Several years ago Cacarpetbagger, another bottle friend (who remains anonymous ) & I met at the town of Clarksburg to pursue old bottles. Clarksburg or “the burg†as known by locals, is an old river town built as early as the 1850's . It received a post office in 1876. The burg is tucked precariously behind a high Sacramento River levee. This little community boasts several nearby winery’s, a post office, two markets and a sleepy attitude that borders on charming. A heavy winter's rain has everyone in town running a water pump to clear seepage from their basements. The town's elevation is 10 feet. During the Winter, the River runs well above 10 feet as it has for thousands of years.
Throughout history, the Sacramento River has flooded it's banks creating emense tule beds. There is an account of pioneers traveling through these tules enroute to the gold fields. They scared up thousands of ducks & geese. In flight their numbers blacked out the sun. Imagine!
Clarksburg has given up very few top shelf bottles. A little dump on the Southern extreme produced a Babb's San Francisco soda, a B&G San Francisco soda and a damaged Lacour's Bitters.
This story is about another bitters that somehow missed the main dump & was a solo find near the center of town. As usual, Cacarpetbagger drove the 4 hrs North from his home to meet us at the dig site. He was right on time ~ how does he do it ~ and we're off. I worked a little area just North of the center of town. With my head down, I plowed ahead finding a few shards of glass. As I have said in the past, when on the scent, keep your eye to the ground & forge ahead. I remember finding the bottle & at first glance knowing exactly what it was. I' ve always wanted to find a Cundurango Bitters. This had to be that bottle. I rolled the bottle over. Bless the bottle god's heart: Cundurango.
The Cundurango Bitters was a product of the G W Chesley Company and was distributed mainly in Sacramento & San Francisco. These bottles come in a variety of colors. They were made at the San francisco Glass Works : from Antique Western Bitters Bottles by Jeff Wichmann.
Cundurango (with an indented panel for label) a square fifth with narrow applied square collar. 1872-1880.
Throughout history, the Sacramento River has flooded it's banks creating emense tule beds. There is an account of pioneers traveling through these tules enroute to the gold fields. They scared up thousands of ducks & geese. In flight their numbers blacked out the sun. Imagine!
Clarksburg has given up very few top shelf bottles. A little dump on the Southern extreme produced a Babb's San Francisco soda, a B&G San Francisco soda and a damaged Lacour's Bitters.
This story is about another bitters that somehow missed the main dump & was a solo find near the center of town. As usual, Cacarpetbagger drove the 4 hrs North from his home to meet us at the dig site. He was right on time ~ how does he do it ~ and we're off. I worked a little area just North of the center of town. With my head down, I plowed ahead finding a few shards of glass. As I have said in the past, when on the scent, keep your eye to the ground & forge ahead. I remember finding the bottle & at first glance knowing exactly what it was. I' ve always wanted to find a Cundurango Bitters. This had to be that bottle. I rolled the bottle over. Bless the bottle god's heart: Cundurango.
The Cundurango Bitters was a product of the G W Chesley Company and was distributed mainly in Sacramento & San Francisco. These bottles come in a variety of colors. They were made at the San francisco Glass Works : from Antique Western Bitters Bottles by Jeff Wichmann.
Cundurango (with an indented panel for label) a square fifth with narrow applied square collar. 1872-1880.
