The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1891-07-01
A spKIsG or DEADLY wArsKs,
Around 1t Lie the Bones of Hundre ds
of Animals and Birds.


this state where no living thing can
exist five seconds, and the place is
within thirty feet Of a travelled county
road.
"Tell us about it., said the gentle
men clustered around the speaker, OF
whom San Francisco Chronicle
representative was one.
"Well," said Mr.. McNab, T will,
but if ] did not know there was a
superabundance of proof concerning
the story | am about torelate to you
l would hesitate to tell it. Along the
foot of the Mendocino moutains, in
the county by that name, 1uns much
travelled road, which leads from the
town Hopland to Ukiah. The road
is on bench or shelf above the val
ley, created by the Russian river,
which, like nearly all California
streams, is constantly changing its
channel,and hence it is sometimes with
in hundred yards Of the road at the
nearest point. and again half mile
away. When the annual overflow occurs
Itspreads over the whole valley, and is
mile or more wide. / mention this in or
der that you may understand the nat
ure of the valley. 1t is dry river bed,
all sand and gravel, with here and
there a bunch of scrubby willows.
lin a clump OF these stunted trees,
at point about three miles from
Hopland and about thirty feet from
the road | have mentioned, there
bubbles spring of the clearest sparko
hing water you ever saw. The only
thing peculiarly noticeable about the
spring from distance is the loud his.
sing sound it makes as it gLshes up
out OF the gravelly soil. 1t sounds
more like boiling water with OCCASION
al Jets OF steam escaping than it does
ike the ordinary purling of stream.
Approach it and you vii be startled
to see lying around the spring the
skeletons OF hundreds of birds, scores
OF small animals such as coons, foxes
and the like, and nearly always there
will be body or two of birds or an
lmals IN a more or less advanced stage
OF decomposition near the edge of the
spring. If a man is wise he will be
content with an inspection of the
unattractive spot from a distance
more especially if there happens to be
the carcass Of a steer lying beside it
with the nose au inch or two from the
water. The fact is, gentlemen, that
there rises constantly from the spring
gas so noxious and so deadly that
one Whit is sufficient to extineuisb
life.
1.-The terrible character of the spring
is we'll known to all WHO reside in the
neighborhood, and they tell some
horrible stories concerning it. One day
the little six.yearvold daughter OF a
farmer living near the spring wsnder>
ed away from home. Its absence was
not noticed for an hour or two, and
the parents went in search of their
child. They found her lying dead be-
side the spring with little dead bird
clutched in her hand. She had evil
IDENTIFY seen the bird lying dead beside
the spring and, being attracted by the
bright colors of its rlumage, had tried
to pick it up, ana in doing so had in
hailed the gas rising from the water
and died with the bird.
"The strangest thing about it is
that, we'll know as is the deadly char,
acter Of the spring, there is absolute.
ly no warning posted, no fence around
1t nor protection against it of anv
kind other than few limbs of tree:
thrown over the place by farmers t.
keep their stock away from it, and
the last time / saw the place even the
brush had been scattered until The
spring was uncovered. A venture,
some man once held his breath and
nostlils and leaned over the spring tc
hear the noise it made, which he de,
scribed as something terrible.
"The water is thought to be com
paratively wholesome, but nothing j,
known positively about it, as it ha,
never been analysed. There can be
no doubt, however, that the spring i.
certain and instant death to every
living thing--insect, animal and hu,
man that approaches it.