Rensselaer Standard, Volume 1, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 December 1879 — AN ELECTRIC SPRING. [ARTICLE]

AN ELECTRIC SPRING.

The Moat Wonderful Natural Curiosity yet dtoooWrid. Nashville (Tenn.) Banner. The beatutiful Buffalo Valley—the mountaineer’s paradise, and one of the moat romantic spots in Tennessee—lies along the custom baud of that lovely mountain stream, the Caney Fork. Three or four miles from the mouth of this valley stands an old water mill, whose huge iron-bound wheel, it is said, preformed its last revolution somewhere about the year 1818. The mill in its day was no doubt a wonder in that part of the country, for judging by its present appearance, ltmuri have been the most wonderful constructed building of its kind ever erected in that vicinity. It is now the home of rats and owls and the ashes of the jolly <fid miller who long years •go was the life and the light of the P“oe, sleeps peacefully on a neighboring hilL Under this old mill is the most wonderful spring of which the world has ever heard. Among the Inhabitants it Is known as the ‘‘Devil’s Spring.” No one seems to know bow or when It received this unpleasing, importunate appellation. Few people, other than those living in the immediate neighborhood, know of its existance, and they rarely visit it, from the net that it to believed to exert a powerful and evil influence over all who were rash enough to venture sufficiently near its confines to allow a single drop of the bubbling, boiling fluid to fall on them or their garments. Besides the old mill is said to be haunted, and this alone would keep these superstitious, though pious, peoee from ilsking their lives by frequentg the accursed place, much less the fact that the devil keeps the spring underneath it. Notwithstanding the many harrowing tales related by the loss of fortune, reason, and finally death to those who had ventured iu too close proximity to the unhallowed spot, a gen teman recently visited the mill and the spring, the latter, which he thoroughly examined, pronouncing it the most remarkable natural curiosity he had ever seen. The spring is described as boiling up from the center of a solid rock, its shape being very much like that of a bushel measure and about as large. The sides of this basin or hole are perfectly smooth, having the appearanoe of having been polished by the hand of man. Its depth is unknown. The people who reside in the immediate vicinity say it is without a bottom. How this may be we are not prepared to state, but true it is that an iron wedge and 300 feet of cord failed to reach it. The water to of u dark- blue color boils up with great force, so great that it spouts up several Inches above its proper confines. And not only «!oes It boil up with immense force, but it whirls around with tremendous velocity, something after the fashion of a whirlwind.

The gentleman who describes it says that he dipped an ordinary tin dipper into the spring for the purpose of procuring some of the water for a closer examination of its qualities, and that the momeut the dipper touched the water it was wrenched from his grasp as though it had been struck from hto hand by a stroke of lightning, and, indeed. he states that hto arm felt as if it had been suddenly paralyzed. In endeavoring to regain Jthe dipper, which did not sink more than six inches below the surface, but which kept whirling round and round so fast that it was almost impossible to see it, he placed his hand in the water. He says that the sensations he experienced at the instant hto fingers touched the water were singularly strange, causing him to think that thousands of needles had pieroed hto body at one time. But he didn’t succeed in getting the dipper out. He tried time ana again to wrench it from its fastenings, but the greedy waters seemed to loalh to give up their strange captive, to which they clung with more than a vice-like grasp. Giving up all hope of rescuing the dipper with his hands, the gentleman bethought himself of au empty flask which ne carried in his companion. With this he again attempted to lift some water from the spring, and was rewarded with success, not, however, without a considerable effort, for it required hto entire strength to prevent the angry waters from snatching the flask from hto hands. Pouring a single drop of the strange fluid in the palm ot nto left hand, he examined it minutely with a magnifying glass with the most satisfactory results. He

states that the drop of water closely resembles a flake of snow viewed with the same instrument. He examined several other drops, and, strange to say, each presented a marked difference in appearance. The first assumed the shape of a*star, the second that of a crescent, the third a dagger,* the fourth a comet, and so on. Alter concluding Ills examination, the gentleman resolved to further test the qualities of the »vater by tasting i\ Letting a single dr jp fall ou his tongue, he was surprised and delighted to And that it sparkled like the best brand of imported champagne. He then concluded to swallow a portion, which he did with the most delightlul effect. He says the moment the water began descending his throat he enjoyed the most pleasant senations of his life. It seemed, Indeed, as if he were only sipping the nectar of the gods. The draught seemed to divide itself into a million parts the moment it passed his throat, a portion passing with the speed of lightning along every vein of his body. Bo delighted was the effect that he forgot for the time where he was. and uttered peal after peal of the wildest possible laughter. He avers that the sensation of squeezing a pretty girl is no comparison to the ecstatic joy which he derived from one draught of the water. Owing to the peculiar effects which the water has on the human system, the gentleman before leaving christened the spot “the Electric Spring.” He claims that this name is peculiarly ai>propriate.for therein nojdoubt but what the water is heavily charged with elictricity. He will endeavor next summer to form a company for the purpose of merging the place into a summer resort, and it is lielieved that the water will cure any and all Ills that flesh Is heir to.