San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-08-27
The Pool Or DEATH.
A Sprin; That ES.HIes Il Gas Which None
Can Brcathe and Live.

Spring That ES,,lles Il Sias Which None
Can Breathe and Live.
Talk about Death valley" said Gavin
McNab last night 81 knr, spot in this
state where no living thing can exist five
seconds, and the place is within thirty feet
of travelled country roaL."
TELL us about it," said the gentlemen
clustered around the speaker.
WELL" said Mr. McNab, Il will, but il
| did not know there was superabundance
of proof concerning the story | am about to
relate TO you, / would hesitate to tell it.
Along the foot Of the Mendocine noun
tains in the county by that name, runs a
much Travelled road which leads from the
town of Hoplard TO Ukiah. The road is
on bench or shelf above a valley created
by the Russian river, which, like nearly all
California streams, is constantly changing
its channel, and hence it is sometimes
within "A hundred yards of the road at the
nearest point and again 81 half mile away
When the annual OverAOwS Occurit spreads
over the whole valley and is a mile or more
wide | mention this in order that you
may understand the nature of the valley
1t is a dry river led, I'll sand and gravel
with here and there y bunch of scrubby
willows.
I'm Il clump of these stunteG trees, at a
point about three miles from Hopland and
about thirty feet from the road have men
toned, there bubbles spring Of the clearest
sparkling water you ever saw. The only
thing peculiarly noticeable about the spring
from a distance is the loud Kissing sound
it makes as 1t gushes up ont Of the gravely
soil. 1t sounds more like boiling water
with occasional jets OF steam escaping than
it does like the ordinary purling of
stream. Approach L ami you will be
startled TO see lying around the spring the
skeletons of hundreds of birds, scores of
small animals such as cOnns, foxes, and the
like, and nearly always there will be body
or two of birds or animals in a more or less
advanced stage of decomposition near the
edge of the spring. II y man is wise he will
be content with an inspection of the unat-
tractive spot from a distance, more especi-
ally if there happens to be the carcass of a
steer lying beside it with the nose an inch
or two from the water The fact is, gentle.
men, that there rise, constantly from the
spring a gas so noXOuS and so deadly that
one Whit of it is sufficient to eXtinguish
life.
THE terrible character Of the spring"
continued Mr. McNab, lis well known to
all who reside in the n"ighbOrhoOd and
they tell some horrible stories concerning
it. One day the little siy-ycar-old Gaugh.
ter of Il farmer living near the spring wan.
dered away from home. Its absence was
not noticed for an hour or two, and then
the parents went in search of their child |
They found her lying dead beside the !
ing, with a little dead bird clutched in !
htT hand She lad evidently seen the bird |
Iyiag beside tie spring, and, being attract |
ed Ivy the bright colOrs of its plumage, had |
tried To pick it mp, and in so doing had in. |
nailed the gas rising from the water and |
died with the bird.
Another time" said thc unrrator of |
this strange story, a squuw wandered |
down by the spring Sne probably started |
to the river to get drink, when she dis |
covered the spring and knelt beside it, Gy |
ing in that position. The strangest thing |
about it is that, well known as is the dead |
ly character of the spring, there is ALSO. |
lutely no warning posted no fence around |
it, nor protection against il OF any kind |
other than few limbs of trees aud bushes
thrown over the place by farmers to keep
their stock away from it. and he last time
saw the place even the brush had been
scattered until the spring was uncovered
A venturesOme man once held his breath
and nostrils and leaned over the spring to
hear the noise it made. which he described
as something terrible.
The water is thought to he compare
lively wholesome, but nothing is known
positively about it, as il hns never been
analysed. There can be no doubt, how.
ever, that the spring * certain and instant
death to every living thing that approaches
it."-San Francisco Chronicle.