University of Virginia Library

CONGRESS SPRING.
SARATOGA.

[ILLUSTRATION] [Description: 628EAF. Page 020. In-line Illustrations. The first image is a street scene with a park in the background, the caption reads, "CONGRESS SPRING. SARATOGA." The second image is of a portrait of an older, sour looking man, the caption reads, "MY OLD STATICIAN."]

Congress Hall, July 16.

Mr. Marvin is a man of fame, name and learning, and an old
free-holder in Saratoga, so to-day I asked him something about
the village.

Said he: “I came here in 1828. Then High Rock Spring
was the great spring. Sir William Johnson made the first
pilgrimage to the spring through the woods, piloted by the
Indians, to use its water. This was one hundred and five years
ago—in 1767.

“Hold on, Mr. Marvin, are you going into all the statistics?” I
asked.

“Yes,” he replied.

“Let me call my old “statician” then to assist you.” So my
venerable statistical friend came and wrote down, in the presence
of Mr. Marvin:

THE STATISTICS OF SARATOGA.

“Let me see, Wm.—Sir William Johnson
— wounded in the battle of Lake
George, September 8, 1755,” the old statician
murmured.

“What else?” I inquired.

“Wounded in the leg,” he contiuuation.
“Ball not extracted—did not recover. Dysentery,

[ILLUSTRATION] [Description: 628EAF. Page 021. In-line Illustration. Image of a Native American village, the caption reads, "SIR WILLIAM AND THE INDIANS."] sickness and lameness set in. Mohawk Indians told Sir
William about Saratoga—the “Medicine Spring of the Great
Spirit.” There were then six nations of Indians forming the
Great Iroquois Confederacy—the Mohawks, Cayugas, Onondagas,
Senecas, Oneidas, and Tuscaroras.

“Sir William reached High Rock Spring August 22nd, 1767.
He went with the Indians to Schenectady by canoe on the
Mohawk River, then by litter viâ Ballston Lake to the rude
cabin of Michael McDonald, thence to High Rock Spring.

“The sun was an hour above the eastern hills,” continued my
statician, reading from a book, “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
loved brother to
the `Medicine
Spring of the Great Spirit?' As the party emerge from the glade
upon the green sward, they separate into two divisions; 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.”

“How do you know these to be facts, my venerable friend?”

“Well, the book says so, sir; besides Wm. L. Stone delivered
these facts in an address in 1866,” said my statician indignantly.

“They are correct,” observed Mr. Marvin.

“Very well, go on!”

“Then,” continued the old man, “Sir William approaching the
spring, kneels, with uncovered head, and reverently places upon
the rock a roll of fragrant tobacco—his propitiatory offering to
the Manitou of the spring. Still kneeling, he fills and lights

the great calumet, which, through a long line of kings, had
descended to the renowned Pontiac, and, taking a whiff from its
hieroglyphic stem, passes it to each chieftain in turn. Then,
amid the profound silence of 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 braves had erected for his comfort
directly where this building now stands; and in this primitive
hotel reclined the first white man that had ever visited this spring.”

“How long did he stay, what hotel did he put up at, and
where was Wm. Leland and Col. Johnson then?” I asked, interrupting
the old man.

“Sh—!” he exclaimed,“ Wm. Leland was dead then. He
was not discovered till fifty years afterwards. This was even
before Fernando Wood or Mr. Greeley or Peter Gilsey were
discovered. Sir William sojourned four days at High Rock
Spring, then went back to Schenectady on foot, and General
Philip Schuyler sent up Dr. Stringer to analyse the spring.

EARLY SETTLEMENT

“In the year 1687,” continued my venerable friend, “the
French in Canada had seven hundred Indian warriors for the
purpose of instructing them in religion and to help them kill the
English! So Governor Dongan, to get these Indians away
from the French, gave them the land about Saratoga. This was
not a very generous act when we come to consider that the land
belonged to a gentleman in Albany. The Indians kept the land
till 1742, when Father Picquet, a French priest, with some French
troops, gobbled up the Indians and stole their corn and cattle.
The French fought better then than they do now-a-days, or else
there were not any Prussian Uhlans around. The French burnt
up the Indian huts and raised the devil generally. Peace came
between the French and English, and the French priest had to
leave in 1748. Then the Sovereign of Great Britain gave away
the Van Schaick patent, which included Saratoga. In 1783
Albany County was organized, including Stillwater, Saratoga,
and Ballston. In 1791 Saratoga was taken from Albany County
and divided into twenty townships, viz: Ballston, Halfmoon,
Saratoga, Stillwater, Charlton, Galway, Milton, Greenfield, Providence,
Northumberland, Edinburgh, Hadley, Malta, Moreau,
Waterford, Corinth, Wilton, Saratoga Springs, and Clifton Park.

GROWTH OF SARATOGA.

“In 1773 Dirick Scowton cleared a piece of land about High

Rock Spring and built a cabin. In 1774 John Arnold brought
his furniture on his back from Saratoga Lake and built a tavern
near High Rock. High Rock Spring had various owners after
this—Samuel Norton, Isaac Law, Rip Van Dam, Henry Livingstone,
and (during the Revolution) Alexander Bryan.

“Gideon Putnam arrived at Saratoga in 1789. He seems to
have been the great founder of Saratoga. He said to his wife:
Saratoga is a healthy place; the mineral springs are valuable,
the timber is good and in great abundance, and I can build me
a great house.

“In 1802 Putnam purchased of Henry Walton an acre of land
where the Grand Union now stands, and built seventy feet of the
present hotel. This was a great house in those days, and the
wonder of the country. His sign was a rudely painted representation
of Putnam and the wolf.

“In 1806 Putnam tubed Washington spring, and afterwards the
Columbian.

Visitors now began to come to Saratoga. Many came up
from Ballston in stages, took dinner with Putnam, and returned.

“In 1811 Putnam began the erection of Congress Hall. He
fell from the scaffolding and died a year afterwards from the
effect of his injuries. He ranks with John Rodgers, Miles Standish,
and Daniel Boon—a great pioneer and a great man. Congress
Hall was finished in 1815, became the property of Mr. Van
Scoonhoven, who kept it until 1822, when the company was
extended by taking in Samuel H. Drake, John E. Beekman, and
John McDougall Lawrence.

In 1855 Henry H. Hathorn and Harvey P. Hall purchased
the property of Z. V. Kingsley, of West Point. Hathorn and Hall
made great improvements in the hotel, but on the evening of the
29th of May, 1866, the building took fire and burned to the ground.
It was rebuilt in 1868 on a still grander scale, and is now one of
the most beautiful hotels in America. Mr. H. H. Hathorn is
still at its head.”

THE OLD UNITED STATES.

“What has been your experience in Saratoga?” I asked of
Mr. Marvin as my old statician ended.

“For twenty-six years I owned the old United States Hotel,”
continued Mr. Marvin, “one of the best hotels Saratoga ever
had. The United States was commenced in 1823 by John Ford
and finished by Lewis Benedict. I bought it in 1825. It covered
six acres of ground and required an acre and a half of roof to
cover the buildings. This magnificent hotel together with the
Marvin House was burned to the ground June 18th, 1865. Since

that time the ruins have been seen by every one.

THE RACE TRACK.

“Property has never seen a decline in Saratoga—even during
the dark days of '36 and '37, when everything seemed smashing
up,” continued Mr. Marvin. “Even the land we purchased for
the race-track has advanced wonderfully in value. We could
now sell that 125 acres and double our money. So you see the
Saratoga Race Track Association will always be solvent. The
land originally cost us about $100 per acre. It is worth $300
now. Our dividends have been usually expended in improvements.
Once we divided a 10 per cent. dividend, afterward a 17
per cent. dividend. When I first showed old John Harper the
track he exclaimed, `That is the best track in the world! and
John was right. We can stable in our own buildings 150 horses.
Besides the big track we have a small one for training.”

CONGRESS SPRING.

My statician followed with his statistics:—

“Twenty-five years after Sir Wm. Johnson visited High Rock
Spring, Congressman John Taylor Gilman was one of a hunting
party to visit the spring which be named “Congress Spring.”
The spring trickled from a ledge of rocks which coursed from
the Columbian Spring towards where is now Morrissey's gambling
house. Gideon Putnam tubed it though it belonged to the
Livingstone. They afterward sold it to John Clarke, an Englishman,
with the farm around it. Mr. Clarke built the Doric
structure over Congress Spring and the Grecian dome over
Columbian Spring.

USE OF THE WATERS.

“The Hathorn water is a powerful cathartic—33 1-3 per cent.
stronger than Congress water. The Pavilion water is used for
rheumatism, indigestion, kidney complaints, and is a cathartic.
Congress water for dyspepsia, gout, and cutaneous diseases.
The Empire water for bilious disorders, rheumatic, and scrofulous
affections. The Columbian water for strengthening the
stomach, and for increasing the red particles in the blood. The
Geyser is a powerful cathartic.

HOW TO DRINK THE WATERS.

“The general visitor should, in the absence of specific advice,
drink a cathartic water like Hathorn, Congress, or Pavilion,
before breakfast, say from two to five tumblers. At ten A. M.
drink one tumbler of iron water—Columbian. At six drink
one and a half tumblers from the Washington Spring, in the
Clarendon grounds.

ANALYSIS OF SPRINGS IN A NUTSHELL.

“I make the following tabular analysis for the benefit of the
thousands who desire it in a compact form. To make this table
I have searched in old books, pamphlets and newspapers, and
expended much labor. The figures in the table denote the
number of grains of each chemical and the base line the solid
contents in grains. The reader will now see the relative strength
of the different springs. The Geyser is the strongest water, the
solid contents being 991.546 grains. The Hathorn stands 888.406
and the Pavilion 687.275.

                                         

		TABLE.
CONTENTS.	Congress.	Hathorn.	Zeltzer.	Geyser.	Columbian.	Empire.	Pavilion.
	grains.	grains.	grains.	grains.	grains.	grains.	grains.
Chloride of Sodium	385.000	509.968	134.291	362.080	267.000	269.696	459.903
Hydriodate of Soda	3.500				2.560	12.000
Bi-carbonate of Soda	8.982	42.818	29.428	71.232	15.400	30.848	3.764
Bi-carbonate of Magnesia	95.788	176.463	40.339	149.343	46.710	41.984	76.267
Carbonate of Lime	98.098	176.646	89.869		68.000
Carbonate of Iron	.075	1.128	1.703		5.580
Bi-carbonate of Lime				178.392		141.824	120.169
Bi-carbonate of Iron				.979			2.570
Silex		1.260	2.561	.665	2.050		3.155
Cloride of Potassium		9.597	1.335	24.634			7.660
Bromide of Sodium		1.534	.630	2.212			.987
Iodide of Sodium		.198	.031	.248			.071
Bi-carbonate of Lithia		11.447	.899	7.004			9.486
Bi-carbonate of Strunthia				.425
Bi-carbonate of Baryta		1.737		2.914			.875
Sulphate of Potassa			.557	.318			2.032
Alumina	1.500	.131	.374				.329
Per gal. solid contents	597.943	888.406	302.017	991.546	407.300	496.352	687.275

Besides these springs there are the Saratoga A, Eureka,
Reed's, Hamilton, Putnam Iodine and Washington.

REFLECTION.

Thus ended my statician and I drew a long breath. Said I,
no one will ever read what you have said. The world hates
statistics. I wrote a book once—“The Franco-Prussian War”—
it was a better book than I ever expect to write again; but
statistics killed it. Carleton says “people were frightened at
my array of figures and fled from it in dismay.” The book ought
to have sold 50,000 copies and made me a fortune, but, as it was.
I only made a little money and some glory. Few people laugh
at the multiplication table. Horace Greeley is the only man
who positively enjoys statistics. So I dedicate all those figures
to H. G.