Deer Park is a gorge or ravine, worn by the action of water through the
sandstone superstructure, about thirty or forty feet in width, seventy
or eighty in depth, and about a quarter of a mile in length. It is
entered on a level with the bottom of the Big Vermillion, about four
miles from Peru, and can be explored with carriages its entire length.
The upper end is enlarged into an amphitheatre, about one hundred feet
in diameter, and over arched with projecting sandstone cliffs. In the
center of this enlargement bubbles a fountain of cool and refreshing
water, whence trickles a crystal rill down the entire length of the
gorge. During the sultry days of summer it is a delightful place of
resort, and, to use a popular term, is extensively "improved." Its name
is supposed to be derived from the practice of the Indians, in driving
herds of deer into its mouth, when, having no aperture of escape, they
became an easy prey.
The Sulphur Springs are several streams of water, issuing from the
crevices of the sand stone rock, on an elevated plateau, rising from the
river bottom, not far from midway between Ottawa and Peru. Near them is
a fine, commodious Hotel, for the accommodation of visitors. The waters
are highly charged with sulphur and other mineral, are quite offensive
to the taste of the novice, and are said to posses valuable curative
properties. For a more particular analysis of these waters, the reader
is referred to the gentleman, yet living in our midst, who enjoyed the
advantage of listening to Doctor Harrison's learned disquisition, and
who has doubtless treasured much of the lore dragged to light on the
memorable occasion referred to in the preceding pages.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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