Wm Henderson - Cobalt Ont soda water bottle

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RCO

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I noticed this bottle in a you tube video posted by some diggers from northern Ontario , I can provide some links or you could likely find it by searching that site . is my first attempt at extracting photo's from a youtube video but think they turned out ok . they've found this bottle a couple times , the clean one in a lot of used bottles they purchased and dirty one dug in a dump in Cobalt Ontario.

this bottle intrigued me for several reasons , its not listed in the Ontario soda water bottlers book but for Cobalt area that isn't unheard of . is some other bottlers not listed , as it was a mining boom town in the 1900's when silver discovered there . its population soared to 10,000 by 1909 but only around 1200 now so there is a number of different bottles from there especially from the 1900's > 10's period

so I tried to figure out who this bottler was as it didn't appear he had bottled anywhere else in Ontario or Canada previously or after being in Cobalt . the age of the bottle would appear to be from the 1900's > 10's era

my research took me in an unexpected direction , online I came across a listing for a William Fast Henderson who served with the Canadian Infantry in WW1 and died in april 1915 in France . it says he was from Cobalt and enlisted in sep 1914 . lists his age as being 28 at time of death

but oddly he wasn't from Canada and parents lived in Holyoke Mass and his father was also named William T Henderson

I also came across a directory for cobalt / temiskaming area from 1907-09 and 1919 , there is a Bill Henderson listed in the 1907-09 one but nothing in the 1919 one so would appear they had left by then

although I'm not sure if both father and son moved to cobalt in 1900's to start a bottler or if only the son did and that's why it disappeared after his death in ww1 ? but considering embossed bottles would of been expensive you'd wonder how he started a bottling operation there in his 20's unless his parents had the money

just wondering if anyone has seen this bottle before , if I come across anything else will update
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mctaggart67

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Boom towns always drove me nuts when it came to research. Some guys set up shop for a month or two and that was that. They didn't get noticed by the directory compilers. This bottle has to be quite rare.
 

RCO

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Boom towns always drove me nuts when it came to research. Some guys set up shop for a month or two and that was that. They didn't get noticed by the directory compilers. This bottle has to be quite rare.

I'd imagine it be tough to list all the bottlers in a town like Cobalt , that was nothing but trees a few years earlier . some might of not lasted that long or been so small no one noticed them

not sure if I've seen this bottle before , was a lot of northern Ontario bottles at Toronto bottle show , some were from cobalt so its hard to recall , the last show was in 2019
 

RCO

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I also found some older postcards from Cobalt online , gives you a feel for how crude and new the town was , fancy modern looking buildings but dirt filled streets , it also suffered a town wide destructive fire in 1909 but rebuilt afterwords

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RCO

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these 3 postcards I actually have in my personal postcard binder but haven't specifically search for cobalt cards so I don't have that many

one features the town hall from 1911, temiskaming Hudson mine 1910 and a town view dated 1909

is an interesting writing on back , says " this picture was taken some time ago so it doesn't give you much idea the size but is about 3 times this size " . so writer seems to be indicating town had grown much since card had been made

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ROBBYBOBBY64

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Great cards. After viewing those picture I don't know how we made it this far in such a short time. Amazing history. So cool, thanks for this post and pictures. I also love trade cards and ink blotters.
ROBBYBOBBY64.
 

RCO

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Great cards. After viewing those picture I don't know how we made it this far in such a short time. Amazing history. So cool, thanks for this post and pictures. I also love trade cards and ink blotters.
ROBBYBOBBY64.

I find it interesting that places like Cobalt used to be of more importance , and had hotels , stores , mines etc . I've never actually been there before , it doesn't sound like there is much to see now

is some other bottles from there I might post later on if people are interested
 

ROBBYBOBBY64

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I find it interesting that places like Cobalt used to be of more importance , and had hotels , stores , mines etc . I've never actually been there before , it doesn't sound like there is much to see now

is some other bottles from there I might post later on if people are interested
Always buddy. Show off anything you care to.
ROBBYBOBBY64.
 

RCO

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Boom towns always drove me nuts when it came to research. Some guys set up shop for a month or two and that was that. They didn't get noticed by the directory compilers. This bottle has to be quite rare.

had also come across something similar locally a couple years ago , not sure if I posted this before but when at the library when looking thru old newspapers came across one from july 1910

short article has headline " summer drinks by the case "

Mr Charles Paulley is contributing his full share in making saultry summer days enjoyable, by furnishing on shortest notice all the latest cool and refreshing summer drinks, fresh from his manufacturing plant. householders , tourists camping partee - anyone. may have a case of the appetizing refreshment sent to their door , by applying to Mr Paulley who is always on the job .


is no listing for a Charles Paulley ( Huntsville Ontario ) as bottling anywhere and never seen a bottle before ? is a bottler listed in book from that time period but owner went by a different name as I found an article about it and owners last name was Parker .

the article also indicated he had a manufacturing plant , so he wasn't just a store downtown or fly by night seller who left town at end of summer but someone with deeper roots and buildings in town


Mr Paulley had also severed in WW1 for a local regiment but I'm pretty sure he came back from the war based on my research , but not sure if his bottling operation survived ww1 or if that was the end of it . there is also nothing about him in any of the local history books I have , although is some mentions of people from Huntsville with the last name Paulley and they seem to have been upper class in nicer homes
 

RCO

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most of the older bottles I see or come across in antique stores in Ontario from the cobalt area

would be from a couple of the main and more common bottlers , if you watch there digging video's they find a lot of these ones there

Cobalt Aerated Water co , Mcdonald & co - Cobalt , International Bottling Works

I have a couple cobalt bottles but is various colour , size variations , most have plain embossing with only names/town

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