San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1883-10-11
4 GRAPHIC PICTURE OF THE SAN
MARCOS SPRINGS.
TIE GLoRIEs OF THEIR SUB. AQUEOUS
DEPTHS.
Bishop Doggett, of the Methodist

Jhuyeh South, visited San Marcos in
lho seA iBg Of 1877, and wrote letter TO
be Richmond Va. Christian Adoocate
descriptive Of boat trip he made to
I.ho head Of the river, from which we
I,rakc the following extracts:
Il witnessed at the ford where we
crossed, curious scene, reminding me
Of the habits OF the hippopotamus. A
lumber Of cattle were feeding in the
eream above us, wading near to their
haGks, plunging their heads entirely
under the water, and gathering the
grass which grows at the bottom. | was
rot aware that horned animals ever in
1u!gcd IN this species of grazing.
a tier angling with moderate luck III
o1e of the bayous, in which, on account
d the singular transparency, the fish
and the fishermen were perfectly visible
tocach other, We assembled the river in
Il sllitf, to its fountain 1t has no
preliminary or tributary streams. 1t
bursts Immediately from the limestone
Ledge at the bottom Of the ridge, and
h9ilS up with immense volume, like d
vast cauldron underneath the surface.
with violence which agitatos the mass
II water, Tor a considerable distance,
nd which threw the boat from the a.
aHnding column. It's average depth,
II the distance specified is fifteen or
twenty feet, and ITS width about fifty
yards. Above the point of emergence,
/, noithor ohgsm or depression. The
earth ia level and cultivated up to the
mountain out Of which it bursts, latter
ally and perpcndicularly. Its tempera-
tHre is uniform, winter and summer, at
about so Fahrenheit. The water has
: "lightly alkaline taste. 1t is as trans
parent as the atmosphere, and one
5ould apparently read an ordinary news
paper at the bottom. Every object is
perfectly distinct, as in an aquarium.
The marvel of this wonderful river,
however, is not its abrupt origin or its
crystal clearness, but the wealth of
Sub-aquatic vegetation. Its margin is
not only lined with overhanging shrubs
and clustering heaps Of wild crosses;
and its surface in many places, floating
with wavy tresses of long and silken
Htass, springing from its depths and
Seating in the current of for twenty or
thirty feet, but its entire bottom is COW
cred with an almost unbrokon tissue of
lelieatoly tinted and beautifully varle-
gated vegetation blooming beneath the
auyface, under whose picturesqe foliage
the 1.-the and agile fishes perform their
graceful motions; and whose crystal
"aves the imaginative Greek would
have peOpled with laughing water
cymphs. I doubt if any water-scene of
he same extent, abOunds with more
.:anscendont beauty. 1t is a genuine,
'rigiual gieeu-house, 1t is natures
own conservatory where her rarest pro-
dVction5 arc preserved in amarsnthine
freshness, encssed in Il framework of
rustic grandeur, and seen through sur
races OF perpetual purity. Could the
IAN Marcos natural museum be repro
iuce1 in the Eastern States and in &
higher latitude, it would attract the at
.ntiOn of the fashionable world and
rouse the enthusiasm Of rival artists.
Hne must IL iueagably obtuse 10 look
.lto this mirror Of nature, and not be
transported with its exquisite imagery.