MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 1 59 



to mind in such connection. They illustrate also the variety of 

 waters which are to be found within the State limits. Numerous 

 other springs are more particularly adapted for table use containing 

 only sufficient mineral matter perhaps to give them a saline taste. 

 Both kinds of water are generally carbonated and sold in bottles. 



Of late years 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 sold 

 for office and family use in the larger towns and cities. Their 

 employment depends upon their freedom from harmful impurities 

 in which feature they are generally superior to the local supplies. 

 In so far as waters are an article of commerce they may well be 

 included in a canvass of the mineral water industry. They are 

 usually distributed in large bottles or carboys in non-carbonated 

 condition. 



Character of the mineral waters. Among the spring waters that 

 contain mineral ingredients in appreciable quantity, those character- 

 ized by the presence of alkalies and alkaline earths are the most 

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

 with chlorine and carbon dioxid as in the springs of Saratoga county 

 or they may be associated chiefly with sulphuric acid as illustrated 

 by the Sharon and Clifton springs. The mineral waters of Saratoga 

 Springs and Ballston Springs are found along fractured zones in 

 Lower Silurian rocks. The reservoirs occur usually in the Trenton 

 limestone and are accompanied by free carbon dioxide which is 

 evolved in large amount when the waters are led to the surface 

 and the pressure released. In addition they contain chlorine, 

 sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium in variable amounts. 

 The proportion of solid constituents in the different waters varies 

 from less than loo to over 500 grains a gallon. In some of the wells 

 of the Saratoga springs the waters contain as much as five or six 

 volumes of carbon dioxide, the gas being so abundant that its collec- 

 tion and distribution was at one time an industry of considerable 

 importance in that vicinity. Large quantities of table and medicinal 

 waters are bottled at Saratoga for shipment to all parts of the 

 country. 



The waters at Richfield Springs contain the elements of the 

 alkalies and alkaline earth groups together with sulphuric acid 

 and smaller amounts of chlorine, carbon dioxide and sulphureted 

 hydrogen. They are employed for medicinal baths as well as for 

 drinking purposes. The springs issue from the drift and their 

 source is apparently along the contact of the Onondaga limestone 



