Wm Henderson - Cobalt Ont soda water bottle

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RCO

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there is also some 30 oz embossed quarts from Cobalt , is one for Macdonald's Cobalt , not sure exactly which bottlers also have quarts but is some

there was also a JD Browns branch in Cobalt at some point , there based in Gravenhurst Ontario but did operate a branch in cobalt at some point

know that cause around 2015 I saw a JD Brown Cobalt aqua quart in an antique store in southern Ontario , should of really bought it at the time as it was uncommon but didn't , don't even seem to have a picture of it . but can recall it

was a plain aqua quart " JD Brown - Cobalt " featured no other embossing or more fancy embossing seen on the gravenhurst quarts

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RCO

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Great information you’ve put together on Cobalt RCO! And some nice bottles for sure.
Here’s an acl I have to add...


have heard of Northern Beverages Cobalt , I don't have any bottles but do have pictures of 2 bottles

a green and clear 10 oz bottle , I'd suppose there must also be a clear 7 oz bottle and maybe clear and green quarts ? this bottler started in the early 1950's rate around the same time Cobalt Aerated water co ended , considering the town is so small , makes me wonder if they took over there former facilities ?

forgot to mention I do regret not picking up that JD Brown Cobalt quart , I think that after I did some research I went back but it was gone or the store was closed permanently . feel like that store disappeared around 2017 ish , so not sure what became of it , they didn't even want that much for it


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RCO

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i also have an interesting book on Cobalt I found it at a yard sale in 2018 , its by well known Northern Ontario author Michael Barnes , called fortune in the ground - Cobalt , Porcupine and Kirkland Lake

the first part of the book is all about cobalt and features many old pictures and a detail history of how silver was discovered and early mines started up and town grew

although it does not mention anything about the bottlers of cobalt or do any of the pictures appear to show there advertising or buildings

there is actually some interesting info in it , was reading the exact population of Cobalt isn't clear , he says around 1912 there was around 3500 miners working in 12 different mines

and population of town site area was between 10,000 or 15,000 , which would of been a really big town for northern Ontario at the time but exact size isn't known

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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 View attachment 218779View attachment 218780View attachment 218781View attachment 218782
I’m actually the guy from the YouTube channel haha. I have a few of these but could never find any info on them myself!
 

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Leep1660

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You gotta watch the Murdock mysteries episode on cobalt, (season 8/ episode 11) very sad how they forced the first nation off the land abruptly for the silver
 

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