Saratoga’s Spouting Springs

Saratoga’s naturally carbonated mineral springs originate in bedrock layers 100 to 1000 feet below the earth’s surface and rise through the McGregor Fault, with carbon dioxide gas forcing the water to flow through openings at or near the surface and creating spouters or spouting springs. The Iroquois recognized the healing powers of these mineral waters long before settlers came to the area in the 18th century and discovered their medicinal quality for themselves. By the mid-19th century, an industry devoted to taking the waters had developed, with grand hotels, bathhouses, and drink halls where patrons sampled the waters and sought their curative powers, while local spring water was bottled and shipped worldwide. By 1900, commercial pumping of water and carbon dioxide gas had endangered the flow and quality of the springs. A Committee of Concerned Citizens lobbied the state legislature to preserve them, leading to the Anti-Pumping Act of 1908, although gas companies continued pumping while challenging the law in court. In 1909, New York State created a State Reservation so that all of the springs, now under state control, would be protected. Construction of the New Spa began in 1930, creating a complex of buildings, landscaped malls, and naturalized paths and springs modeled after European spas that can still be enjoyed today, and almost all the buildings in Saratoga State Park were constructed in the 1930s during the park’s development as a health spa.

Saratoga Springs, New York · United States