Минехаха көктемі: тарихы мен шипалы сулары

Minnehaha Springs is an unincorporated community located in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, United States. It was named for the fictional Native American "princess," Minnehaha, and the mineral springs on the Lockridge farm. It is the only community with this name in the United States. On the site of what is now Camp Twin Creeks warm mineral springs can still be found.

Reportedly residents found Indian relics near the mineral springs in the region, which is why it was named Minnehaha, after a Native American maiden. Thermal springs were often sacred places for Native Americans, and they believed in the healing powers of the water. Most major thermal springs in the United States have some kind of record of use by local Native American tribes. Springs were neutral ground where tribes could rest after a battle. The Lockridge family found the Minnehaha springs on their farmland, and they tested the water first in 1891 and then again in 1910. The results revealed that the water had similar chemical characteristics to the water of the Hot Springs in Bath County, Virginia and of Bethesda Spring in Waukesha, Wisconsin. The Lockridge family created the Pocahontas Mineral Water Development Company and began selling bottled mineral water.

In 1900 a new railroad station in Marlinton, due to the completion of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway's Greenbrier Division, placed Minnehaha Springs in a more accessible position for travelers and tourists. In order to attract tourists, spring resorts and tourist resorts in general, had to be easy to get to. In the nineteenth century, spring proprietors were involved in transportation improvements within their surrounding area. They lobbied for the development of railroads, turnpikes, river networks, and canals. Sometimes spring proprietors would work directly with railroad companies in order to establish rail stations within close distance of their resorts. The importance these transportation networks were for business is reflected in the increased presence of spring visitors in the late 1870s and 1880s when rail travel was becoming easier and more frequent. A resident physician was on the property daily, and a separate building was provided for those who needed the curative properties of the water.

The Allegheny Sportsmen's Association in Minnehaha Springs, West Virginia was organized in 1912 by J. A. Viquesnay, the State Warden, and H. M. Lockridge. Their charter set their purpose not "of exterminating the fast vanishing wild life of West Virginia, but, on the contrary, with the primary intention of demonstrating the possibilities of propagating and increasing all species of song and insectivorous birds, game birds, animals and fish, and assisting in protecting the forests from fire, and thus restoring the attractive wild life and the picturesque forests of West Virginia to their original beauty and grandeur." In their advertising pamphlet issued soon after its creation, the Allegheny Sportsmen's Association explained that “a great majority of the members of this association are not sportsmen from the standpoint of killing game, but are sportsmen from the standpoint of helping to perpetuate some of the wild life of West Virginia for future generations.” The elk were confined in an enclosure until they were acclimated to their surroundings, at which time they were released on the property of the Allegheny Sportsmen's Association. West Virginia's State Warden J. A. Viquesnay, one of the founders of the Allegheny Sportsmen's Association, organized the transfer. In fact, these elk from Yellowstone were not the first elk the Sportsmen's Association transported to their grounds. Prior to the federal transfer, 15 elk, 14 females and 1 male, had been shipped to Minnehaha Springs from Iowa, in order to analyze their adaptation to the environment. When it appeared they were thriving and produced eight calves, the Association was deemed fit to receive the Yellowstone elk. By 1932, the elk transported from Yellowstone had disappeared.

The Allegheny Sportsmen's Association built a luxurious club house in 1913, and it opened on July 1, 1914 to accommodate the association's members and their families. The club house was four stories, fifty by sixty feet, and was equipped with modern conveniences. It contained a kitchen, dining room, and pool rooms in the basement along with two wood burning fireplaces. The first floor housed a large club room with four wood burning fireplaces to keep the room warm. The second and third floors were divided into bedrooms and described as being “nicely finished and furnished.” On the fourth floor was a large room used to accommodate visitors when the other rooms were crowded. Both the first and second floors had large porches filled with easy chairs, swings, and hammocks, and on the roof was a small garden used as an observatory with a sweeping view of the surrounding landscape. Guests also traveled from Richmond, New York, Baltimore, Columbus, Cleveland, and Philadelphia. The club held dinners and dances frequently, attracting large crowds. According to one article, fried chicken and waffle suppers were becoming quite famous at the club. Often dances continued until after twelve o’clock, and punch, ice cream, and cake was served in the dining room late into the night. Automobile parties made frequent trips to the Allegheny Club. Membership increased rapidly in its early years, and some weekends the club was filled to capacity, requiring visitors to go to the adjacent hotel for sleeping accommodations. Interest in the Allegheny Club waned by the 1920s, and the National Forest received a large portion of their acreage. In 1926, Harry R. Wyllie of Huntington, owner of the H. R. Wyllie China Company, acquired the lodge to use as a private estate. In 1946, Wyllie sold the property to the Standard Ultramarine Company, and in 1964 the lodge was shut down due to the sale of Standard Ultramarine. On October 17, 1983, the Allegheny Club burned to the ground.