OBSERVATIONS ON THE KARST AND MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA AND WEST VIRGINIA – 177 YEARS LATER

The centuries-old tradition of drinking and bathing in mineral waters for medicinal and therapeutic purposes continued upon the arrival of European settlers in North America, where an abundance of cold-water, thermal and mineral springs were found in karst valleys. The use of the mineral springs became especially prevalent in the 19^th century, when general improvements in transportation permitted easier access to remote sites and people sought relief for diseases and ailments for which no better medical treatments existed. As early as 1834, books began to be published that expounded on the health benefits that various mineral springs provided, and these benefits differed depending on the perceived physical and chemical characteristics of the water. Guidebooks routinely contained water analyses of various levels of sophistication that served to justify the medicinal prescription of specific waters for given ailments. The nomenclature used to describe these chemical constituents, and the units used, were relatively foreign to our modern scientific ears. As late as 1886, the U.S. Geological Survey reported that “grains per gallon” was used as the most common unit of measurement as “it is popularly supposed to be the most intelligible to the greatest number of persons.” During the past few years, we have chemically analyzed and determined the CO₂ content of many of the once popular mineral and karst springs located in southwestern Virginia and southeastern West Virginia. Here we examine the cultural changes that brought about the historic decline in the use of these springs, and compare and contrast recent chemical analyses with those provided to the general public in the 1800s.