MINERAL SPEINGS. 749 



railroad, and found it present in every undisturbed openino-. It was espe- 

 cially well marked in the ditclies dug across the Ag-ricultural College farm 

 in 1896 for laying water pipes. 



MIXERAT^ SPRINGS. 



The notewortliy springs in the region may be classified as follows: 



1. Springs from the gneiss. In 8hutesbury, just west of the village, is a 

 sjiring which was discovered about 1808, and a hotel was built at tlie place, 

 which is still called the Pool Tavern, although it has long been used as a 

 private house and the well dug over the spring has caved in.-' 



More celebrated are the "Orient Springs," in Pelham, so named by 

 President Hitchcock. These springs rise on tlie strong transverse fault 

 which crosses Pelham and Prescott. The large building built at the spring 

 in 1861 was never a success, and it was burned in 1883. It is a quite 

 strong sulphur spring. 



2. Springs from the mica-schist. The abundant pyrite in these schists 

 has everywhere produced springs which are strongly mineralized. In 

 Amherst, especially along the west of the ridge, where the schists come 

 near the surface, many wells contain so much copperas that the waters 

 blacken tea and curdle milk. 



In Hawley the Mood}' Spring, in the southwest pai-t of the town, is 

 said to possess strong medicinal properties and to be a specific for salt- 

 rlieum and other cutaneous diseases A similar chalybeate spring in the 

 southern part of Ashfield has a local reputation. 



The Mount Mineral Spring, Shutesbury, was known as a chalybeate 

 spring as early as 1828." The Mount Mineral Spring Company was incor- 

 porated in 18G7. A fine hotel was sustained for some years, but burned in 

 1876, and the property has since been abandoned. Appended is an analysis 

 of the water, furnished me by the present owner of the property. It is a 

 pure alkaline chalybeate water containing manganese in solution. 



'Evert's History of Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, Vol. II, p. 758. 

 '' E. Hitchcock, Am. Jour. Sci., 1st series, vol. 13, 1828, p. 217. 



