Saratoga News Saratoga Stereopticon Willys Peck Would anyone miss these odds and ends? Some odds and ends of Saratoga history which, if swept under the rug, wouldn't necessarily be missed. O&E #1: Latest scam on scum. Remember floating scum upon the water? Last year, Don Wolfe, mayor at the time, put through an official city proclamation to the effect that the true derivation of the name "Saratoga" is from Iroquois Indian words meaning "hillside country of the great river, place of the swift water." This was to contravene the previously accepted interpretation of the town's name as "floating scum upon the water," as set out in Florence Cunningham's Saratoga's First Hundred Years, considered the town's definitive history. In her text, she quoted an "official publication of New York State," and though she didn't name the publication, the definition seemed entirely plausible. Our Saratoga was named for Saratoga Springs, New York, because of a similarity in the chemical content of mineral springs discovered here a short distance up the canyon and the water of Congress Springs at the eastern spa. One frequent characteristic of mineral springs being a film or oily substance on the surface, and American Indians being famous for calling 'em as they saw 'em, "floating scum" made etymological sense if not good copy for real estate ads plugging million-dollar houses. While I can't really accuse Don of twisting the knife after inflicting floating scum's apparent coup de grace, courtesy of the city historian of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., he has maintained a correspondence with that worthy that only tightens the noose, to mangle a metaphor. This latest communication from Dr. Martha Stonequist goes into even more detail about the origin of the name. She identifies Miss Cunningham's "official publication of New York State" as the 1935 Legislative Manual, which included the "floating scum" translation that was changed the following year to "the side hill." In her latest communication, Dr. Stonequist states: "We definitely know that the word Saratoga was first used by non-Indians to refer to Fort Saratoga and the hamlet on the Hudson now known as Schuylerville. And that the word Saratoga (written) first appeared in 1684 ... All these uses appeared well before Saratoga Springs was even thought of--we started life right at the end of the 18th century and were known as the springs NEAR Saratoga--referring to the now Schuylerville." Well, call me a sentimental old fool, but in my book, Saratoga will always translate to floating scum. O&E #2: Don't lose your temper(ance). Prohibition (1919-1933) has come and gone, but its underlying theme lives on in the 125-year-old Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Local relevance involves a fraternal order, the Sons of Temperance, which thrived in Saratoga--at that time McCartysville--beginning in 1854. As was the case with similar lodge organizations, members were committed to helping each other in times of illness and other difficulties. In her book, Miss Cunningham does not go into the longevity of Division No. 55, Sons of Temperance, but she does describe one of its signal contributions, the building of a lodge "hall" on the present site of Saratoga School on Oak Street. It was this building, hardly more than a shack, that housed the town's first public school, beginning in 1854. There is a plaque commemorating the site on the present cafeteria building, which itself is scheduled for demolition in the upcoming expansion program. That plaque must be preserved and placed in a suitable niche. While they're at it, they could throw in a few eucalyptus trees for preservation. The other memento, which can be seen at the Historical Museum, is the banner presented "by the ladies of McCartysville" to the lodge at a gala Fourth of July picnic in 1855. Among those donors was Mrs. Henry Jarboe, of the pioneering Saratoga family, whose descendants preserved it for the town. The handsome case was provided by Mrs. E.M. Cunningham, Florence's mother. It would be a fair surmise that the Sons of Temperance simply became outnumbered as logging flourished back in the mountains and teamsters and lumberjacks frequented Saratoga's many saloons. As a very proper lady who wouldn't look sideways at the stuff herself, Miss Cunningham was not above quoting in her book a newspaper mention of Saratoga's reputation in the 1880s: "To be a drunk from Saratoga was the last word in drunkenness." [ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Saratoga News, January 27, 1999. ©1999 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.