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Ocean to Ocean on Horseback: Being the Story of a Tour in the Saddle from the Atlantic to the Pacific; with Especial Reference to the Early History and Development of Cities and Towns Along the Route; and Regions Traversed Beyond the Mississippi; Together with Incidents, Anecdotes and Adventures of the JourneyGlazier, Willard W.

History

Ocean to Ocean on Horseback: Being the Story of a Tour in the Saddle from the Atlantic to the Pacific; with Especial Reference to the Early History and Development of Cities and Towns Along the Route; and Regions Traversed Beyond the Mississippi; Together with Incidents, Anecdotes and Adventures of the Journey

Name: Ocean to Ocean on Horseback: Being the Story of a Tour in the Saddle from the Atlantic to the Pacific; with Especial Reference to the Early History and Development of Cities and Towns Along the Route; and Regions Traversed Beyond the Mississippi; Together with Incidents, Anecdotes and Adventures of the Journey
Author: Glazier, Willard W.

Glazier, Willard W.

United States -- Description and travel

_Fountain House_,
                                                    CASTALIA, OHIO,
                                                   _July Fourteenth_.

My Sandusky friend, Captain Culver, called at the West House for me soon
after breakfast, and we spent the forenoon strolling about the city. I
was shown the newly completed Court House, of which Sanduskians are very
proud; met several of the officials and found much to admire. Left at
five o'clock in the afternoon and by six had reached Castalia, five
miles distant, which I soon found had something to boast of back of its
classic name. As a stranger I was of course immediately told of the
wonders of the "waters," which I learned form quite an attraction in
summer and keep the little place in a flutter of excitement.

Marshall Burton came in 1836 and laid out this prairie town at the head
of Coal Creek. Finding the source of the stream in a cool, clear spring,
now known to be two hundred feet in diameter and sixty feet deep, named
the place "Castalia," from the famed Greek fountain at the foot of
Parnassus. The waters of this spring are so pure that objects are
plainly seen through the sixty liquid feet, and they say that when the
sun reaches meridian, these objects reflect the colors of the rainbow,
which might suggest to Castalians that the ancient sun-god, Apollo,
favored the western namesake of his Delphian fount. I met no poets here,
but possibly inspiration is not one of the powers guaranteed. Indeed if
it should treat devotees of the Divine Art, as it does everything else
that is plunged into it, we should have petrified poets.

These petrifying qualities of the water, caused by the combined action
of lime, soda, magnesia and iron have made the mill-wheels which turn in
Coal Creek incapable of decay.

At a little distance from the town is a cave of quite large dimensions,
which was discovered accidentally through a dog running into the opening
in pursuit of a rabbit. This cave I believe makes up the complement of
natural attractions about the village. The chief attraction, the social
life of the people, cannot be guessed at by the rapid glance of the
traveller. But even a short sojourn here is apt to be remembered long
and pleasantly. Ohioans are notably hospitable.


Sixty-fifth Day.

                                                      _Ball House,_
                                                      FREMONT, OHIO,
                                                    _July Fifteenth._

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