Is located on Willow walk, between the Seltzer and the Star Springs.
HIGH ROCK SPRING.
The High Rock is the oldest in point of discovery of the Saratoga springs. As early as 1767, Sir Wm. Johnson was brought to it on a litter by his Indian friends. It is noted for the most remarkable natural curiosity of the vicinity, certainly. The following interesting description of this rock is by Prof. Chandler: "The spring rises in a little mound of stone, three or four feet high, which appears like a miniature volcano, except that sparkling water instead of melted lava flows from its little crater. When Sir William Johnson visited the spring, and in fact until quite recently, the water did not overflow the mound, but came to within a few inches of the summit; some other hidden outlet permitting its escape. The Indians had a tradition, however, which was undoubtedly true, that the water formerly flowed over the rim of the opening. A few years ago (1866) the property changed hands, and the new owners, convinced that by stopping the lateral outlet they could cause the water to issue again from the mouth of the rock, employed a number of men to undermine the mound, and with a powerful hoisting derrick to lift it off and set it one side, that the spring might be explored.
"If you will examine the cut which presents a vertical section of the spring, you will be able to follow me as I tell you what they found.
"Just below the mound were found four logs, two of which rested upon the other, two at right angles, forming a curb. Under the logs were bundles of twigs resting upon the dark-brown or black soil of a previous swamp. Evidently some ancient seekers after health had found the spring in the swamp, and to make it more convenient to secure the water had piled brush around it, and then laid down the logs as a curb. But you inquire, how came the rock, which weighed several tons, above the logs? The rock was formed by the water. It is composed of tufa, carbonate of lime, and was formed in the same manner as stalactites and stalagmites are formed. As the water flowed over the logs, the evaporation of a portion of the carbonic acid gas caused the separation of an equivalent quantity of insoluble carbonate of lime, which, layer by layer, built up the mound. A fragment of the rock which I possess contains leaves, twigs, hazel nuts, and snail shells, which, falling from time to time upon it, were incrusted and finally imprisoned in the stony mass.
SECTION OF HIGH ROCK
Analysis of a Fragment of the Rock
| Carbonate of lime | 95.17 |
| Carbonate of magnesia | 2.49 |
| Sesquioxide of iron | 0.07 |
| Alumina | 0.22 |
| Sand and clay | 0.09 |
| Organic matter | 1.11 |
| Moisture | 0.39 |
| Undetermined | 0.46 |
| ——— | |
| 100.00 | |