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Show OUR SODA SPRINGS LETTER. Its Marvels Foaming Waters, Sparkling Like Champagne and Discounting Bitters. GAB8E8 AND STEAM. iSpttUl Correspond bdm of tha Haraid.) Soda SrEisGS, Idaho, August 2Sth, 1874. Having an idle hour between fishing, fish-ing, horseback rides, and wagon excursions, ex-cursions, I devote it to my promise of giving you a SKETCH OF SODA SPPIKGS, its mineral waters and its other marvels, mar-vels, which are concentrated here wilh a lavish hand. Soda lie in a long, narrow valley, which may be said to commence just above or north of Bear Lake, and runs nearly to the reservation of Fort Hall, the springs being nearly equi-distant from-tuu two points. They valley is not particularly par-ticularly noticeable for any peculiarities peculiari-ties unknown to others of Idaho and Utah, except that the chain of mountains moun-tains that skirt it to the west and south are exceedingly well timbered with the pine, almost to an equal uegrtse Witn i nose oi me -irucKee. it was from these mountains that the ties for the Utah Northern narrow-gauge narrow-gauge railroad were obtained, and tho dratt on this forest can scarcely be noticed. Bear river also takes its northwest course through this valley, its bottoms being well fringed, occasionally occa-sionally with woods, until five miles beyond Soda Springs, when it turns abruptly the spur of an outlaying mountain and begins its southern course through Cache Valley and towards Corinne. The town of Soda ' Springs comprises, com-prises, in all.only some twenty houses and boasts of no pretentions beyond that of any other hide country BetUe-ment. BetUe-ment. The hotel, now open and ready to entertain the traveler, is kept by Wm. W. Sterrett, Esq., and is comforiable though not as yetentirely finished. The table is supplied with abundance . of plain food. But let no one coming here anticipate the splendid accommodations of Newport New-port or Saratoga all luxuries must be brought by those who are wedded to them. The springs are the great attraction of the place, both to him in search of health or recreation and pleasure. Nature has been lavish in the number of springs which she sends bubbling to the surface, and i the variety of their properties and the ' proportioning theif ingredients are truly wonderful some of .them carry in excess the salts of iron . The oxide ofironcanbe recognized by the fer-! fer-! ruginoue color of the soil and the sedimentary sed-imentary deposit. Again, others f how only the whitish grey deposit of the soda, But among them. a,U, SCATTERED AS THEY ARB everywhere over this wonderful plaiu, carbonic acid gas is present in unrivalled un-rivalled quantities. The spring nearest the hotel, and the first one utilized, has been ostentatiously walled wall-ed up with a regular coping, and has over It a well sheltered pavillion. But the residents say that this tampering with the free gift ol nature has par-1 ilyzed its action, lor it is no loDger a flowing spring, and they think it has jomewhat lost its virtues. It certain-1 ly seems to the educated taste, in-1 jtructed enough to make comparisons with the neighboring spring, to be rather flat and insipid. But thia criticism cannotojustly be made concerning con-cerning the spring only two blocks iway; this lies in a public street, and Dut a few feet from the road track, aeing nothing more than a sunken pool bordered by tho grass, at the north side of which, from out of a rucky roef or shelving ledge, a TORRENT OF FOAMING WATER pours into the basin, seething and bubbling from tlio impact of the carbonic car-bonic gas which leaps to the surface. Its waters contain a happy combination combina-tion of all the foregoing properties, chiefly iron, and is especially stimulating stimu-lating and recommended as a tonic. This spring has no apparent outlet, 1 but undoubtedly the waters leach and drain off through the red iron rust deposit at its foot. Again, thero is anotherjustly celebrated spring two miles off, on the borders of a meadow where it meets an overhanging hill, curyinu ninety (90) per cent, of soda and no trace of iron, which is called "THE NINETY PERCENT." Its waters are sweet and more agreeable agree-able than the others, and especially exhilarating from the strong infusion of gas that forms even in the cup a thousand little beads like those that sparkle in a glass of champagne. Beyond all comparison, however, the spring owned by Hon. W , H. Hooper, of Salt Lake, who is largely interested in this valley and town site is the most beautiful, and carries the happiest combination of mineral properties. It is situated about a mile and a half north from tho hotel, off the road lo the Cariboo mines, and on the banks of a stream called Soda Creek. There is just enough fall and distance from the spring to the creek to give a healthy drainage. The spring is located in the centre of a grassy plat with a heavy uod; its larger section being about eight feet square, and then it narrows to ft breadth of about four feet, and in that Bhape uuiiuuura uuui iu) MEDICATED WATERS pour into Soda Creek. It is impossible impossi-ble to describe by the pen with fidelity and accuracy the impressions this Bpring produces on the beholder. Not only beauty, but power, is expressed and exemplified in the seething cauldron cauld-ron at your feet. Theimpulsive forco of the waters as they jet upward, in whirling circles, the carbonic a;id gas giving the hue of white Bpray to all that is within its immediate neigh-borhood, neigh-borhood, suggests a dynamic power that seems exhaufclless. The view then is one of two-fold character, for its beauty: for you look down upon water of a clear emerald tinge as the bapo or matrix of the Bpriug, while all through it, white jets ot spray, foaming whirlpools, and bubbles bub-bles of air give a life and exhilaration to the scene that is almost as much a TOSIC TO THE EYX - as the waters are to the taste. The components of this spring are said by analytical chemists, to be soda, magnesia, mag-nesia, iron and carbonic acid gas. On the other hand physicians unite in saying that these and the other springs of this watering place, which contain iron, are a strong tonic for the human system, almost a specific in all cases of disordered digestion, and a certain cure lor liver or kidney complaints. As an appetizer they DISOOL'NT ANY BITTERS vet concocted, and stimulate to a higher degree than whiskey; but it is a healthy stimulus they impart, and a sustaining one, not followed by ihe j depressing weakness tnat liquor cau-jses, cau-jses, alter its mild riot has run its course through the blood. ; Here ends my specif cation of the medicinal springs, not because the1 category is exhausted, but simply, for want of space. The springs are to be met in all directions ; some of them, equal to those more1 widely known, and in full tide of j dowing. Others are extinct, and' nothing remains of the former activity or virtues except the mounds that mark their site; these are scattered all over the valley, a few of them being so large as to constitute mole like hills; pume have the red color ot the iron: others the white grey of the soda, just hs tho respective waters had predominence in the spring. But the eruptive power of these gasses and springs is not confined ALONE TO THE LAND. Bear River and Soda Creek have their currents thrown into eddies, at various points, by the bursting up of these springs from the bottom of their streams; a sea of foam marks the spot where the subterranean volcanic upheaval cuts through the lateral floor of tue river. Another CLEIOtS P HEN OMEN ON of this valley, is the fact, that in walking or riding over various places a hollow sound is produced, suggesting suggest-ing caverns and gulfs beneath your feet. This is said to be caused by the ingiedients of the waters forming earthy deposits in excess, which Like the shape -of laminated layers, one ever the other, and not compactly , placed, so that the interstices between , them give back a cavernous echo to I the trampling hoof or foot. This is the theory ot the "oldest inhabitant " j who has dug wells and sunk shafts hereabouts, and it is certainly more reassuring than the other, of proximity prox-imity TO THE INFERNAL REOIONS. In other words, this country has been and still is undergoing a process of formation. Construction and reconstruction seem to be the mere sport of nature. She is constantly tearing down and building up in this marvelous valley. Her forces for creation seem to be volcanic, upheaving upheav-ing new materials to the Burface by the force of gasses and steam. Then again she seems to withdraw allot the eruption and sustaining elements and allows her handiwork to go to decay. In conclusion, I will add that the watrs of the springs I have named, are DELICIOUSLY COOL to drink, the thermometer indicating ft temperature of 52 by actual test: my own experience is that a person can drink more of it without feeling inconvenience or distress than of ordinary well or river water. This is probably due to the tonic of the iron and the effervesence of the gas. My letter has now assumed dimensions dimen-sions too formidable for an excursion to the various points of interest that are in the immediate vicinity, such as Swan Lake, Steamboat Springs, I the sulphur and sal ammonia mine and the ice cave; these must be reserved re-served for a future letter, together , with a description of Blackfoot River, that paradise for the hunter and angler. Viator. |