A - Silurian Spring is a natural flowing spring situated on an elevation of 5A' above the Fox River
B - The number of letters in the 3rd word of the ginger ale.
C - The structure was built in 192C.
D - The number of letters in the 2nd word of the ginger ale.
E - The spring was reactivated on this day in June of 1953.
Y - The city acquired the park in 194Y.
Z - David Smeaton named and promoted the spring in 18Z4.
From 1868-1918, Waukesha was a center of the mineral spring water industry. Suffering from incurable diabetes, Col. Richard Dunbar drank 12 glasses of water from a spring at Bethesda in 1868 and declared himself cured. Dunbar's "miracle" led to the rise of Waukesha's tourist and resort industry, earning a reputation as the "Saratoga of the West." Advertisements of the springs and resort facilities took a variety of forms as these postcards from the height of the springs. The mineral springs industry grew by leaps and bounds. At first, people crowded the city to taste the waters. Then, as the rich and famous visited the city, it became a social center and vacation destination. Bottlers and manufacturers came from all over to tap Waukesha's water. The water was piped down to Chicago for the 1893 Worlds Fair. See the related article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on the rise and fall of Waukesha's water.