Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-08-27
THE POOL OF DEATH,
Sparkling Spring That ExhaIes Gas
of Terrible DeadIiness.
Talk about Death Valley" SAIL

of Terrible DeadIiness.
Talk about Death Valley" said
Gavin McNab L know spot
in this state where no living thing
can exist five seconds, and the place is
within thirty feet of a travelled country
road" thus the San Francisco Chroni-
Gle reports.
Tell US about it. said the gentle
men clustered around the speaker.
Well" said bIr. McNab, Il will
but if did not know there was a su-
perabundance Of proof concerning the
story | am about to relate to you L
would hesitate to tell it. Along the
foot of the Mendocino Mountains, in
the county by that name, runs a much
travelled road which leads from the
town of Hopland to Ukiah. The road
is on a bench, or shelf. above valley
created by the Russian river which,
like nearly all California streams IS
constantly changing its channel and
hence it is sometimes within hundred
yards of the road at the nearest point
and again hundred miles away.
When the annual overfOws occur it
spreads over the whole valley, and is a
mile or more wide. l mention this in
order that you may understand the ma
ture of the valley. 1t is dry river
bed, all sand and gravel, with here and
there bunch of scrubby willows.
''In clump of these stunted trees,
at point about three miles from Hop
land and about thirty feet from the
road [ have mentioned, there bubbles
a spring o. the clearest sparkling
water you ever saw. The only thing
peculiarly noticeable about the spring
from distance is the loud kissing
sound it makes as it gushes up out of
the gravelly soil. 1t sounds more ike
| boiling water, with occasional cts of
steam escaping, than it does like the
ordinary purling of q stream. APP
proach it and you viii be stN'.t7al to
see lying around the spring ele-
tons of hundreds of birds, scores Of
small animals, such as coCns. foxes
and the like, and nearly always there
will be a body or two Of birds or ami
mails in a more or less advanced stage
Of decomposition near the edge Of the
spring. II a man is wise he will be
content wi h an inspection of the I'M
attractive spot from distance, more
especially 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, gentlemen, that
there rises constantly from the spring
gas so nOXious and SO deadly that
one Whit of it is sufficient to eXtin-
guish life.
The terrible character of the
spring" continued Mr.. McNab, lis
we'll known to all who reside in the
neighborhood, and they tell some hor-
rible stories concerning it. One day
the little six-year-old daughter of a
farmer living near the spring wan
dered away from home. It's 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 spring with a little
dead bird clutched in her hand. She
had evidently seen the bird beside the
spring, and being attracted by the
bright colors OF its plumage, had tried
to pick it up. and in so doing inhaled
the gas rising from the water and died
with the bird.
Another time, said the narrator of
this strange story. "a s1uaw who was
supposed to be recovering from a spree
wandered down by the spring. She
probably started to the river to get
drink. when she discovered the spring
and knelt beside it. dying in that po-
sition. The strangest thing about it
is that well-knoWn as is the deadly
character Of the spring, there is abso-
lutely no warning posted, no fence
around it, nor protection against it of
any kind other than a few limbs Of
trees and bushes thrown over the
place by farmers to keep their stock
away from it, and the last time saw
the place. even the brush had been
scattered until the spring was uncov-
cred. A venturesOme man once held
his breath and no5trils and leaned over
the spring to hear the noise it made,
which he described as something ter
rible.
The water is thought to be COM
paratively wholesome. but nothing is
known positively about it, as it has
never been analysed. There can be no
doubt, however that the spring is GER
tain and instant death to every living
thing that approaches it.