a plastic 
 etate at the time of the application of the disturbing force; an 
 Wea readily dissipated, when we remember that Nos. 3 and 4 of 
 the above systems occupy a horizontal position, and that the sur- 
 Cftce of No. 2 is on a level with the surface of No. 4, thereby 
 
10 HISTORY OF 
 
 clearly indicating the fact that Nos. 1 and 2 have not only beei 
 broken off but actually thrust upward, the entire thickness of 
 Uos. 3 and 4 of our system; and unless there is a wide vacuity 
 between the Pleutonic rocks on the one hand, and the lower sedi- 
 mentary rocks on the other (an impossibility) , this fault or fissurt 
 extends, necessarily, to the internal fires of the earth, and all th* 
 conditions competent to explain the phenomena of our mineral 
 waters by the method we are now considering is. in my judgment 
 fully established. 
 
 And here we submit, that as an avenue is opened at this point 
 (as we have already abundantly shown), through which the gases 
 from tho internal fires of the earth can escape, which are nou 
 producing chloride of sodium (common salt) in other localities 
 that it is quite as philosophical, to say the least, to attribute it» 
 existence in our mineral waters to that cause as to any secon 
 dary source; and the more especially, as such secondary source 
 can not be shown to exist in this vicinity ; unless, indeed, it b« 
 demonstrated that the operations of nature are not persistent. 
 
 And in this connection (we may say without incurring tho 
 charge of egotism) it is certainly gratifying to know that tho 
 views above expressed have received the endorsement of Prot 
 Joseph He»ey of the Smithsonian Institute, not only by placing 
 a manuscript copy of the same in the archives of that institution 
 but also by suggesting the idea of giving it publicity in this popu 
 lar form. 
 
HIGH ROCK SPRING. 11 
 
 ORIGIN AND AGE OF HIGH ROCK. 
 
 The material of which this rock is composed is principally 
 impure lime, and is chiefly derived by the water from the loose 
 earthy materials laying upon the rock out of which it issues. 
 This material is quite different from anything originally found in 
 the water, and is retained in it by a mechanical instead of a 
 chemical force, and consequently, upon its coming into contact 
 with the atmosphere, and losing much of its activity, it deposits 
 all those materials which have combined with it in its passage 
 from the rocky orifice to the surface, in the form of a stony mass, 
 denominated tufa. This is the origin, and such the substance 
 forming that singular phenomenon known as the " High Rock." 
 
 In all the operations of Nature everywhere, she has left the 
 evidences of some method by which to determine the successive 
 stages of progressive developmeat and perfection, in all her varied 
 creations. The geologist finds, in the rocks, unquestionable evi- 
 dences of the stately steppings of the creative energy, and by 
 their organic reliquae or imbeded petrifactions is enabled to deter- 
 mine the comparative remoteness or nearness of the system he is 
 studying. So, too, the botanist finds in the towering giant of the 
 forest the annular rings of its growth, and he is thereby enabled 
 to trace its history far backward, and perhaps prior to the com- 
 mencement of his own brief existence. And the paleontologist, 
 by comparing one specimen with another, is enabled to determine 
 the mature from those which are immature; and so throughout. 
 
 The application of this law then, to any subject of natural his- 
 tory to which our attention may be called, will enable us to arrive, 
 approximately at least, at the truth, whenever we endeavor to 
 trace backward to the commencement of their operations, those 
 causes which have been instrumental in producing it. 
 
 Taking this law for our guide, then, let us determine, if possi- 
 ble, the age of the Hion Rock. 
 
12 HISTORY OP 
 
 In deacendlng from the surface at this point, seven feet of com- 
 mingled muck and tufa (rocky matter formed by the water) was 
 passed through, then a stratum or layer of tufa two feet thick, a 
 stratum of muck, and then a stratum of tufa three feet thick. 
 
 In determining the time requisite to deposit the five feet of 
 tufa, I caused a specimen of the tufa to be ground down smooth, 
 and at right angles to the lines of deposit, so as to be enabled to 
 count the lines with accuracy, of annual deposit — as the vicissi- 
 tudes of our climate determine those lines, for when frozen, as in 
 our winter, the water makes no deposit — I found twenty-five such 
 lines embraced within a single inch, and as there are sixty inches 
 in the aggregate, a very simple computation shows that one thou- 
 sand five hundred years were consumed in depositing these layers 
 of tufa alone; and this tufa, it must be remembered, was deposited 
 from standing water, or with but very little motion, as the tufa 
 occupies a horizontal position. 
 
 Laying upon the stratum of tufa three feet thick, and in the 
 stratum of muck superimposed upon it, was found a pine tree, 
 the annular rings of which I counted to the number of onp hun- 
 dred and thirty; this sum added to the above, and we have the 
 further sum of one thousand six hundred and thirty years. And 
 from the foregoing data I deem it a moderate approximation to 
 claim four hundred years as the requisite time in which to deposit 
 the seven feet of superincumbent muck and tufa, which gives the 
 still further sum of two thousand and thirty years. 
 
 The facts which add strength to the foregoing conclusions, and 
 lend thrilling interest to this subject, are the evidences which are 
 found at this depth from the surface, that this level was once 
 occupied by human beings. Here the extinguished fire, marks 
 unmistakably the gathering place of the family group, many 
 centuries ago. And here, too, linger the "■ foot prints" of a long 
 gone race, as if loth to leave a spot once so cherished, and around 
 which clustered so many pleasing recollections. 
 
 The reader will observe that the above estimate does not include 
 the rock or cone of the spring, but simply the intermediate strata 
 between the cone and the deposits below. To determine the 
 length of time requisite to form the cone or rock of the spring, 
 it became necessary to visit a locality where the water, which is 
 
HIGH ROCK SPRING. 13 
 
 dOTv depositing tufa, has a velocity similar to that which the water 
 must have had from which the rock of the High Rock Spring was 
 deposited. Accordingly, resort was had to such a locality, and 
 it was found that five of the annual strata thus deposited occupied 
 the space of one -sixteenth of an inch — thus requiring eighty 
 years to perfect one inch; .and as the cone of the High Rock is 
 four feet in height, it must have required three thousand eight 
 hundred and forty years to have formed the cone. And in the 
 aggregate, five thousand eight hundred and seventy years (some 
 eminent scientists who have had their attention drawn to this 
 .ubject, estimate its age at even more than this,) must have been 
 consumed ia the formation of the High Rock Spring. 
 
14 HISTORY OP 
 
 CHRONOLOGY OF HIGH ROCK. 
 
 Away down amid the nnnumbered decades of centuries, em 
 bosomed in the depths of a primeval forest, whose stillness wai 
 unbroken save by the stealthy tread of Nature's own sons, or th© 
 flocks which she had so munificently provided for them ; in a val 
 ley of surpassing wildnesa and beauty; in the land of a republi* 
 the most beneficent, perfect and enduring the world ever saw 
 (and but for the destructive advance of the pale-faced invaders 
 would have been perpetual), the Great Spirit Sire, in view of the 
 wants of the brave, guileless, magnanimous red man, smote for 
 him the rock, and, at the omnipotent behest, up leaped the foun- 
 tain, limpid as the " kohinoor," and more priceless than the goldei 
 wedge of Ophir. No wonder, then, that the red child of nature 
 —————— " whose untutored mind 
 
 Sees God in clouds and hears him in the wind," 
 
 should bring hither his sick ones, or meet in annual conrocatiov 
 to pay his devotions, from a heart unsullied by guile and uncon 
 laminated by the cold hypocrisy of later times. And no wondet 
 that the Great Spirit Father, pleased with his offering, should! 
 determine to embellish with a vase of incomparable beauty and 
 symmetry, the red man's pool of Siloam. 
 
 Having glanced, in the preceding pages, at the natural historj 
 of the minora! springs of Saratoga, we shall now attempt a chro 
 nological history of the great, and indeed only spring, at this 
 point, known to the inhabitants, whether savage or civilized, foi 
 long periods of time; and the only one for which nature ever pre 
 pared and garnished with her own hands, a channel through 
 which it might be presented to the invalid sufferer without invok- 
 ing any artistic interference whatever. Hence nature has indi- 
 cated this one as her favorite jef d'eau ; her chosen alma mater. 
 The only one upon which she has left her own unerring, enduring 
 impress. 
 
HIGH ROCK SPRING. 15 
 
 Its history, running through several centuries, is repiete with 
 stirring events; surrounded by mythical legends, garlanded with 
 oriental metaphors, and embellished with all the high-wrought 
 fiction so characteristic of the Six Nations. It tells of battles 
 fought and won and lost. It tells of a "proud and powerful 
 republic;'-' its commencement, its growth, its advantages, and its 
 strength. It tells of levees, held annually, around the pool of 
 ''sweet waters'^ to please the Great Spirit. And, alas! it also 
 tells of the broken-hearted red man wrapping his blanket around 
 him, taking his last sad farewell look at the spring which the 
 Great Spirit gave him, and departing dejectedly and forever, to 
 other hunting grounds, far away towards sundown. 
 
 It is unquestionably true that centuries ago, and long before 
 any of the Caucasian race ever dreamed that such a continent 
 as the American had been thrust up from beneath the waters of 
 Ihe turbulent Atlantic, or in fact existed any where, the aborigi- 
 nes congregated around the High Rock fountain and appropriated 
 to themselves the advantages which it proffered. The evidences 
 which exist confirmatory of this view, although not numerous, 
 ftre most striking and decisive. 
 
 Beneath the surface of the valley in which this fountain is 
 situated, as it exists to-day, and at the depth of about twelve 
 feet, was discovered an ancient fire-place. The filling up of the 
 intermediate space (by natural processes) between it and the 
 present surface, could not have consumed less than two thousand 
 years; and if to this we add the time requsite to produce the 
 rock or cone, as we now find it, we shall have more than five thou- 
 aand years of intervening time between the period when the 
 builders of that ancient fire-place sported in festive glee, or prac- 
 ticed their epicurean skill, or celebrated their victories of the 
 <hase and the foray, or, perhaps, planned their deeds of warfare 
 dnd aggression, around this time-honored fountain; and by the 
 light and heat of this primeval representative of a modern pala- 
 tial hotel, fared sumptuously upon the avails of the field and the 
 wdr-path, and the time when it came to the hands of its present 
 proprietors. 
 
 Human advancement, all experience tells us, is extremely 
 tardy, and this is true, whether in the Stone Jlge, or in the pre- 
 
16 HISTORY OF 
 
 sent age — the Iron Jge. In the implements which the red mai- 
 has left, scattered profusely all over this region, we find evi 
 dences of the rudest condition of the race, and also of a high > 
 degree of advancement upon that condition. 
 
 From implements of the most rude and uncouth character ever 
 required or used by uncultured men, to the most perfectly finished 
 axe, hatchet, javelin, amulets, personal ornaments, war-club with . 
 its nicely carved wolfs head, and various domestic utensils, mado i 
 from stone, so hard that with all our boasted superiority over the 
 red race, we are still unable to comprehend by what process they 
 performed feats of skill which confound and bewilder our most 
 astute lapidaries; and in this respect exhibiting a lapse of time 
 quite as astonishing as that presented by the geological indications 
 above referred to. 
 
 The language, too, of the aneient inhabitants of this spot 
 which was but an almost unintelligible jargon once, has arisen, 
 through long periods of time, to the dignity of written signs as 
 expressive of ideas, and hence we find many of their more finished 
 implements bearing evident markings of characters giving tangi 
 bility to thoughts, or recording the progress of time; and thus o» i 
 until it stands out in the full proportions of a written history. 
 
 Having thus emerged from what has generally been considered ! 
 the dim, shadowy and unreliable domain of legend and tradition 
 we now approach the more certain and reliable historic region o^ ! 
 civilized life; and essay to cull and write out its teachings in rela 
 tion to a subject which has excited the attention and admiration ' 
 of the world. 
 
 At the beginning of the eighteenth century the red man was ii i 
 quiet, peaceful possession of that portion of the domain of the Si? i 
 ^\ations, known in aftertimes as the "Patent of Kayaderosseras.' ' 
 In 1703, the authorities under the British crown gave perrais 
 sion to certain persons to purchase from the Mohawks, one of thu i 
 tribes of the republic known as the Six Nations, the tract of I 
 country of which that patent or grant is composed. In 1704 the i 
 title was perfected. So secretly was this title obtained, and sci 
 quietly held, that many years elapsed before the entire nation of I 
 Mohawks (Mohocks) became aware of their loss. Upon its dis 
 
HIGH ROCK SPRING. 17 
 
 covery, many were the complaints made to Sir "Wiiiiim Johnson, 
 until at length in August, 1768, a meeting of the agents of the 
 patentees and the chiefs of the Mohocks took place. " The 
 Mohocks [says Sir "William Johnson], who, on examining the deed 
 *nd survey, and receiving a handsome sum of money, were at length 
 prevailed on to yield their claim to the patentees in ray presence." 
 
 Just one year previous to the occurrence above narrated, on a 
 beautiful day in August, four stalwart Indians might have been 
 seen bearing upon their shoulders a liiter, upon which was repos- 
 ing an invalid pale face — the friend of the red man — in the person 
 of Sir William Johnson, the cortege headed by one McDonald. 
 <,He stated this fact to Mr. G. M. Davison in 1819.) They had 
 brought their enfeebled " olive tree'' to their own Siloam, and he 
 vas healed — but for them it was a costly offering upon the altar 
 \i friendship. 
 
 From this time forward, the fame of this wonderful natural 
 ♦reduction spread over the land, and another incentive was pre- 
 sented to stimulate the cupidity of the white race to make still 
 ^rther aggressions upon the home of the " poor Indian," which 
 iggressions have continued until at last no single representative 
 »f that once proud and powerful people remains as an occupant 
 of their once happy homes; but they either roam as wanderers, 
 •r are gathered to their fathers to occupy more peaceful hunting 
 pounds upon which no aggression is permitted. 
 
 On Friday, February 22, 1771, the patent of Kayaderosseras 
 was partitioned by ballot. And lot number twelve of the six- 
 teenth general allotment, on which lot the High Rock Spring is 
 situated, by such balloting, came into possession of Rip Van 
 Dam. This is the first individual white man who ever exercised 
 any possessory jurisdiction over this spring. Dying soon after, 
 (lis executors sold the same to Isaac Low, Jacob Walton and 
 Anthony Van Dam. Low was attainted for treason by the Legis- 
 lature of New York, October 1, 1779, and Henry Livingston, upon 
 the sale of Low's portion of the lot, purchased the same for him- 
 aelf and several of his brothers. The property or lot was again 
 divided in 1793. At this time it was held by Henry Walton, 
 Henry Livingston and Anthony Van Dam. Walton then pur- 
 chased Van Dam's portion of the property. 
 
18 HISTORY OF 
 
 In 1826, Mr. John H. White, a step-son of Dr. Clarke, o 
 behalf of Mrs. Clarke and the heirs, purchased of the executoi 
 of Henry "Walton the remaining portion of the High Rock^ aa^ 
 they thus became possessed of the entire property. 
 
 In 1864, William B. White, who succeeded Dr. Clarke in tht 
 control and management of the Congress Spring, died, and soo» 
 after it passed into other hands, and the necessity for the longei 
 retention of this, to them entirely unproductive property, ceased 
 to exist; and in 1865, Messrs. Ainsworth and McCaffrey became 
 the owners of this prodigy of nature. 
 
 These gentlemen soon after commenced a series of improve 
 ments which have resulted most advantageously to tbemselve* 
 and the fountain. After removing the building which sheltered 
 the spring they set about removing the rock or cone whole, upoi 
 accomplishing which, contrary to general expectation, they dis 
 covered that the cone had no direct or immediate connection witi> 
 the rock below, but that the water was supplied by percolation 
 through the intervening soil. They at once determined upon 
 removing the soil quite down to the permanent orifice in the rocb 
 below, and by supplying an artificial channel between that poinl 
 and the surface, to reproduce that much desired spectacle of th« 
 water once again bubbling up and and running over the crest of 
 the cone. After passing through about seven feet of commingled 
 muck and tufa, they came upon a layer of tufa about two feet 
 thick, then a stratum of muck, then another stratum of tufa threo 
 feet thick; through the muck were disseminated the trunks of 
 large trees and pine and other forest leaves In profuse abundance 
 — the concentric rings of the trunk of one of those trees I count-ed 
 and found one hundred and thirty — those trees must have laif 
 there for a long period of time before they became covered by th« 
 increasing peaty deposit, for their upper surfaces were won 
 smooth by the moccasins of the Indians, as they formed a con 
 venient passage-way for them to the spring; and thus proceedinji 
 through alternating strata of muck and tnfa down to the desired 
 point, where an opening was reached which furnished a volume 
 of water vastly superior to anything ever before witnessed at 
 this place, and so great, even, as to affect materially for the time, 
 the level of the springs in the neighborhood, some of them to the 
 
HIGH ROCK SPRING. 19 
 
 ejtent of quite two feet; thus exhibiting the fact that this is the 
 main opening of all onr mineral waters at this point. A tube 
 was then furnished, placed in position and properly secured, in 
 which the mineral water rose several feet above the original sur- 
 face of the rock or cone. Preparations were immediately made 
 for replacing the rock back upon the vein of water, and after con- 
 siderable labor and trial that purpose was accomplished, and 
 water welled up through the orifice and overflowed the rock; a 
 spectacle never before presented to the admiring gaze of a white 
 man. 
 
 Since then, as if by magic, there has started into existence a 
 towering and capacious building, drest in the Italian style of 
 architecture, designed for and adapted to the economic purposes 
 of the proprietors of the spring. But the fountain itself has 
 received an embellishment, which to be properly appreciated 
 must be seen. A pavilion within a pavilion. The style of its 
 architecture is that of the gothic, and most admirably adapted 
 and proportioned in all its parts; the whole surmounted by a 
 mosque -like dome which adds much to the exquisite beauty of 
 the finish. The dome itself is surmounted by an embJem signifi- 
 cant of the jealous care with which this fountain has ever been 
 regarded, whether in the possession of the red or the white man. 
 
 This point having been arrived at, and all the necessary prepa- 
 rations completed to reproduce the overflow of the waters of the 
 fountain, it was suggested that this was an appropriate occasion 
 for a general convocation to witness and celebrate the event by 
 the white man, as, in the long past, it was the practiof of the 
 red man. Accordingly, on the 23d of August, 18GG (the same 
 month in which the Six Nations used to hold their annual levees 
 here), a national salute ushered in the day, and the busy note of 
 preparation betokened the apprO||ching ceremonies. At 1 o'clock 
 the venerable "Walworth, president of the day, with Stone, the 
 orator, and invited guests, appeared in the forum. And citizens, 
 and strangers from every part of the country, gathered in throngs, 
 crowding the building and grounds to overflowing, to listen to the 
 orations and to catch a glimpse of a phenomenon never before 
 vouchsafed to a white man. The following report of the proceed- 
 ings is copied from the Daily Saratogian : 
 
20 HISTORY OF 
 
 After the speakers and iuvited guests bad ascended the staging 
 erected for their use, Chancellor Walworth, president of the 
 day, called the assemblage to order, and delivered the following 
 interesting address: 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen : We are assembled at this time to cele- 
 brate the successful achievement of two of the enterprising citi- 
 zens of this town, Messrs. Ainsworth and McCaffrey. They 
 have taken up this renowned ''Iligh Rock" from the argillaceous 
 bed upon which it had probably rested for centuries, have explored 
 the hidden aperture in the calciferous sand stone below the clay, 
 through which aperture it received its healing waters, and have 
 again restored it to its place; where, I trust, it is destined long 
 to remain, the wonder, as well as the pride of Saratoga. And^ 
 what is of far more importance to us, and to the people of tha 
 United States generally, they have, by excluding the fresh water 
 from this very ancient fountain of health, doubled the mineral 
 strength of the medicinal waters of the High Rock Spring, and 
 have thereby greatly improved their healing properties. And 
 this spring is from this time to take its proper place as the oldest, 
 and as one of the brightest of the stars in that splendid galaxy 
 of sparkling medicinal fountains, which have already made Sara 
 toga the most celebrated, as well as the best watering-place in 
 the world. 
 
 Many have supposed this rock to be of recent origin. And 
 some assert that the healing waters have flowed out of its top 
 subsequently to the commencement of the American Revolution. 
 But «»ii «f them are unquestionably wrong. The top of this rock 
 arose five or six f?e^ «^- lea-st, above the highest point of the bed 
 of clay upon which tne rocs nad been formed by the gradual 
 deposit of the mineral substances which had been chemically 
 combined with the water; which water ebbed and flowed at short 
 intervals, as you see it docs now. And geologists will tell you. 
 that it required a very long time to form a rock of that height 
 by such gradual accretions, before the water ceased to deposit 
 new particles of mineral matter by flowing over the top of thifl 
 rock. This High Rock Spring has been known to white men as 
 a medicinal fountain, for about ono hundred years; and perhaps 
 
HIGH EOCK SPRING. 21 
 
 bnger. Sir Tfilliam Johnson, who lived f /^J^^,«^*<>^y:/\^fg 
 forfy miles to the west of it, and who died in July, 1774 was 
 brought here hy the Indians a few years before his death, to par- 
 take of its healing waters. In the fall of 1777, after the surren- 
 der of General Burgoyne, and while our troops lay at P^l"l^;^°;r;' 
 about six miles north of here, several of our officers visited ths 
 .pring, which had then attained some celebrity, as one of those 
 office?; has since told me. And it had for a long time before that 
 been known to the Indians as " The Great Medicine Spring. 
 
 When the mineral waters of this ancient spring, which are this 
 day (by artificial means), made again to flow over the top of this 
 rock ceased to flow over, is not known to any one now living^ 
 But I will give you the information I have on that subject. I 
 first visited Saratoga in the summer of 1812, fifty-four years smce^ 
 The water in this rock was then about as much below the top of 
 the rock as it was when I came here to reside, eleven years after- 
 wards, I think eighteen or twenty inches, or perhaps a httle more. 
 The late Major-General Mooers of Plattsburgh, who was an offi- 
 cer of Colonel Hazen's regiment, at the taking of General Bur- 
 goyne's army, was at my house, and visited this sp"ng with me 
 ffew years p;evious to his death. He then told me that he with 
 ether officers, came from Palmertown to this sprmg, in October, 
 1777 And he said the height of the water in the rock was then 
 about the same as it was when we visited it, sixty years there- 
 
 after 
 
 About forty-one years since, while holding a circuit court on 
 
 the northern frontier of this State, I stayed over the Sabbath with 
 a friend who resided a few miles from the Indian set lement at 
 St Regis; and we attended the re'iigious services at the Indian 
 church in their village. Between the morning and afte-o n ^^^^^ 
 vices at the church, we went to the house of one of their chiefs 
 uamed Loran Tarbel, with whom 1 had become acquainted during 
 tr.y residence at Plattsburgh. He was then between eighty and 
 n nety years of age, but was in health and in perfect menta^^vigor. 
 Knowing that so^; of the St. Regis Indians had once resided on 
 the banf s of the Mohawk river, I was anxious to learn what this 
 aged chief knew in relation to this spring. But as he had a ven. 
 imperfect knowledge of the English language, I spoke to his son, 
 
22 HISTORY OP 
 
 Captain Tarbel, who bad an English education. I described the 
 High Rock Spring, and asked him if he knew any thing about 
 it. He said he had never been here, and had never heard of it. 
 I then requested him to describe it to his father, and to ask him 
 if he had ever heard of it. The moment he did so. the early re- 
 collections of the venerable chief were aroused; and indicating 
 by the motions of his hand the shape of the top of the rock, he 
 said, '• Yes, Great Medicine Spring." 
 
 He then told me, through his son as interpreter, that he was bom 
 at Caughnawaga, on the Mohawk; and that he emigrated with 
 his father to Canada several years before the revolutionary war. 
 That, when he was a boy, the Indians living on the Mohawk were 
 in the habit of visiting this spring and using its waters as a medi- 
 cine. That when he was about fifteen years old, and shortly 
 before he emigrated to Canada, he came here with his father to 
 see the great Medicine Spring, I then asked him if the water 
 flowed over the top of the rock at that time. He said it did not; 
 that they had to get the medicine water by dipping it out of the 
 rock with a cup or gourd shell. That there was then a tradition 
 among the Indians that the medicine water had formerly flowed 
 out of the rock at its top, but that it had ceased to do so for a long 
 time before he came here with his father. He then gave me the 
 Indian tradition as to the cause of the cessation of the overflow- 
 ing of the water. The particulars of this tradition I can not 
 repeat, in his words, in the presence of this audience; but the 
 substance of it was that the Great Spirit, who had made this 
 wonderful rock, and had caused the healing waters to flow from 
 it spontaneously for the benefit of his red children, was angry on 
 account of the desecration of its medicine waters in making so 
 improper use of them by some of their squaws, who had visited 
 the spring, and that the water never flowed over the rock after- 
 wards. 
 
 Such was the tradition of the untutored Indians, who knew 
 little of geology or of hydraulics. But the true reason why the 
 mineral waters ceased to flow out at the top of this rock, which 
 had been gradually formed from their deposits, was probably this: 
 These waters, in process of time, had found another outlet, per- 
 haps at some considerable distance from here, and which outlet 
 
HIGH ROCK SPRING. 23 
 
 must have been something like twenty inches lower than the level 
 of the top of this rock. For we now see that by tubing the min- 
 eral fountain so that it can not escape from beneath, or in any 
 otner way than through this natural orifice at the top of the rock, 
 the present proprietors of the spring now cause its healing 
 waters to flow out again, where they had ceased to flow for more 
 than a century at the least. 
 
 As the enterprise of these proprietors has thus secured the con- 
 tiol of these waters, and has greatly improved their medicinal 
 value, it is of but little importance whether the water is hereafter 
 to be permitted to flow over the rock into artificial basins, or is to 
 be drawn from within or from beneath it, or by other means, for 
 public or private use. 
 
 The whitening of the head of him who now addresses you, by 
 the snows of seventy-eight winters which have fallen upon it, 
 admonishes him to recollect that he can enjoy with you this 
 valuable addition to our health-preserving mineral fountains, only 
 for very a short period. Still I rejoice with you all at the success 
 of this enterprise, because I believe it will greatly benefit others 
 and be a source of health and enjoyment to the people of every 
 section of our beloved country. I fervently pray, therefore, that 
 th« healing and health-preserving waters of this now renovated 
 spring, may long continue to flow from this thne-honored rock, or 
 be drawn from it or beneath it, to benefit and bless my fellow men. 
 And as the civil war, which has recently scourged this once 
 happy country, has now terminated by the submission of those 
 who attempted to separate states whose union the founaers of the 
 constitution had declared perpetual, I hope and trust that Sara- 
 toga hereafter may continue to be, as it was a few years since, a 
 common center of attraction, where all the people of the glorious 
 union, who desire to come hither for health or pleasure, can meet 
 together as brothers and sisters of a common family, without 
 disturbance from the withering curse of sectional agitation. For 
 the God of Heaven and earth has decreed 
 
 That never again shall our country have slaves, 
 
 " While the earth bears a plant, or the sea roll ils waves.'" 
 
 May we all remember that our Saviour has told us the bleesing 
 of Heaven rests upon the promoters of peace and good will among 
 
24 HISTORY OF 
 
 men, as contradistinguished from those who sow the seeds of 
 discord and fan the flames of strife. And may the glory and the 
 felicity of the re-united states of this great confederacy, over all 
 of which the Star Spangled Banner now waves triumphant, con- 
 tinue to increase with each revolving year, until the thundering 
 Cotopaxi shall cease to burn, and the cloud-capped Chimborazo 
 be sunk in the ocean. 
 
 At the conclusion of the Chancellor's address the band struck 
 up ''The Star Spangled Banner," after which the chairman intro- 
 duced the Orator of the day, "William L. Stonk, Esqr., of Ne^ 
 York, who pronouucad the following eloquent oration: 
 
 "What song the Sirens sang, or what name Achilles assumed 
 when he hid himself among women, though puzzling questions^ 
 are not beyond all conjecture. "What time the persons of thes<i 
 ossuaries entered the famous nations of the dead, and slept with 
 princes and counsellors, might admit a wide solution. But who wera 
 the proprietors of these bones, or what bodies these ashes made up 
 were a question not to be resolved'by man. nor easily perhaps by 
 spirits." Thus discoursed Sir Thomas Browne in his fearful essay 
 upon Urn Burial, which he was led to write by the discovery of 
 the celebrated urn in a "field of "Walsingham" more than two 
 hundred years ago. Fortunately for the day and the occasion 
 no such mystery now hangs over the wonderful masterpiece of 
 nature, whose clustering memories we are here this day to recall. 
 This spot, nevertheless, is consecrated ground. "We may here, 
 figuratively at least, tread upon the dust of kings. How long 
 were their line and their triumphs we cannot tell. Farther back 
 than three hundred and fifty years, history herself is silent. Be- 
 yond that time America herself was "one great antiquity-' buried 
 in darkness of five thousand years. 
 
 I have said that we were treading upon the ashes of kings. It 
 is indeed a fact that the royal title was unknown in their own 
 imperfect language. But in their rank, their order of descent and 
 their manner of exercising power, they were sovereigns and their 
 chief sachems kings. "Rude kings they were, it is true. Kings 
 •who reveled not in voluptuousness, nor wasted their time amid 
 the delights of the harem, nor degraded their manhood by plying 
 the distaff like Sardanapolus. Nor yet were they of those wh< 
 
JIGH ROCK SPRING. 25 
 
 sought immortality by rearing cities and palaces and solemn 
 temples, like those of Thebes and Babylon and Tyre. They affec- 
 ted not the graves of giants, nor yet sought to mark the age of 
 their glorj' by the stupendous pyramid or the costly mausoleum." 
 They were not of the common order of men, but a race proud and 
 haughty — whose persons and characteristics were of mingled 
 grandeur and gloom, and who, like the Fates of Grecian mythology, 
 seemed born amid the convulsion of the elements, in cloud and 
 storm. It is to this kingly race that we owe the priceless boon 
 of the spring now before us. Help me, then, to lift with reverend 
 hands the veil that, until now, has shrouded it in mystery. 
 
 Recent investigations have established the fact that the medi- 
 cinal properties of the "High Rock" were well known to the 
 Iroquois Confederacy fully two hundred years before the prows 
 of Jacques Cartier's vessels, in 1535, grounded upon the emerald 
 shores of the St. Lawrenco. It was called by them, as my venerable 
 and learned friend, who has just preceded me, has said, the '*Medi- 
 cine Spring of the Great Spirit," under whose special guardianship 
 it was supposed to be. There can be no question, moreover, 
 that the water flowed over the rock during this period, since 
 there is yet a well authenticated tradition that it was only when 
 the Great Spirit had been seriously offended by one of the 
 Mohawk tribe, that he manifested his displeasure by causing its 
 flow to cease. Reticent, however, as the Indian race naturally 
 are, the discovery of America had been made many years before 
 it was first brought to the notice of the whites; and it is probable 
 that it would have remained unknown for many years longer, but 
 for a most remarkable series of events, which, under the guidance 
 of an overruling Providence, brought its properties into notice, 
 and gave to the New "World a Pool of Bethesda, for the healing 
 of the halt, the lame, and the infirm. To show the wonderful 
 manner in which this was brought about, is the object of him who 
 now addres.ses you. 
 
 The ''High Rock Spring" is deserving of more than the ordi- 
 nary interest that attaches to the springs of Saratoga, not only 
 on account of its being the greatest mineral curiosity on the globe, 
 and of the superior character of its water, but because it was the 
 first spring known to the whites in America. 
 
26 HISTORY OF 
 
 The first man who visited it was Sir William Johnson, Baronet. 
 Sir "William, under a commission of Major General from his 
 Majesty, George II, defeated the flower of the French army, 
 under Baron Dieskau, at the battle of Lake George, on the 8th 
 of September, 1755. In this action he received a severe wound 
 by a bullet in his thigh, from the effects of which he never wholly 
 recovered, but was frequently subject to serious illness. At 
 such times the wound, from which the ball was never extracted, 
 became excessively painful, rendering him for weeks, after an 
 attack, unable to ride on horseback or to endure any active exer- 
 cise. Suitable medical attendance it was very difficult to procure, 
 and it frequently happened that having exhausted the cont<;nts 
 of his own medical chest, he was obliged to send to Albany, and 
 sometimes to New York, for a physician. It was during one of 
 these attacks, in the summer of 1767, that the Mohawks deter- 
 mined, in solemn council, to reveal to their beloved brother, War- 
 ra-ghi-ya-ghy, the peculiar medicinal properties of the '"Higb 
 Rock." Nor, perhaps, could there have been any stronger proof 
 of the affection in which he was held by these sons of the forest, 
 than their resolution to give their brother the benefits of that 
 which they had always sacredly guarded as the precious gift to 
 themselves alone, from the Great Spirit. Accompanied by his 
 Indian guides, the Baronet set out on his journey the 22d of 
 August, and passing down the Mohawk from Johnstown 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 on the stal- 
 wart shoulders of his Indian attendants through the woods to 
 Ballston lake, which he reached the same evening. Tarrying 
 over night at the log cabin of Michael McDonald, a Scotchman, 
 who had recently begun a clearing in the vicinity, the party, 
 three hours before sunrise, on Thursday, the 23d of August, 
 17G7, plunged again into the forest; and following the trail of 
 Indian hunters, along that which is now the road from Ballston 
 to this village, came to the chief tributary of Lake Saratoga, the 
 Kayaderosseras. 
 
 In the gray dawn of that summer morning, along the green 
 aisles of the primeval forest, the party silenty pursued their 
 way. The moccasined feet pressed down the wild flowers in 
 
^ HIGH ROCK SPRING. 27 
 
 w 
 
 their path. Wheeling above with untiring wing, as it moving with 
 and watching over the party, were several noble bald eagles, whose 
 eyries hung on the beetling crags, affording to the invalid a pre- 
 sage of health and happiness. Aloft the pine tree towered above 
 a sea of verdure, and below the maple, whose virgin cheeks were 
 not yet brazen with the paint of early frosts, modestly shrunk 
 from the passing gaze. ''Old fir trees hoary and grim, shaggy 
 •with pendant mosses, leaned above the stream," and beneath, 
 dead and submerged, a 'fallen sycamore thrust from the current 
 the bare, bleached limbs of its collossal skeleton. 
 
 The sun was an hour above the eastern hills, when the startled 
 deer saw the evergreens sway, and the Baronet's party emerge 
 from the thicket. Their polished bracelets and rich trappings, 
 glittering in the dewy foliage like so many diamonds, were in 
 keeping with the cheerfulness visible upon each countenance — 
 for were they not bearing their dearly beloved brother to the 
 medicine spring of the Great Spirit? As the party emerge from 
 the glade upon the green sward, they separate into two divis- 
 ions, and, with gentle tread, approach the spring, bearing their 
 precious burden in the center. Pausing a few rods from the 
 spring, the Baronet leaves the litter; and, for a moment, his 
 manly form, wrapped in his scarlet blanket bordered with gold 
 lace, stands towering and erect above the waving plumes of his 
 Mohawk braves. Then, approaching the spring, he kneels, with 
 uncovered head, and reverently places upon the rock a roll of fra- 
 grant tobacco — his propitiatory offering to the Manitou of the 
 epring. Still kneeling, he fills and lights the great calumet, 
 which, through a long line of kings, had descended to the re- 
 nowned Pontiac, and taking a whiff from its hieroglyphic stem, 
 passes it to each chieftain in turn. Then amid the profound 
 fiilenceof his warriors, he for the first time touches his lips to the 
 water; and gathering the folds of his mantle about him, amid a 
 wild and strange chant raised by the Indians to their Deity, he 
 enters the rude bark lodge which, with prudent forethought, his 
 hraves had erected for his comfort, directly where this building 
 DOW stands; and in this primitive hotel recVmed the first wh'ita man 
 that had ever visited this spring. Yet while the sufferer lay on 
 hla evergreen couch, did the fortunes of the (Jeneral whom he 
 3 
 
28 HISTORY OP 
 
 bad defeated twelve years previously , occur to him? Perhaps 
 so; for by a singular coincidence, while the conqueror of Dieskau 
 was prostrated amid these forests, where the wounds of both had 
 been received, the French General was languishing on his deach- 
 bed at a small town in the interior of France — 
 "The paths of glory lead but to the g^ave." 
 
 The Baronet had been but four days at the " High Kock/' 
 when he received letters obliging him to hasten immediately 
 Lome. Short as his visit was, however, the water restored his 
 strength so far as to enable him to travel some of tne way to 
 Schenectady on foot; and again taking his water carriage, he 
 arrived on the 4th of September; at the Hall, to welcome his sou 
 Sir John, who had just arrived from England. The popularity 
 of Saratoga Spring, as a watering-place, may be saKi to date 
 from this visit. " My dear Schuyler," writes the Baronet upon 
 his return, to his intimate personal friend. General Fhilip Schuy- 
 ler, " I have just returned from a visit to a most amazing spring, 
 which almost eifected my cure; and I have sent tor Dr. Stringer 
 of New York, to come up at once and analyze it.*' Accordingly 
 when Schuyler effected a settlement on the banks of the Hudson, 
 it was, undoubtedly, the remembrance of this letter that caused 
 him in 1783, to cut a road of twelve miles throujth the forest to 
 this spring and erect a tent, under which himself and his family 
 spent several weeks, using the water. Hence it was that the 
 fact of so distinguished a personage as Sir Willaim having been 
 restored by the water soon became noised through the country 
 Others were induced to make the trial; new springs were dis- 
 covered ; and thenceforth the springs became the resort of those 
 who were in pursuit of health and pleasure. For many years 
 after its discovery, the '' High Rock" continued to be the resort 
 of people from all sections of the country; and when other springs 
 were found in the neighboring village of Ballston, the chief drive 
 of the visitors was a romantic drive through the woods to the 
 " High Rock Spring." The question will here very naturally be 
 asked, if the High Rock was so celebrated, how did it happen 
 that it has remained until this late day comparatively unknown? 
 
 The answer is very simple. In April, 1826, the late proprietors 
 of "Congress Spring" bought the former from Walton and Liv 
 
HIGH ROCK SPRING. . 29 
 
 mgston, and kept it in the background. These proprietors, how- 
 ever, having recently died, the spring was purchased from the 
 heirs by its present owners, Ainsvvorth and McCaffrey. The 
 object of these gentlemen in making the purchase was to bring 
 the High Rock into such prominence before the public as its real 
 value as a restorative demanded. Accordingly, no sooner had 
 ihe sale been completed, than — as Reconstructions are all the order 
 of the day — they resolved to "reconstruct" their purchase, and 
 endea>ror, if possible, to cause the water again to overflow the 
 rock. The project at first, as with " Reconstructions" generally, 
 did Hot meet with public favor, as fears were entertained that 
 Saratoga might be deprived of one of her greatest attractions. 
 But in the face of numerous obstacles they persevered, and the 
 result— of which you have visible proof to-day, has demonstrated 
 the praciicability of their plan, and all the mysteries of the High 
 Rock and its spring have been unveiled to the public gaze. A 
 slight excavation showed that the rock only extended a few inches 
 below the surface, and it was easily removed. "Within it was a 
 chamber about two feet in diameter, and below a pit formed by 
 the bubbling water, about ten feet in depth, in which were found 
 a large number of tumblers lost m dipping the water. Around 
 the cone, for an area of four hundred feet, the soil was found to 
 be filled with two independent layers of encrustations or tufa- 
 formed by the deposits of the water— one of tnem three feet in 
 thickness, and the other two. Immediately beneath the rock lay 
 the body of a pine tree, eighten inches in diameter, which still 
 retained its form, and was sufficiently firm to be sawn in sections 
 and pulled out. This tree must have fallen before the formation 
 of the surface rock commenced, and had undoubtedly lain there 
 thousands of years. For many years before the stalagmite for- 
 mation of the cone hid it from sight, this tree — evidently placed 
 there by design — was used as a convenient pathway to the spring, 
 since the upper side of the log has been worn to a polished sur- 
 face by the moccasins of the aboriginals. 
 
 A very interesting question here arises. "What is the age of 
 this remarkable fountain? The rock itself was formed, as you 
 doubtless are aware, by the precipitation of minerals held in 
 solution by carbonic acid gas. The rock or cone is four feet in 
 
30' HISTORY OF 
 
 height. Now Dy counting the annual deposits of tufa, it is found 
 that five of tlie yearly layers measure one-sixteenth of an inch. 
 Hence eighty years are required to deposit a single inch, or nina 
 hundred and sixty years for a foot. From this it appears thai 
 the age of the rock from its first formation to the period when 
 the water — having been forced by hydrostatic pressure into 
 another outlet — ceased to overflow the rock, can not be less than 
 four thousand years. And if to this be added the time consumed 
 in forming the tufa, which is two thousand years more, we have 
 six thousand j^ears, as near as geological investigation can deter 
 mine, as the age of this mineral fountain itself — placed here bj 
 the Almighty two centuries before he created man in his owi 
 image — while darkness yet brooded over the face of the deep 
 The excavation was continued about twelve feet, when it becamt 
 evident that only a few inches more would bring to view th« 
 crevice in the solid rock out of which this wonderful fountaiL 
 unceasingly flows. The tubing is now fitted to the rock, so as U 
 exclude all extraneous substances and confine the gases; and il 
 is confidently believed that a superior mineral water has beei 
 obtained, which will be available for commercial purposes. 
 
 Thus is it that in the hands of its present owners the ambrosias 
 nectar of the gods becomes a veritable fact, and the " elixir of 
 life," sought for so many years in vain by the alchemists of old 
 finds in this spring its realization. Upon this Rock, Hebe'ma^ 
 break her cup, and, chagrined and discomforted, acknowledge 
 that her vocation is at an end. Had the '' High Rock Spring" 
 stood on the borders of the Logo d' Agnaus, the noted Grotto del 
 Cani would never have been heard of beyond the environs of 
 "Naples; while this fountain in its place would have been deserv 
 edly celebrated in story, to the admiration of the world, as one of 
 the greatest of curiosities .' 
 
 It remains only to speak of the agency which the battle of Lake 
 George exercised in bringing this spring into notice. Indeed, tho 
 parallel that exists between the benefits which that action con- 
 ferred upon our national and physical life is so striking, that a 
 brief glance at it may not be omitted by those who read the hand 
 of God in every event of life. The action of the 8th of Septem 
 ber, 1755, so far as concerns the number of men engaged, wa» 
 
HIGH ROCK SPRING. 31 
 
 AOt a great battle; but when viewed in its immediate strategical 
 resnits, it well deserves a prominent place among the battles of 
 American history. *' The battle of Lake George," says the late 
 Reverend Cortlandt Yan Rensselaer, in his admirable discourse 
 upon this action, " is memorable in defeating a well-laid, danger- 
 ous scheme of the enemy, and in saving the provinces from scenes 
 of bloodshed and desolation. If Dieskau had succeeded in over- 
 throwing Johnson in his intrenchments, his advance upon Fort 
 Edward would have been easily successful, and thence his march 
 to Albany would have been triumphant. The. conflagration of 
 our northern settlements would have been followed by the deso- 
 lation of Albany and Schenectady; and although Dieskau must 
 have soon been compelled to retreat, it is impossible to estimate 
 the bloodshed, plunder and general losses, which might have 
 talien place had not God ordered it otherwise. The victory of 
 Lake George undoubtedly rescued the province from injury and 
 roe beyond computation; considered, therefore, in its immediate 
 strategical results, the battle was one of the most important 
 ingagements in American history. The battle of Lake George 
 '« also remarkable for its influence in rallying the spirit of the 
 American colonies. Much had been expected from the three 
 expeditions sent against the French; but disappointment and 
 sorrow had already followed Braddock's terrible defeat. All the 
 provinces were amazed, awe-struck for a time, but recovering 
 from the first siiock of the calamity, they were aroused to avenge 
 their loss. 
 
 '* Johnson's victory was received as the precursor of a recovered 
 military position and fame, and was hailed as a means of deliv- 
 erance from a bold and cruel foe. Few battles ever produced 
 more immediate results in rekindling military and martial enthu- 
 siasm. Congratulations poured in upon General Johnson from 
 every quarter. Not only were the colonies filled with rejoicing, 
 but the infiuence of the triumph went over to England, and the 
 deeds of our fathers at Lake George became familiar to the ears 
 of royalty, and were applauded by the eloquence of Parliament." 
 
 But again. The battle of Lake George was furthermore 
 memorable in its suggestions of provincial prowess, and its lessons 
 of warfare to the colonies preparatory to their independence. 
 
32 HISTORY OF 
 
 It is a mistake to snppose that Bunker Hill was the first school in 
 which the colonists were taught their ability to struggle with 
 veteran soldiers. It was at Lake George that this lesson was 
 learned; and it is very doubtful whether the colonists would 
 have dared to have taken the stand they did, had it not been for 
 the lessons of the old French war. The battle was fought by pro- 
 vincial troops, and chiefly by the sons of glorious old New Eng- 
 land. The veteran regulars of old England had been beaten in 
 the forests of Western Pennsylvania, or remained inactive in the 
 ^Niagara expedition. Through some unaccountable cause, th^ 
 expedition, which was on the direct line of Canada, and nearest 
 to the French reinforcements known to be at hand, was con 
 signed exclusively to the care of native colonial soldiers; and 
 bravely did they do their duty. On these shores provincial 
 prowess signalized its self-relying capabilities; and in this battle 
 and in this war the colonists practically learned the value of 
 union. Putnam, and Stark, and Pomeroy came here as to a 
 military academy to acquire the art of warfare, which tbev 
 all exercised at Bunker Hill. George Washington himself, as a 
 military man, was nurtured for America and the world amid the 
 forests of the Alleghanies, and the rifles and tomahawks of these 
 French and Indian struggles, Lake George and Saratoga, are 
 continuous not merely in territory, but in heroic association. 
 
 As this battle, therefore, was in a measure the source of our 
 present national life, so, by leading indirectly to the discovery of 
 this spring, it has been a source of renewed physical energy to the 
 nation. One is but the correlative of the other. Sana niens in 
 corpore sano is as true of the body politic, as of the body 
 physical; and if our existence as a nation is preserved, it 
 will be by keeping intact the mental and physical energiea 
 of the people. "Soldiers," said Napoleon, on the eve of one 
 of his battles, and in one of those bulletins with which he 
 was wont to electrify all Europe. "Soldiers, from yonder 
 pyramids', forty centuries are gazing down upon you!" But on 
 the eve of the battle of Lake George, from far nobler and grander 
 heights the Providence of God was looking down moulding and 
 shaping its results for the benefit of mankind throughout the 
 ages. "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, 
 
r 
 
 HIGH ROCK SPRING 33 
 
 cl*ar au crjstal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the 
 Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of 
 the river, was ihere the tree of life, which bare twelve manner 
 of fruits, and yeilded her fruit every month; and the leaves of 
 Ihe tree were for the healing of the nations." 
 
 Aware of the importance attached by the public, to every 
 thing pertaining to this heir-loora which has come down to us 
 from an epoch much earlier than our own, and the apparent 
 mystery which hangs about the whole, I have been thus par- 
 ticular in collating and presenting the chronological facts relative 
 to this subject. Those obtained from the Chief of the Tusca 
 roras are perfectly authentic, and, so far as I am aware, are 
 «ntirely new to the civilized world. 
 
 The white man's chronology, too, of this particular wonder 
 of the world, has hitherto existed only in the form of musty 
 title deeds, running through long periods of time, and held by 
 Individuals residing in different and distant sections of the 
 country. And it is confidently believed that this is the first 
 iime in which a connected and continuous history of this remark- 
 \ble fountain has ever been presented to the public. 
 
HISTORY OF 
 
 THE HIGH ROCK CONGRESS SPRING. 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS. 
 
 The great number of cases annually treated by this water 
 places its therapeutic properties beyond a peradventure. Ani 
 those persons who once doubted its medicinal qualities, are nov 
 convinced of its healing virtues, and are loudest in its pra4se. H 
 should, however, be borno in mind, that as a medicine, it must 
 be subject to the same general rules as other remedies. If ther* 
 are diseases which it will cure, there are also maladies which ii 
 will greatly aggravate. 
 
 Therefore, a proper distinction should always be made befor«> 
 using it as a medicine. It acts medicinally upon all the great 
 depurators — the skin, the alimentary canal, the kidneys, the liver, 
 are each subject to its therapeutic effects. But when it is desira- 
 ble to have it act upon a given organ, or a particular class o{ 
 organs, the potations should be varied in quantity and fre- 
 quency, and such other influences brought to bear, as will secure 
 the desired result. It therefore must be obvious to all refiectin^ 
 persons, that only such persons as have made the water a special 
 study, and watched its effects upon a great number of persons, 
 can make the best use of it, and call to its aid the most appro 
 priate adjuvants. Those persons then who wish to derive benefi(> 
 from its use, should have a well considered plan, and not vary from 
 it, unless for the most obvious reasons, 
 
 CUTANEOUS DISEASES. 
 
 Perhaps there are no diseases more troublesome to treat pro 
 perly, than those of the skin. Their appearance often stronglj 
 resemble each other, when their pathological conditions ar# 
 widlely different, and hence, persons unacquainted with the varied 
 features of skin diseases, are often greatly disappointed in tho 
 reuslts which follow their prescriptions. 
 
HIGH ROCK SPRING. 35 
 
 Impetigo. — This disease when it attacks the face, the forearms 
 and the lower extremities, and is attended by gastric and intesti- 
 nal disturbances; or when the patient is of a strumous habit, 
 this water internally used and locally applied, is followed by the 
 happiest effects. The unseemly incrustations which follow the 
 discharges constantly flowing from the diseased surface, its intol- 
 erable itching, which so uniformly attends certain stages of its 
 action, are happily cured by the water of this spring. 
 
 Eczema. — This form of cutaneous disease is very frequently 
 ^en among the patients who annually resort to this fountain for 
 'clief, and when a proper course of drinking the water is persisted 
 fci, and baths of it have been freely and systematically used, the 
 patients suffering from eczema have been invariably cured. 
 Erythmatic eruptions . — When occuringon the back of the hands, 
 the neck, the face, the breast, the arms, and attended by fever, 
 lassitude, weakness, pains in the limbs, &c., &c., are relieved by 
 bathing and drinking the water of this fountain. 
 
 Syphilitic — These eruptions and other like diseases of the skin, 
 •re mostly aided by bathing and drinking this water. And par- 
 ticularly all diseases of the skin, where cleanliness is of great 
 Importance in the treatment, and where there are acid secretions 
 ia the stomach and bowels, the uses of this mineral water will 
 produce a prompt and permanent relief. 
 
 DERANGEMENT OF THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS. 
 
 Gastric dyspepsia. — When this form of dyspepsia is attended by 
 loss of appetite, nausea, thirst after eating, heart-burn, acid and 
 putrescent eructations; a sense of weight at the epigastrium after 
 meals, inability to digest oily, fatty, mucilaginous and saccharine 
 substances; low temperature of the body, and the heat unequally 
 distributed; countenance pale, eyes dull, listlessness in motion, 
 and slow bowels, this water if properly used produces the desired 
 relief. It is also useful in Irritable, gastric, and follcular gastric 
 dyspepsia. 
 
 Duodenal dyspepsia. — In dyspeptic derangements of the small 
 intestines, which are sometimes attended by an impaired, and in 
 others by a ravenous appetite, by difficult digestion, but which is 
 not noticeable until an hour or two after meals; high colored 
 
36 HISTORY OF 
 
 urine, and unnatural looking stools, are amenable to the water of 
 this spring. 
 
 Colonic dyspepsia. — Although it is a part of the lower bowels 
 and is a receptacle for effete matter, yet its derangement often 
 affects unpleasantly the digestive functions of the stomach and 
 small intestines; and whether colonic derangements depend upoD 
 atony or irritability, inflammation of its mucus membrane or dis 
 eases of its mucus follicles, it deranges alike the digestion, and 
 therefore, interferes more or less seriously with the nutrition of 
 the body. "VVe, therefore, have dyspepsia of the stomach, the 
 small and large bowels, and each part of the digestive tube ha> 
 several kinds of dyspepsia belonging to it respectively, such a» 
 acute, chronic and sympathetic; each of these conditions, there 
 fore, require different application of the water, and each one i» 
 materially bonefited by its use, when properly taken. 
 
 KIDNEYS. 
 
 The kidneys have been considered among the most important 
 organs called vicarious or compensating; or those which possesi 
 the power of temporarily fulfilling the oflSce of some other organ 
 Thus when the insensible perspiration is suppressed, the aqueous 
 matter of the body is often discharged by the kidneys. 
 
 The urine is the most complicated of the animal secretions, and 
 the most variable in its contents. It may contain water, phos- 
 phate of lime, phosphate of magnesia, uric acid, urea, lactate 
 of ammonia, sulphate of potash, sulphate of soda, chloruret of 
 soda, chloruret of ammonia, phosphate of soda, phosphate of am 
 monia, silex, extract soluble in alcohol, extract only soluble is 
 water, mucus of the bladder, fluoric acid, benzoic acid, fluate of 
 lime, albumen, gelatine, sulphur, and many other substances n(H 
 necessary to mention in this connection. These different compound* 
 are of course readily washed from the body by the mineral water 
 if timely and appropriately used. And the morbid states of tht 
 system upon which they depend, are also restored to a normal 
 condition, by an appropriate use of the same remedy. 
 
 MORBID STATE OF THE URINE. 
 
 Of these we may mention, the aqueous, subaqueous, the 
 lithic, the phosphoric, the purpuric, alluminous and saccharine. 
 
HIGH ROCK SPRING. 37 
 
 jj^ Aqueous urine. — When occurring in a nervous temperament 
 vrith mental aberrations, low nutrition, or other like enfeebling 
 symptoms, as well as advanced age, this water has proved emi- 
 nently useful. 
 
 Subaqueous urine. — In these cases the urine often bears off an 
 undue proportion of nutritious matter, which ought on the con- 
 trary to be applied to the uses of the body, and hence producing 
 feebleness and premature decay. This state of the secretions 
 may follow the use of too stimulating food, and especially vinous 
 And fermented liquors. These aqueous discharges are cured, 
 by bringing the functions of the skin, the liver and the lungs, to 
 act normally as depurators, when the kidneys will soon command 
 their normal secretions, and restore them to a healthy condition 
 and, therefore, save the nourishment heretofore lost to the body. 
 These desirable results may be materially aided, if not entirely 
 relieved, by the water of this fountain. 
 
 Lithic urine. — This urine is often loaded with sand and gravel 
 and is greatly promoted by indigestion. The spring water is 
 Tery efficient in washing these substances from the bladder, and 
 from the renal passages generally, and also in restoring a healthful 
 state of digestion, upon the derangements of which, this acid 
 greatly depends. 
 
 Phosphatic urine. — This state of the renal secretions is charac- 
 terized by the presence of phosphate of lime, which imparts to 
 the urine a whitish color when voided, and a deposit of a chalky 
 substance, when the urine is reduced in temperature to that of 
 the atmosphere. The state of the system most favorable for the 
 productions of this acid, is an enfeebled constitution, impaired 
 digestion and assimilation, diseases of the glandular system, and 
 local injuries of parts contiguous to the kidneys. This acid enters 
 largely into the composition of renal calculi, which often imposes 
 fearful sufferings upon the unfortunate patients who chance to 
 labor under the presence of stone in the bladder, and in other 
 parts of the renal canal. The formation of this acid is often 
 prevented by the timely use of the water of this spring. And 
 its free use will often remove as large calculi as can pass through 
 the uretal and urethral canals, as well as to remove the diathesis 
 upon which the calculi depend. 
 
38 HISTORl' OP 
 
 Purpuric albumine and saccharine urine. — These diseases &r*< i 
 attended by inflammatory, dropsical and other deranged states ol I 
 the system, which are wholly incompatible with the uses of th» 
 water of this spring, and should never be used. 
 
 Bloody urine. — In cases where blood flows from the kidneys, 
 ui'etrus, or bladder, attended by constipation of the bowels and 
 low nutrition, the warm bath and aperient draughts of this mia 
 eral water have been followed by the most salutary effects. Ar 
 soon as the functions of the skin are restored, and normal state* 
 of the digestive organs are established, the hemorrhage ceases 
 the urine flows with its former freedom, and the patient feels a» 
 though he had entered upon a new and very desirable state 0/ 
 existence. 
 
 Hemorrhoids. — "When these are the result of constipation, se- 
 dentary habits, hot rooms and a stimulating diet, this water used 
 as a bath, as an injection, and as an aperient, the patient is readil; 
 relieved from one of the most painful, unpleasant and loathsome 
 diseases with which poor human nature is afflicted. 
 
 HEPATIC DISEASES. 
 
 The humoral pathologist who attached so much importance tt 
 the composition of the bile, has served to fix in the popular mind 
 the idea, that most human ailments are caused by the morbid 
 actions of the liver. Hence a majority of those who annually 
 visit Saratoga for the use of its mineral waters, do so with refer- 
 ence to its effects upon the liver. With this class of persons. It 
 matters not whether their livers secrete too much, or not bile 
 enough; or whether their hepatic functions are perfectly normal 
 or not, they are nevertheless bilious, and the liver is considered 
 accountaole for all their aches and pains. But notwithstanding 
 all these false charges against the liver, it is doubtless often 
 deranged, which derangement, if functional, is within the medici- 
 nal influence of this mineral water. Then again its morbid actions 
 are frequently more or less dependent upon derangements of 
 associate organs, the morbid actions of which are also happily 
 within the curative influence of this water. 
 
 Persons residing in fever districts, often have their livers and 
 spleens enlarged and hardened. Such cases are most happily 
 
HIGH ROCK SPRING. 39 
 
 relieved by a judicious course of this mineral ^vater, drank at the 
 ^untain. 
 
 SCROFULA. 
 
 The condition of the system, which marks the early state of 
 this fearful disease, is usually temoved by a timely and faithful 
 use of the High Rock Congress water, but which if left to run its 
 course, will surely end in feebleness and a certain early decay. 
 Scorbutic persons, both young and more advanced in life, often 
 witness large scrofulous tumors rapidly pass away under the 
 Influence of this mineral water. And children, with characteristic 
 ccrofulous features, exchange them for those of health, by a year 
 <iT two residence at Saratoga, and a free use of this mineral water. 
 
 FREE LIVERS. 
 
 Perhaps there is no class of mineral water-drinkers, who enjoy 
 ^ 4 visit to Saratoga so much, or who realize so fully and so speedily 
 I ihe benefits arising from drinking the water, as the class of per- 
 sons named at the head of this section. 
 
 They suffer from no organic lesions of the stomach, but rather 
 Crom functional disturbance of the organ, arising from too much 
 /ood . But when daily drinking the water, they are wholly exempt 
 from all inconvenience arising from such surfeit not only, but can 
 iise double the quantity of food and drinks previously taken, and 
 . experience no inconvenience whatever from so liberal an ingesta. 
 The acid products which would follow such free living under 
 other circumstances, and which would be sure to produce sleep- 
 less nights, with morbid, nervous and cerebral symptoms, are 
 wholly prevented by the use of the water, and refreshing sleep, 
 ong deferred, is fully enjoyed. So congenial is this mineral 
 *ater to the stomach, that it will tolerate much larger volumes 
 ;)f it, than of any other fluid known. And when taken in suitable 
 portions, it imparts a vigor to the stomach unknown to follow any 
 other medicinal agent, while at the same time it corrects all acids, 
 and prevents all putreflcation which so often attend the sleeping 
 hours of the free liver. And such of this class as have become 
 more or less diseased from liberal living, have their stomachs 
 
40 
 
 HISTORY OP 
 
 restored to a fair condition by this water, without being deprived 
 of a good and full daily diet, during the time of treatment. 
 
 When the water is taken in the morning, fasting, it removes 
 without debility, the remnants of the previous day's food, and 
 leaves the organs in a condition to act upon the next portion of 
 ingesta which may be presented to them. Being thus unincum 
 bered by the remnants of ingesta or the debris of worn-out tis- 
 sues, they act promptly and efficiently upon larger quantities of 
 food than would be possible for them under other circumstances. 
 These desirable properties of this water will secure for it a ready 
 and extensive sale abroad, and fill the town annually with thousand* 
 of persons in search of good living, under the cognomen of health 
 
HIGH ROCK SPRING. 41 
 
 HIGH ROCK. 
 
 This rock gives name to the fountain which it incloses. It is 
 conical in shape and rests upon the marl beneath the surface of 
 the ground. It narrows quite rapidly as it rises above the sur- 
 face, and terminates in a rounded top, in the center of which is 
 a circular opening which leads to the cavity within. This opening 
 gradually widens as the rock enlarges, leaving the walls of the 
 rock of nearly equal thickness throughout, which gives a pyra- 
 niidical space within the rock, not dissimilar in form to its exter- 
 nal surface. The water is agitated by the escape of carbonic 
 acid, which is constantly rising through it in large quantities, and 
 Sowing over its sides into the brooklet at its base, from thence 
 with the surplus water of the fountain, it passes away through 
 the valley. 
 
 The rock is composed of lime, magnesia, silica and other sub- 
 stances, which are derived from the surroundings of the fountain, 
 as leaves, twigs, shells, &c.; such of these substances as are held 
 In solution by the carbonic acid of the water, are precipitated 
 where the subterranean pressure is removed, and the temperature 
 of the fountain is elevated. These at length accumulate, and 
 with entangled twigs, leaves and shells, form this unique and 
 world-renowned rock. 
 
 The circumference of the rock at the surface of the ground is 
 twenty-four feet and four inches; the diameter of the aperture 
 four inches below the surface, is twelve inches; the height of the 
 rock above the ground is three feet six inches; the depth of the 
 spring from the top of the rock thirty -two feet, and the rock itself 
 is what is known as calcarious tufa. 
 
 This rock is justly considered one of the greatest curiosities of 
 the world, and large numbers of persons annually visit it as the 
 wonder of the country. The venerable Dr. Leman, in noticing 
 this singular production, observes: ** The more we reflect upon it 
 
42 HISTORY OF HIGH ROCK SPRING. 
 
 tbe more we must be confirmed of the important place this rock 
 ought to hold among the wonderful works of nature. Had it 
 stood upon the borders of the Lago d'Jlgnano, the noted grotto 
 del cani, which burdens almost every book which treats upon car- 
 bonic acid, since the peculiar properties of the air have been 
 known, would never have been heard of beyond the environs of 
 Naples, while this fountain in its place, would have been deserv- 
 edly celebrated in story, and spread upon canvass to the admira- 
 tion of the world, as one of its greatest curiosities. 
 
 " Laboratory of the School of ^^INES, ) 
 CoLUMiBA College, New York, Nov. 17, 1866. j 
 Sir— I bave the honor to report the following results of th» 
 analysis of the water which I collected at the High Rock Spring, 
 in Saratoga, in August last* 
 
 In one gallon of 231 cubic inches are contained— 
 
 Chloride of Sodium 390.127 grains. 
 
 Cliloride of Potassium 8.974 " 
 
 Bromide of Sodium 0.731 " 
 
 Iodide of Sodium ^ 0.086 " 
 
 Fluoride of Calcium trace. 
 
 Sulphate of Potassa ., 1608 " 
 
 Bicarbonate of Baryta trace. 
 
 Bicarbonate of Strontia „ trace. 
 
 Bicarbonate of Lime 131.739 " 
 
 Bicarbonate of Magnesia 54.924 " 
 
 Bicarbonate of Soda „ 34.888 " 
 
 Bicarbonate of Iron 1.478 " 
 
 Phosphate of Lime trace. 
 
 Alumina 1.223 
 
 Silica 2.260 
 
 Total 628 039 grains. 
 
 Carbonic acid gas 409.458 cubic inches 
 
 Respectfully yours, C. F. CHANDLER." 
 
 By reference to the analyses of the various other minera) 
 fountains of Saratoga, and comparing them with the above, it 
 will be seen that the water of the High Rock Spring is not 
 only a much heavier water, but that it also contains a very much 
 larger number of cubic inches of carbonic acid gas per gallon. 
 
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