Northern Navigation Co. Kakabeka Falls , Ont.

[jaroadshow]

Hi : I just picked up this handmade pint bottle. It is embossed - Northern Navigation Co. / PICNIC / Kakabeka Falls , Ont.I would normally assume it is a soda bottle ( from the shape ) , but starting to think it was a beer bottle.I would appreciate any input into this bottle as in rarity , etc... Thanks jaroadshow

 

[sunrunner]

id say a soda.1892 up till 1915.or so.nice bottle.find out how big the bottler was to detrmon the value .

 

[mctaggart67]

The Northern Navigation Co. was a passenger/freight steam ship line based in my hometown of Sarnia. The company's three main ships were the Noronic, Hamonic and Huronic. The fleet basically made runs from mostly Sarnia and other Lake Huron ports to the Lakehead (Fort William/Port Arthur, now Thunder Bay). During the years sandwiching 1910, Northern Navigation offered a day-long picnic trip to Kakabeka Falls, which is not far inland from Thunder Bay. These pint bottles (technically, they are around a half pint, but everyone calls them pints) were used for soda water and lemonade which were offered during the picnic. It is difficult to pin down which particular bottler had the contract to supply Northern Navigation. Logically, it would have been an outfit at the Lakehead, possibly even a brewery that bottled soda water as a side line, such as Kakabeka Falls Brewing Co. However, Northern Navigation's primary place of supply for foodstuffs was Sarnia, so it may have been the Sarnia soda water manufacturing firm of Sharpe & Kirkpatrick. Who knows? It's a mystery. Anyhow, these bottles are fairly rare, and enjoy demand in two hobbies: bottle collecting and Great Lakes memorabilia collecting. Myself, I've dug only a few back when I lived in Sarnia.

 

[myersdiggers1998]

Great info. Glen !

 

[mctaggart67]

Thanks, Gordon.

 

[mctaggart67]

Hi Jack: I'm glad that you value the information I provided about the Northern Navigation bottle, though it would have been nice if you bothered to thank me before you copied my posting, almost word for word, to puff your Ebay listing description, without asking me if I was okay with you doing that or even giving me credit. I replied to you on this forum as a courtesy to share information so you could enjoy the bottle more. It took somebody else -- Gordon -- to even acknowledge the value of the information on this thread. Courtesy goes a long way and is a two-way street, my friend. Cheers mate, Glen

 

[mctaggart67]

Just as a follow up to my posting immediately above, it turns out that Jack's brother, Ken, is the Ebay listing party. Once Ken became aware of the issue, he immediately made amends and satisfactorily redressed the issue on the Ebay listing. Much appreciated, Ken. Thanks, Glen