That cold, clear, spring water

I got my desire to take drives from my dad who used to take us for rides all the time.

He had an old car from the mid 30’s. I remember when my dad got his first new car, it was in the early 40’s before all effort turned to making things for World War II.

The local Ford dealer drove up with a new car, came to the door and handed Dad the keys. He told him to drive it and, if he liked it, to come down and they would make a deal on it.

In my earlier days, everyone had a canvas water bag hanging from their front bumper.

We often drove up into the HooDoos, some mountains within 20 miles of Palouse. My dad and his brothers had an old hunting cabin there, never locked. People used it but never damaged it, thus was the norm back in those days.

There was a cold mountain spring near there, and we would always fill up our canvas water bag and hook it on the bumper.

The folks had a folding tin cup for the obvious reason, and we would all take a drink. First, they would soak the canvas bag in the pool under the spring outlet, put it on the bumper and away we would go.

Seems everyone had a bag on their bumper.

Some of the springs would have a pipe coming out and it would act as a spigot, delivering ice cold water to thirsty travelers.

There were a lot of such springs, and there are still some around.

We had a favorite place where the family would gather for picnics. And, you guessed it, there was a cold-water mountain spring nearby. Out would come the canvas bags.

Later in life, when I became an adult, I moved to Southern Idaho to be near my future wife. She was from Buhl, Idaho.

About four miles north of town. In a canyon that was carved by the Snake River, there was a cold-water spring.  

Every time we drove that direction, we would fill our canvas bag.

Down in the river gully, there was a fish farm that had a large fish in a pool there, and that was also a must-stop place.

Still later, much later, imagine our surprise when we moved to Electric City and found that its water was every bit as good as those old, wild, cold-water springs.

I believe that Electric City had the finest drinking water we ever experienced.

That is until the city installed its arsenic treatment plant and the water was treated.

Still, I believe we have the best water around.

Gone, though, are the canvas water bags. Now that we have insulated water containers, they are not necessary.

Many of those springs have dried up, or have been disturbed so they aren’t running.

Wish I still had that collapsible drinking cup as a reminder of how things once were.