This weekend we kicked
another goal on our Southeast Alaska bucket list: Drink naturally sparkling
water from the Zarembo spring.
We took our boat about an
hour over intensely choppy sea to reach Zarembo Island. Zarembo is an
island in Southeast Alaska that is 183 square miles (by comparison Wrangell
Island where we live is 210 mi.²). It is a popular location for deer hunting,
trapping, fishing, as well as poaching, spotlighting, and other nefarious
activities. It also hosted former logging, which left around 100 miles of
gravel logging
roads
We docked our boat at St John's Harbor and
walked down the gravel roads. We forged a creek and squished across a
large mud flat. The mud flats are areas that are traversable with some sturdy
Xtra Tuff boots at low tide, but completely covered with water at high
tide.
We had to wander around looking for a while,
but finally we found it! It looks just like a small pile of rocks, but there really
is carbonated water bubbling right out of the ground. It's ice cold and tastes
a bit like iron due to it's high content. It can actually be called an 'iron
spring' which is evident by the rust colored mud surrounding it.
Zarembo mineral water was actually bottled and
sold by a company in Seattle from the late 1890s to the
early 1910s. The advertisement read:
"The water from under the sea." The
natural, sparkling Alaska mineral water. Unexcelled for table use. Puts vim in
"high balls." Delivered at your door.
It was introduced to American consumers in
blue colored bottles at Portland's Lewis and Clark Exposition of 1905. We think
when we find the rare blue beach glass it may be from an old Zarembo mineral
water bottle.
Sources:
https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/wsp/text/wsp-0418.pdf
https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/advert/id/88/
