Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2015 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== Alpena Weekly Argus Thursday, July 20, 1871 - p. 3 Alpena. A correspondent of the Saginaw Daily Enterprise of July 12, says of Alpena: * * * We awoke, Sunday morning at 7 o'clock, after a refreshing sleep, to find our boat lying at the dock, in Thunder Bay, and the pretty city of Alpena spread out before us, like a bright picture in the morning light. - An air of comfort and thrift prevaded it, which impresses one favorably. The dwelling houses are freshly painted, hav- ing bright green blinds, are surrounded by neat fences, and young shade trees are planted in front of them, along the sidewalks. It is true, there are numerous and immense lumber piles, which are consider- ed unpicturesque and unromantic, but in our view, they are just the reverse. - They indicate increasing wealth and the refined pleasures, and social amenities which wealth affords. Where we see lumber piles, we naturally expect to find, intelligent and enterprising people, pub- lic improvements, railroads, in reality, are largely talked of. In Alpena we find all the signs of progress that follow in the wake of the unpoetic, but irrepressible lumber pile. Here is a sentiment: - The lumber piles, more beautiful than mossy banks of wild roses! - May they cover the entire extent of our shores, and pour untold wealth into the lap of our beautiful State. The population of Alpena in 1860 was 290, in 1870, 2,756. It is now 3,000. There are five churches, each one having a good church building free from debt, and a pastor with the good of the community deeply at heart. - The pastor of St. Barnard's church (Catholic,) The Rev. P. B. Murray, is a great temperance man, and has brought about a great re- form among his people, many of whom patronized saloons and some of them kept saloons. The good father forbade the wicked practice, and when they persist- ed, he excommunicated one of the most obstinate, when the rest took warning and yielded to his wise requirements. The Rev. F. N. Barlow, pastor of the Baptist Church, runs a saw mill through the week, and preaches on the Sabbath, accepting no salary from his people. He is building a mill worth $50,000, which will be ready to commence sawing about the 1st day of August. The people of Alpena are a Church going people, taking great pride in their Church and their minister, and we are told the most friendly and harmonious feeling prevails between the different denominations. A series of union meetings were being held, in which, upon Sunday morn- ings, all the Churches but one would be closed, all attending that one, until each one had an opportunity to visit the Church, and listen to the pastor of the other denomination. Such Christian fellowship could not but have the most salutary effect upon the entire community. The Union School on the south side is a handsome three story wooden building, in the form of a Greek cross, each section 34 by 70 feet in extent; the cost of the building $15,000. - There is also a fine district school house on the north side. The greatest object of interest to visitors is the Alpena Magnetic Wells, which are beginning to attract great attention all over the country. The curative powers of its waters is said to be unsurpassed by those of any other waters in the world. They are said to be effect- ual, in cases of rheumatism, paralysis, dyspepsia, and general pros- tration resulting from over work, too close application to business, etc. These waters flow out of a rock, from a debth of 900 feet, in immense volumes, clear as crystal. Their magnetic properties are won- derful. It is a true artesian well, and herein lies unquestionably one of its chief assurances of excellence and reliability. Prof. S. P. Duffield, of Detroit, in a recent paper thus speaks of wells of this class. "There are," he says, "two kinds of wells which are called 'Artesian.'" The first class where parties have tubbed down in soil and gravel and have not entered or penetrated the rock, in which they have merely got a water whose medical power is obtained from flowing through some alluvial strats, and which can not, strictly speaking, be called mineral waters. And 2nd, those which come from a great depth in the rock, and from which all superficial streams have been tubed off. These are the true artesian wells. The danger in the shallow wells and mere springs being more from organic matter than from the lime or magnesia salts. It is now admitted that waters con- taining mineral matter are better for the health of parties than filtered rain water. The Alpena well is not only a "true artesian well," but a true mineral well, also. Professor Duffield having furnished the following [Transcriber's Note: due to blurry print, common for the day, some numbers are impossible to read and are replaced here with *.] CHEMICAL ANALYSIS: Special gravity *,0*2 in a gallon Bicarbonate of Soda, 1*,736 " Lime, **,196 " Magnesia, *2,9** (62 or 82 thousands) " Iron, 1,8*0 Sulphate of Lime, 50,*50 Silica and Aluminum, 2,*88 Chloride Sodium (salt,) 68,7*6 Organic Matter and l***, 928 ------- 197,9** Total mineral constituents, 237,02* grams, Sulph***tte hyrdrogen gas 391 cubic inches, Carbonic acid gas, a trace. These exit in greater quantities at the well, and should be tested there. The question where the water comes from must be answered simply by the fact that it comes from some higher source, and as far as I can judge comes from the strata of rocks underlying Goderich and its section of country, as we have the same style of waters which is struck at Windsor on the Canada side. This, so far as I am able at present to form any opinion, seems the most rational. Of course it gets its mineral constituents from the rocks which it percolates, and we have the concentrated "percolate" of rocky creviecs and paths. The main tube is enclosed by another which extends 300 feet, through which water raises to the surface, of the same chemical ele- ments as the water of the St. Louis mineral well, so that persons visiting Alpena can have the advantage derived from either well at pleasure. A new bath has just been erected, containing 24 bath rooms 9x9 feet in size, very high in the ceiling. Each room is supplied with a bath tub of convenient size, into which, by means of faucets, a stream of cold or warm water may be poured at pleasure. The cold water pipes are of iron 2 1/2 inches in diameter, the water being driven through them by the force with which it rises through the ground. The warm water pipes are of lead, one inch in diameter, the water being warmed by being conducted to a large wooden tub, 5 feet high, 6 feet in diameter, in which is several coils of steam pipe. The waste steam is then conducted to the wash house, where it is used for laundry purposes. There is also a plung bath 14 by 14 feet, 6 feet deep, which is filled with water by a pipe leading from the well, and warmed by the steam pipe, before it reaches the tub. The water will bear one up on the surface like sea water. The Alpena Magnetic Mineral Springs is now under the entire medical supervision of Dr. Wm. J. Roe, late of Chatham, Ontario, of extensive practice both in England, Ireland and Canada, so that parties visiting the springs will always be certain of obtaining all necessary medical and surgical advice and assistance in the treatment of their com- plaints. Having had a large practice in the treatment of chronic diseases, in the hospitals in Europe, the Doctor will be the better enabled to benefit those suffering from lingering and obstinate cases who may avail themselves of his services. Dr. Roe is highly recommended, both professionally and as a christian gentleman, by those by whom he has been intimately known. We are greatly indebted to him for the pleasure of our visit to the Springs, and for the invitation to remain or to come again, and use the Magnetic waters freely without price as long as we choose. We hope soon to avail ourselves of the privilege, and hope the effect will be like that of the "fabled fountain of youth," in which case it will not lack for patronage by the ladies at least. The hotel accommodations have not been good, and boarding houses have been neither cheap nor plenty, but this evil, is about to be re- moved. Mr. Andrew McClain, the gentlemanly and popular clerk of the Fraser House, with his accomplished lady, who has long been connected with the public schools of Bay City, who has been highly prized and who will be greatly missed, by a large circle of friends, are about to remove to Alpena, to open a hotel in the Burrell House, which is a large building, near the centre of the city, very neat and tasteful in outside appearance, and the internal arrangements, will under the new administration, be faultless. Pleasure seekers, or health seekers, will find here just the most pleasing and desirable accommodations. =========================================================================== If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access more of our growing collection of FREE online information by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/ ===========================================================================