Requirements
Email me your answers when posting your "Found It" log.
Equipment
A water bottle with a known volume.
(12oz-40oz)
Choose 4 of the Springs listed below.
Taste the Spring.
Determine whether the spring is a mineral spring or freshwater spring AND its degree of carbonation.
(Degrees of Carbonation: High, Moderate, Low)
All the springs are safe to drink according to the State of New York Department of Health.
OR
Measure the Rate of Water Flow
Using a measurement labeled water bottle, determine how many seconds it takes to fill your container. Be sure to specify the size of your container in your email.
A combination of tasting and measuring is acceptable, but please answer any questions associated with the spring.
***If neither tasting nor measuring can be done please guess at the flow rate.***
***If a spring is not running or inaccessible please post so in your log, so that other cachers may be informed***
Location
Saratoga Springs, also known simply as Saratoga, is a city in the center of Saratoga County in upstate New York. The population was 26,586 as of the 2010 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area. While the word "Saratoga" is known to be a corruption of a Native American name, authorities disagree on what the exact word was, and hence what it meant.
History
Before horse racing began in Saratoga, the area's natural mineral springs had been attracting summertime visitors for many decades. These springs were believed to have healing powers. The Lincoln Baths was one such place people would go to be treated with the waters. The bathhouse has since been transformed into an office building, but still exists and can be visited to this day. The spa treatments also are being continued in a new bathhouse in the Spa State Park called the Roosevelt Baths. Springs can be found all over town. Most of the springs are covered by small pavilions and marked by plaques; others, however, are less conspicuous, sometimes just a spigot in a rock.
Geology
All of the rocks of Saratoga county are members of the oldest systems of geological formation, and are both metamorphic and sedimentary in their character; the granitic or Laurentian is of archæan origin, the remaining strata having been deposited during the Lower Silurian age. The accompanying map represents a transverse section of these formations, extending from the eastern portion to the higher altitudes located in a north-westerly direction from the city.
The underlying rocks comprise first, the Laurentian; second, the Potsdam sandstone; third, the calciferous sand-rock; fourth, the Trenton limestone; and, fifth, the Utica, or black slate. At a very remote period of the past, the rocks comprising these various strata were subjected to some powerful natural force, which resulted in their fracture, dislocation, and the gradual upheaval of a large portion of them, producing at the point of disruption what is known to geologists as a fault.
The position occupied by the various strata is shown above.
No. 1
Laurentian
No. 2
Potsdam Sandstone
No. 3
Calciferous Sand-Rock
No. 4
Trenton Limestone
No. 5
Utica or Black Slate
The fault, or break-off, is indicated by the heavy black vertical line, in immediate proximity to which the city of Saratoga Springs is situated. For the reason that the black slate has been entirely eroded from that portion of the village immediately west of the fault, and the Trenton Limestone nearly so, none of the former and but a thin stratum of the latter formation is represented on the chart above. You will observe that both the dislocation and upheaval of these various strata are strongly marked at the fault, for, while that portion lying to the east remains in position, that to the west is tilted up to such an extent that the dip of some of the strata is as great as twenty degrees. You will also notice that the Laurentian rock on the west side of the fault, occupying the position designated as No. 1 on the cut, as well as the superimposed strata, Nos. 2, 3, and 4, are not in perfect opposition with formations of like character on the east side, the Potsdam Sandstone lying opposite to the Trenton limestone, the calciferous sand-rock lying in conjunction with the black slate, while the Trenton limestone on the west occupies a position above the black slate on the east. The consideration of this phenomenon naturally suggests an explanation, but so far as is known there is but one theory relative to the subject, it being universally conceded that the force that produced this disruption was due to volcanic agency.
At distances varying from two to twelve miles in a westerly direction ranges of hills and mountains are encountered, presenting altitudes several hundred feet above this city. In addition to the enormous area of water-shed that these elevated regions afford, they possess many ponds and lakes, some of which are of no insignificant size. The surface-streams that drain this section flow toward the east, and, as the various strata dip in the same direction, the tendency of the subterranean drainage must be toward the same point of the compass. The advocates of the first of the theories regarding the origin of the mineral springs of Saratoga, recognizing the disintegrating and solvent action of the water under its various forms of rain, snow, and ice, claim that they are produced by the process of displacement or percolation, holding that, when water falls upon the elevated regions just described, a portion of it gradually permeates the soil and the various strata of tlie underlying rocks, dissolving and carrying with it in its downward flow the various constituents of Avhich the rocks are composed, and that these are decomposed by their reaction on each other, and new compounds are formed with the evolution of carbonic-acid gas, that this is dissolved by the water, which becomes highly impregnated with it, increasing its solvent properties to a great extent, enabling it to accumulate basic matter in its flow, which continues downward and eastward, until the fault is reached, where an opportunity is afforded for it to escape from the rocks and rise to the surface through the various crevices with which the fault is environed, or make its escape through subterranean channels to unknown outlets ; in either event the result is due to the simple law of gravitation and hydrostatic pressure, the bodies of water stored in the lakes, ponds, and rocks of the higher altitudes furnishing the necessary causes to produce this result.
To substantiate this theory, attention is called to the close resemblance existing between the leading chemical constituents of these waters and sea-water; it being claimed that the mineral matter of the rocks, through which the waters percolate, was deposited from very ancient oceans, the existence of which was contemporaneous with the period that embraces the deposit of the geological formations to which the various strata of this region belong. Those that advocate the second theory with regard to their origin agree with the adherents of the theory that has just been presented, in recognizing the elevated section situated west of the city and the freshwater that flows from it through the various strata as being the prime source from which these mineral springs are derived, but decline to accept the theory that their constituents are obtained by the percolation of the freshwater through the rocks, maintaining that the water remains virtually unimpregnated until the fault is reached, and that it is at this point that it becomes charged with both its mineral and gaseous constituents; claiming that, inasmuch as the fault extends downward to an unknown depth, and to the internal fires of the earth, and that the substances with which these springs are impregnated closely resemble those evolved in a gaseous state from volcanoes, that the mineral constituents of these waters are obtained from the heated interior by the process of sublimation and subsequent absorption, while the gases are also derived from the same source in a free state. About the year 1827 the late Dr. Steele, of this village, formed a stock company to bore for salt, maintaining that the chloride of sodium contained in these springs was derived from underlying beds or reservoirs and that it could be obtained by boring, and made a source of profit to those that would engage in the enterprise. Accordingly, operations were commenced several hundred feet west of the fault, and an artesian well, three inches in diameter and one hundred and eighteen feet in depth, was sunk in the underlying rock; but, inasmuch as none but freshwater was obtained, the scheme was abandoned; other wells bearing about the same relative position to the fault as this one have been secured at various times, but always with the same result. From the fact that the temperature of these wells and that of the mineral springs just east of them is said to be identical, and that they are, like the latter, never affected by surface-drainage, it is claimed that both have a common origin and those that advocate the theory of sublimation claim that, if the waters are fresh at the site of these fresh-water wells, it is impossible for them to become mineral in their character by the short passage through the rocks that intervene between them and the fault; and hence they insist that the theory of percolation is untenable.
There are two methods of securing the mineral springs of this locality: the first is shown below and consists in excavating to an extent of twenty or thirty feet square surrounding the spot where indications of mineral water are observed, and extending downward through the various drift-formations until the underlying rock is reached. As the work progresses, a shaft or crib is sunk in order to prevent the sides from caving in; and, to obviate the collection of water and carbonic-acid gas at the bottom of the shaft, powerful steam-pumps are kept in constant operation, which effectually drains the excavation. After reaching the fissured crevices in the rock that environ the fault, and through which the water issues, a pyramidal wooden hopper, about one foot square at the apex, and two or three feet at the base, is placed on the rock directly over that portion of the crevice from which the water issues most abundantly, its position being firmly secured by packing clay tightly around its exterior. As rapidly as the work of filling in the shaft progresses, a wooden tube, about a one-foot square, is accurately adjusted to the hopper, from which the water gradually rises until it reaches the outlet at or near the top. The depth at which the rock is located from the surface varies from fifteen to fifty-seven feet. The flow of water from springs secured in this manner averages from thirty to one hundred and twenty gallons an hour.
The second method, shown below, consists of drilling into the rock, in close proximity to the fault, until mineral water is obtained, the drill in the meantime being followed by an iron pipe, which effectually secures the flow, prevents the access of freshwater and protects the rock through which the drill passes from the combined disintegrating action of both the water and carbonic acid gas. Most of the springs secured in this manner are spouting in character; their flow is not, however, continuous, but spasmodic or intermittent. This peculiarity is undoubtedly due to a pocket or cavity in the rock, as represented in the diagram. "A" is the tube leading from the pocket to the surface. As the water flows into the pocket from the surrounding inlets, it gradually rises above the outlet, which results in the compression of the gas between the roof of the cavity and the surface of the accumulating water; when the force of the compression reaches its maximum, it drives the water from the chamber up through the tube, from which it escapes in some instances to a distance of thirty feet in a vertical direction. After the pent-up water and gas have escaped, the spouting ceases for a short time until the conditions are favorable for its repetition, when the process is continued. In depth they vary from fifty to three hundred feet. So far as the temperature of the springs is concerned they are practically isothermal, the maximum being 52° and the minimum 40° Fahr., and in no instance are they affected by external causes, both their flow and temperature being uniform throughout the year.
From the fact that the perpendicular iron tubes, through which the waters flow from certain wells, are capable of communicating magnetic properties to steel, the term magnetic springs have been applied to them in various sections of the country. Notwithstanding assertions to the contrary, the water from such springs has been pronounced totally devoid of any properties of a magnetic character by those who have investigated this phenomenon. All of the magnetic properties connected with such springs reside in the iron tubing, which becomes magnetic when placed in the ground in a vertical position in localities where the conditions are favorable; this result is said to be more likely to be attained if the tube is inclined a few degrees to the north.
Mineral waters were known at an early day, their use being held in high repute by the ancient Greeks and Romans, as well as by their less illustrious successors. Their physiological action and therapy are not, however, perfectly understood. With the exception of the chalybeate, the persistent use of the cathartic, alkaline, and sulfur waters favors retrograde metamorphic action, the ferruginous alone producing an opposite effect and increasing the number of the red blood cells.
Visitors are welcome to bottle the spring water for personal consumption.
