| This is a book
that covers more than the title suggests. While it's main topic is worth the price
of admission, the reader is also treated to details of other topics liberally
sprinkled among its 265 pages. Besides being readable history, it's also boom-bust
economics, tourism history, hygiene, and hucksterism. There are even a few pages
of geologic background. As
immigrants settled in Texas, water was the first consideration. Today some of
these water-born cities are thriving, even though, in some cases, the original
water source is long gone. Sixty-five
illustrations show the hotels, clinics, wells, products, and the associated businesses
and enterprises they spawned. From hillside donkey rides in Mineral
Wells, to boarding houses in Marlin.
Most illustrations are from the author's postcard collection. Bands
were kept busy entertaining the aquaphiles between baths. Railroads added spurs
to accommodate the traffic seeking "the cure". Lemonade stands served hot lemonade
and hotels employed "boosters" who would meet trains and lure guests to the hotel's
empty rooms. The author visited many of the waters included, and even took the
drastic measure of leaving the state in the name of research. |
