Capt. John A Frazier -- Carlsbad, CA
Posted by: 
Miragee
N 33° 09.593 W 117° 21.127
11S E 467166 N 3669067
At this location, you will find a greater-than-lifesize statue of Captain John A. Frazier, who discovered mineral waters on his farm which ultimately led to the founding and development of the city of Carlbad, California which is now home to Legoland.
Waymark Code: WMK14
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 08/03/2006
Views: 104
Captain John A. Frazier came to the area now known as Carlsbad in 1883. He settled on a government homestead and drilled three wells. He struck water at just over four hundred feet. He also discovered Artesian springs that appeared to have remarkable curative powers over his chronic rheumatism.
The statue, which is made of bronze, is more than 10-feet tall, weighs over 1000 pounds, and took more than 3000 hours to complete.
A small village called Frazier's Station grew around the railroad depot for the California Southern Railroad (later Santa Fe) and Frazier offered his water to railroad passengers traveling between Los Angeles and San Diego. Near the railroad depot, a huge water barrel boasted a sign inviting travelers to "alight, drink and be happy."
In 1885, a German-born merchant from the Midwest named Gerhard Schutte, arrived in Frazier's Station. He had been lured to Southern California by the land boom of the 80s and had traveled halfway across the country with his wife and nine children. He wanted to settle in a town of "small farms and gracious homes."
When he saw Frazier's Station, it seemed to be ideal. For forty dollars an acre, Schutte bought John Frazier's land and became a town builder.
John Frazier, in partnership with Schutte and several others bought up several hundred acres around the tiny settlement. To attract more people, they decided to promote the local mineral water as an attraction.
Since, as a result of chemical analysis of the water, it proved it to be almost identical to the celebrated water of "Well Number Nine" at Europe's world-famous spa at Karlsbad, Bohemia (in modern Czechoslovakia), the partners named their enterprise the Carlsbad Land and Mineral Water Company. Frazier's Station was renamed Carlsbad
This statue stands across the street from the location of the Carlsbad Mineral Springs Hotel and Spa which was constructed in 1887.
Are you ailing, are you failing,
Have you ills you cannot tell?
There is healing past revealing
in the waters of the well.
It is Carlsbad, bonny Carlsbad
And upon its sparkling brink,
Hygeia sits forever smiling,---
And she bids you come and drink.
--- Golden Era, May 1887