San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1883-10-25
4 GRAPHIC PICTURE OF THE SAN
MARCOS SPRINGS.
TuE GLoMEs OF THEIR Sun AQUEOUS
DEPTHS,
bon 10 AAifa VnEs pGras.


Bishop Doegett, OF the Methods.
church South, visited San Marcos in
the Spring OF ls77, and wrote letter to
the K chiuonI Va. riyis ian lIdvOcate
descriptive oi bout 'rlp he made ~
tho head oi The river. from which we
make III" following extracts:
i witnessed II, the ford who're We
ciUsscd, curious actDr, rCDiindihR me
OF The hub.M q! ;he nippopolamus' a
number Of cat,lG we're .cciiuR 10 me
stream ubVyu W, wAdlug nearly 10 theii
bucks, plugging their heads entirely
uuder inu water, aud gathering the
prnss which grows at the bottom. l WAS
not nguTc tiint horned animals ever III
dulgcd IL this species OF grazing.
AftCr angling With moderate luck IN
one of the bayous, IN which, on account
of the singular transparency, the nsh
and the fishermen were perfectly visible
10 each other, VIC assembled the river in
n skill, to u iountaiu-head 1t has no
preliminary or tributary streams. 1t
bursts Immediately from the limestone
ledge at he bottom OF tho ridge. ana
boils up with immense volume, ike
vast cauldrOn underneath the surface
with violence which ngitatos the mass
of water, for . considerable distance,
and which threw the boat from she AZ
cending column. Its average depth,
for the distance specified 10 htteen or
twenty feet, and It's width about fifty
yards. Above the point OF emergence,
IL neither chRsm or depression. The
earth is level and cultivated up to the
mountain out of which it bursts, later
ally and pcrpendicularly. Its tempora-
turo is uniform, winter and summer. at
about SO . Fahrenheit. The water has
Il slightly alkaline taste. II IL 40 trans.
paren, ~ the atmosphere, nud one
could apparently read an ordinary news
paper ut the bottom Every object ID
perfectly distinct, as in m aquarium.
The marvel OF this wonderful river,
however, is not itsabrupt origin or It's
orystal cloarness, but the wealth OF
sub-aquatic yepetation. It's margin Is
no, only lined With overhanging shrubs
and clustering heaps Of wild crosses
and its surface in many places, boating
with wapy tresses of long ana si!ken
grass, springipg from its depths and
floating in the current off for twenty or
thirty ieet, butts entire bottom is GOV,
cred With an almost unhrOken tissue OF
delioately tinted and beautifully yarle.
gated vegetation blooming beneath the
surface, under whose picturesqc foliage
the 1.-the and agile fishes perform their |
graceful motions; and whose crystal
caves tho imaginative Greek would |
hay. poopled with laughing water
nymphs. ! doubt if any water-scene OF
the same extent, abounds with more
transcendent beauty. II is genuine,
original g,een-house, 1t is natures
own conservatory where her rarest pro-
ductions are preserved in smaranthine
freshness, oncnsed in . framework Of
rustic grandeur. and 8Pen through sur
fucos of perpetual purity. Gould the
SIM Marcos natural museum be repro
duoed in the Eastern States and in a
higher Iatitudc, il would attract the at
teotion OF the fashionable world and
arouse the enthusiasm OF rival artists.
Ono must be incurably obtuse to look
into this mirror of nature, and not be
transported with its exquisite imagery.