MISCELLANEOUS. 
ECONOMIC  VALUE  OF  HOT  SPRINGS  AND  HOT-SPRING 
DEPOSITS. 
By  Walter  Harvey  Weed. 
GENERAL  USES  OF  WATERS  OF  HOT  SPRINGS. 
The  commercial  value  of  natural  hot  waters  for  bathing  establish- 
ments is  well  recognized  in  the  more  settled  parts  of  the  country ;  but 
their  usefulness  for  the  heating  of  dwellings,  for  gr.eenhouses,  and 
other  buildings  is  less  generally  recognized.  As  mineral  water  the 
outflow  of  hot  springs  is  often  valuable,  and  the  increasing  use  of 
carbonic-acid  gas  gives  a  considerable  value  to  springs  from  which 
this  gas  issues  in  any  considerable  amount.  Where  the  waters  are 
highly  charged  with  mineral  salts  this  material  is  recoverable  by 
evaporation,  the  value  of  the  product  varying,  of  course,  with  its 
nature.  So  far  as  known,  there  are  no  workable  borax  springs  in 
the  United  States  comparable  with  those  of  Tuscany  (Italy),  but  the 
ferrous-sulphate  and  alum-bearing  waters  of  the  Sun  River  Hot 
Springs,  Montana,  furnish  a  residue  that  is  sold  at  a  high  price.  At 
Glenwood,  Colo.,  similar  waters  are  bottled,  and  at  several  resorts 
waters  carrying  alkaline  sulphates  and  chlorides  are  locally  concen- 
trated or  their  mineral  salts  extracted. 
The  utilization  of  natural  hot  waters  for  the  purposes  mentioned 
in  the  preceding  paragraph  is,  however,  of  relatively  slight  impor- 
tance compared  with  their  value  for  curative  purposes.  Since  the 
earliest  age  of  man  such  waters  have  been  held  in  especial  esteem  and 
used  for  drinking  and  bathing.  At  many  places  the  hot  waters  are 
vastly  more  valuable  for  this  than  for  any  other  use,  and  in  the  older, 
more  settled  parts  of  the  country  are  fully  utilized  for  this  purpose. 
This  feature  is,  however,  not  deemed  appropriate  for  presentation  in 
the  present  place. 
The  hot  waters  of  Boise,  Idaho,  derived  from  artesian  wells,  are 
utilized  for  heating  and  for  domestic  purposes  and  yield  considerable 
revenue  to  the  company  controlling  them,  while  the  uniformity  of 
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