32 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



With the exception of the High Rock, nothing of especial interest 

 has attended the efforts to secure any of these waters. This spring 

 takes its name from the pyramidal formation, which is composed of 

 tufa, formed by the gradual deposition of the calcareous and other 

 mineral matter that has been precipitated from the water as it flowed 

 from its outlet. Up to 1865 there had never been any attempt made 

 to secure the flow by artificial means, but in that year the proprietors 

 conceived the idea of removing the tufaceous rock, and by excavating 

 to a sufticient depth obtain water of better quality and in greater 

 abundance. In accordance with this design, the rocky which measured 

 four feet in height and about eight in diameter at the base, was care- 

 fully removed from its original position, and the work was commenced. 

 After having penetrated the superficial deposits, a layer of seven feet 

 of commingled muck and tufa, suj^erimposed uj^on two feet of tufa, 

 was encountered. Immediately below this the workmen found the 

 trunk of a Pinus alha, w^hich measured about a foot in diameter, and 

 which was in a fair state of preservation. The next stratum was tufa, 

 three feet in thickness, below which was two feet of drift. Lying 

 immediately below this, a glacial clay bed, eighteen inches in thick- 

 ness, was found, upon the surface of which an ancient hearth was dis- 

 covered, composed of a semicircular row of stones, partially surround- 

 ing a quantity of charcoal, over which an incrustation of tufa was 

 deposited. This circumstance was one of particular interest to stu- 

 dents of archaeology, as it involved the solution of a vexed question 

 regarding the time at which the fire was kindled, as well as the char- 

 acter of the race, and the manners and customs of those by whom it 

 was lighted. Inasmuch as the relic was discovered below the drift for- 

 mation, its builders might have lived at a period anterior to that of 

 the mound-builders of the Mississippi Valley. After having pene- 

 trated to the calciferous sand-rock, the tube was adjusted and the High 

 Rock replaced, from the apex of which the water has continued to flow. 



At the present time there are probably forty mineral springs within 

 the limits of this town. Thirty of this number have received names, 

 and twenty-two have been analyzed. The table appended * shows the 

 proportions of the various constituents contained in a United States 

 gallon of two hundred and thirty-one cubic inches. 



To a certain extent the classification of mineral waters is an arbi- 

 trary one, different authorities following their own inclinations in 

 their arrangement. By many they are divided into four classes, as 

 follows : 



1. Gaseous or acidulous : those in which carbonic-acid gas is a pre- 

 dominating constituent. 



2. Saline, or those in which various salts are held in solution, in 

 addition to the gas. 



* At the top of each column the name of the spring, the year when discovered or 

 tubed, and the name of the analyst, arc given. 



