REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR I9II I7 



There is an element of special importance given to the study of 

 this region by the presence of the Saratoga springs, the public 

 concern in them since the State has undertaken to acquire and con- 

 serve them, and by the long outstanding problem as to the origin or 

 cause of these saline carbonated waters. 



Problems of subterranean geology are still obscure and difficult in 

 the present state of the science but in seeking all available light on 

 this, I have asked Prof. James F. Kemp to take over the special 

 investigation of the nature of the Saratoga waters, in the belief that 

 there was much to learn in regard to the origin of the springs which 

 would in some measure serve the public at the present time. This 

 report has been rendered and will presently be published. A sum- 

 mation of its broader results is here communicated. 



Saline springs of Saratoga and vicinity. The report discusses 

 the various springs which have been recorded in the region from 

 Albany to Whitehall and is accompanied by a map giving their 

 several locations. It appears that over eighty years ago saline car- 

 bonated waters were tapped for a short time by a deep well in 

 Albany. None are known to the north until reaching Round Lake, 

 where nearly as long ago a deep well found a short-lived supply. 

 There is thus an interval of twenty-six miles from Albany to Round 

 Lake in which no mineral waters of this character have been 

 reported. Ballston and Saratoga Springs are next in northerly 

 direction. In these two villages and in the five miles between them 

 the great majority of the springs are situated and here the central 

 area of their activity seems to be placed. The Gurn spring, eight 

 miles north of Saratoga Springs, is the last of the strongly active, 

 carbonated, saline varieties. There are records, however, of feebly 

 active ones at the Quaker springs, eight miles east of Saratoga 

 Springs ; of one mildly active seventy or eighty years ago in the 

 valley of the Moses kill, near South Argyle, on the east side of 

 the Hudson river, and of one feebly carbonated, with high calcium 

 content, at Whitehall, thirty-nine miles north of Saratoga Springs. 

 All these remoter springs are weak in both carbonic acid and com- 

 mon salt as compared with those at Saratoga and Ballston. The 

 several springs should be considered in groups along the lines of 

 the great northeast and southwest faults, rather than as forming one 

 belt. 



There is next given a statement of the local geology upon the 

 basis of the section established by Gushing and Ruedemann. The 

 fault which traverses the village is discussed in some detail. The 



