Waukesha Hygeia Mineral Spring Water, Chicago World's Fair, 1893

WAUKESHA HYGEIA

Publication: Privately printed, 1893, NP

First edition. 3 3/8" x 6 1/4" eight page (including covers) booklet that tells of the great engineering achievement of transporting spring water from Waukesha, Wisconsin to the 1893 site in Chicago of the World's Columbian Exposition, a distance of 100 miles. ".....we’re looking at Wisconsin’s connections to the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. Controversy brewed when entrepreneur James McElroy made plans to build a pipeline to bring in spring water from Waukesha, a distance of more than 100 miles, and sell it to fair-goers. Waukesha prided itself on the healing properties of its natural springs, and local residents feared that the pipeline to the World’s Fair would deplete supplies and hurt the local economy. In April 1893, more than 700 anti-pipeline protesters boarded this train to Madison to petition the governor to stop the pipeline. They were successful, but McElroy bought land at another spring site south of Waukesha and built a pipeline to the Fair after all." This booklet was given out at the Exposition and tells the story of Waukesha-Hydeia Mineral Springs, Company. On the rear cover is a map showing the route of the Waukesha-Hygeia Mineral Springs Co's conduit from Waukesha, Wisconsin to Chicago and the World's Columbian Exposition site. Covers lightly soiled, else a very good copy of an informative and interesting booklet.