22 University Geological Survey of Kansas. 
there are in the United States from 8000 to 10,000 mineral 
springs, and of these about 500 report sales of waters. The 
average price charged per gallon was 12.5 ceats; the total 
number of gallons sold was 45,276,995, having a value of 
$5,791,805. So it may be seen that this is no inconsiderable 
industry. Wisconsin reports the largest amount of water sold, 
and this state is followed by Texas, Massachusetts, and New 
York. In Kansas only six springs are reported for that year, 
with a total sale of but 52,475 gallons. 
The amount of mineral water, both natural and artificial, 
that has been imported has steadily increased, from about one 
and one-half million gallons in 1884 to nearly two and one-half 
millions in 1900. 
That mineral springs add to the wealth of a locality is readily 
conceded. This is the case because they become places of re- 
sort, and expensive hotels and bathing establishments are 
erected ; also on account of the business of bottling the waters 
for shipment; and, in a few cases, on account of the manufac- 
ture of mineral salts for physicians’ use, by the evaporation of 
the waters. 
Says a well-known authority :’ ‘“‘It has long been known 
that mineral springs are numerous in the United States, among 
which all classes of waters may be found. That the majority 
are unimproved is due mainly to the comparative newness of 
the country, and the consequent sparseness of the poplation— 
especially in the territories and the extreme Western states — 
and also to the fact that the springs have not as yet been made 
the subjects of careful and complete investigation as is the case 
of so many foreign springs. Many of the springs allowed to 
run to waste would, in most Huropean countries, be of consid- 
erable value.’ 
1. A Treatise on Beverages, by Chas. H. Sulz, p. 507. 
