Western Bottling Co, Ogden and Farmington Ut
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I got a message from Cameron with the subject line "Can you tell me what I have here?" Its always interesting to see what people find. Normally they are too new or pretty common items. But Cameron attached a photo shown on the right.
Cameron does cement work and this item rolled out of a pile of dirt as they were working up on the hill. "Yes, I'm interested", I replied. Cameron is a busy man. At the time he had a baby on the way and was moving in addition. It took over a month to get together but we were finally able to meet. Here is the story. "When it rolled out of the dirt my first thought was to smash it on the wall and get it out of the way. Then remembered something about bottles having some value. So it rolled around in my truck for about 2 weeks. I brought it into the house where it sat around for awhile. I came home one day and glanced in the trash and there was the bottle. The wife had thrown it out and had decided it was garbage. I brought it in one last time and decided to try and find out about it." Cameron found me here at utahcollectors.com. I was able to make the purchase and after working on it for a couple of weeks, the results are below. Thanks Cameron for having the insight to save this little piece of Utah History for one of our collectors! The Farmington is not the most rare but it is pretty scarce and very interesting. So I had to dig into some of the history using Dave Kyte's Hutch book as a guide. |
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The Western Bottling Company is listed as beginning business in 1906. Although not shown in teh company letterheads, the Hutchinson soda bottle that was used has two towns embossed on the slug. Apparently there was a distributorship residing in Farmington, Utah. In those early years, Farmington was a small town, surrounded by a family community. It is likely, that with a resort and railroad stop alon the northern end of the Great Salt Lake, just a few miles away and the advent of the Lagoon Amusement park nearby, Farmington became a distribution point to serve these concerns. Obviously, along with soda water, this company bottled and sold beer, and the popular non-alcoholic drink of the time, Beerine. The known hutchinson bottle example used by this company are light aqua in color and embossed: WESTERN BOTTLING CO- OGDEN & FARMINGTON, UTAH. This is the only "two town" Hutchinson bottle known from Utah.
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But then we see this advertisement. It appears this was very competitive and my collection obsession takes over.Now I need to know more about it. Other than a horrible name, what was it and why is it gone?
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There is not alot about Beerine. This is all I could find. It was hot stuff early in the century. I don't think it sounds that appetizing.
"Carbonated Beerine is one of the most refreshing and finest Summer Drinks now on the market. For over four years it has given very good satisfaction. There is a large profit in handling Beerine; many carbonators are using it all the year, and with their customers it is a staple article. For Summer Resorts, Hotels, … " 1901: The Schillinger Brewing Company registered a trademark in the U.S. Patent Office for "Beerine", a non-intoxicating temperance beverage that never caught on. 
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