42 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



MINERAL WATERS 



New York has held for a long time a leading position among the 

 states in the utilization of mineral waters. The different springs, of 

 which over two hundred have been listed as productive at one time 

 or another, yield a great variety of waters in respect to the char-" 

 acter and amount of their dissolved solids. There are some that 

 contain relatively large amounts of mineral ingredients and are 

 specially valuable for medicinal purposes ; Saratoga Springs, Balls- 

 ton Springs, Richfield Springs, Sharon Springs and Lebanon 

 Springs are among the more noted localities for such waters. 

 Numerous other springs are more particularly adapted for table use 

 containing only sufficient mineral matter perhaps to give them a 

 pleasantly saline taste. Both kinds of waters are generally car- 

 bonated and sold in small bottles. 



Of late there has developed an important business in the sale of 

 spring waters which can hardly be classed as mineral in the common 

 acceptance of the word, but which are extensively consumed for 

 office and family use in the larger towns and cities. Their employ- 

 ment depends upon their freedom from harmful impurities, in which 

 feature they are generally superior to the local supplies. In so far 

 as such waters are an article of commerce they may well be included 

 in a canvass of the mineral water industry. They are usually dis- 

 tributed in large bottles or carboys in noncarbonated condition. 



Character of mineral waters. Among the spring waters that 

 contain mineral ingredients in appreciable quantity those character- 

 ized by the presence of alkalis and alkaline earth are the most 

 abundant in the State. The dissolved bases may exist in association 

 with the chlorin and carbon dioxid, as in the springs of Saratoga 

 county, or they may be associated chiefly with sulfuric acid, as 

 illustrated by the Sharon and Clifton springs. 



The mineral waters of Saratoga Springs and Ballston are found 

 along fractured zones in Lower Siluric strata, the reservoirs occur- 

 ring usually in the Trenton limestone. They are accompanied by 

 free carbon dioxid which, together with chlorin, sodium, potassium, 

 calcium and magnesium, also exists in dissolved condition. The 

 amount of solid constituents in the different waters varies from less 

 than loo to over 500 grains per gallon. Large quantities of table 

 and medicinal waters are bottled at the springs for shipment to all 

 parts of the country. The carbon dioxid which issues from the 

 wells at Saratoga is likewise an important article of commerce.- 



