Soap Lake History Chapters 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Chapter 7
This little lake that the town fought so hard to save is perhaps unique in all the world. Very few medicinal waters exist that contain such a variety of minerals.
Soap Lake is what is known as a soft mineral lake because its most abundant mineral is what housewives know as washing soda, rather than the calcium salts which are the main mineral in hard mineral water.
Another unique quality of the lake is that it is meromictic. The water is stratified into layers that do not mix with each other. The layer of water near the bottom of the lake is supersaturated with the healing minerals.
From the many testimonials of those it has helped, there is no doubt that the water of Soap Lake has curative powers.
It is the only known successful treatment for the rare Buergers Disease (Thromboangitis Obliterans). Men using the water have been able to arrest or slow the ravages of the disease.
Skin, circulatory, digestive, and joint problems seem to be the disorders most commonly benefited by drinking and bathing in the water.
As it was from the dawn of civilization on Soap Lake's shores, the use of the healing water is still a do-it-yourself project for the most part. Due to the efforts of a man suffering from Buergers Disease, a hospital was built here and named for him.
It was funded by federal and state grants, and was to be a research center for Buergers Disease. However, when the money ran out it was never regranted.
Mr. McKay died in 1938, seventeen years after coming to Soap Lake to live out the three month life expectancy given him by his doctors. McKay Memorial is now an exceptional nursing home.
Soap Lake — a town and a lake. One created by the hand of man, the other by a unique series of geological coincidences.
The town of Soap Lake began comparatively late in the history of the Columbia Basin. Certainly other towns in this youngest county of our state have surpassed it in size and grandeur, but none, we think, in enthusiasm and spunk.
There is no doubt that the lake's healing water was responsible for the birth of a town on its shore. While the lake belongs to the world, we of the town of Soap Lake feel it is our special duty to stand guard on the destiny of its "miracle" waters.
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