By the time George Weigele began bottling sodas in Alamogordo, the crown finish and cap were firmly entrenched in the soda industry and remained the primary type of closure until the continuous thread began to dominate the industry near the end of the returnable bottle era.  Although paper labels had been used earlier, the most common method of labeling was the embossed label.  Embossing was created during the molding process and consisted of raised (or occasionally indented or debossed) letters and designs on the outside of the container.  Glass makers had blown embossed bottles in the United States since at least 1867 (Jones & Sullivan 1989:49).

     The major problem with embossed names and designs was cost.  Each individual bottle buyer had to pay for the molds used for his or her containers.  Because each message or design had to be cut into the mold by hand, the operation could become expensive.  As each mold wore out, the process was repeated.  Often, however, a bottler would only identify his plant and beverage with embossed containers marked with circular or tombstone-shaped plate molds.  Plate molds (also called slug plates) were smaller molds that fit into the sides of two-piece molds.  A bottle of standard design could then be produced and individual company markings inserted at a greatly reduced cost.  Bottles used for Weigele's Pop and those used by Karosen, the two earliest identified soda bottles from Alamogordo, were of the plate mold variety.  The use of obvious plate molds was generally discontinued during the early 1920s.

     Around 1920, the trend swept away from plate molds and often from any form of embossed identification.  Paper labels, of course, had been applied with glue to glass containers of various sorts much earlier, often in conjunction with embossed identification.  Paper labels removed the necessity for as much embossing.  If present, embossments were usually used as a design element rather than one of identification.  Designs, if present, generally encircled the heel, shoulder, and/or neck of the bottles leaving a blank area in the central body for paper labels.  Many bottlers eliminated the embossed designs entirely, opting for a plain, generic bottle with a body and often a neck label made of paper.  Paper labels were inexpensive, easy to apply, and contained complex advertising messages.  The major drawback was simple:  the paper tended to wash off when bottles were cooled in buckets or barrels of ice--the only medium then in general use for cooling soft drinks.

     The missing bottles used by Alamogordo Bottling Works probably contained paper labels identifying the company's various flavors.  Delaware Punch and Ginger Mint Julip offered in the 1924 advertisement (NMSBD 1924) were probably also sold in bottles with paper labels.  If any of the four owners of Alamogordo Bottling Works had used embossed bottles, it seems likely that at least one example would have been located by now.

     The easy destruction of paper labels to a reversed trend back to embossing as a sole method of identification.  The new bottles were called proprietary bottles, and they became very complex.  Although a few national brands began using proprietary bottles much earlier (e.g. Coca-Cola's famous hobble-skirt bottle first patented in 1915), common usage of this style of container did not begin until the mid- to late 1920s.  The earliest Crystal Beverage Co. bottle was a proprietary bottle. 

     Although embossing still appears on bottles today, it was gradually replaced on soda bottles by the Applied Color Lettering (ACL) technique between 1934 and the early 1940s.  Unlike embossing, ACL was applied after manufacture as "a paste-like glass material consisting of finely ground lead, borosilicate glass and mineral pigments, [which] was forced through a screen mesh directly onto the bottles [sic] surface" (Sweeney 1995:6).  By reapplying different colors, a glasshouse could produce polychromatic bottles, although the use of more than two colors was unusual due to the extra cost of second and third applications. 

     George Weigele's first ad for Weigele's pop appeared on April 21, 1910.  Unfortunately, the second owner, Jerry M. Johnson, did not advertise by any means I have been able to find.  L. H. Karosen did not buy Alamogordo Bottling Works until August 1920, but his 1921 ads did not appear until early June.  D. R. Pharr began advertising in early June 1922, and his ad for April 9, 1923, stated that "the Alamogordo Bottling Works of Alamogordo, N. Mex., will open for [the] season on April 10th."  Pharr sold to A. B. Rose before the plant opened in 1923, but Rose did not advertise during the following few years he operated the plant.  The last owner, E. L. Craig, only advertised "Crystal Sweets" in two issues of the newspaper in early April 1928.  When Thomas O'Conor opened Crystal Beverage Co. in 1930, he did so in March, and his 1931 ads did not begin until April.

     Although incomplete, the above data suggest that Alamogordo soda bottlers only operated seasonally.  Even though spring arrives early in the desert (usually in late February), the bottlers apparently did not open their plants (or at least did not advertise their products) until April.  Marketing does not seem to have created a year-round outlet for soft drinks in Alamogordo until sometime after 1931.  Ads seem to have tapered off around mid-summer and were gone completely by October or November.  Thus, a bottler had to have a high volume of seasonal sales or develop a winter career to maintain a year-round reliable income. 

     By the time national franchises took over in the mid-1940s, year-round bottling seems to have become the norm.  I found no indication of seasonal bottling in my El Paso research, although it was clear that sales increased in warmer weather.  That was my own experience as a Pepsi-Cola route salesman in the early 1970s.

     In its 30 years if existence, Alamogordo Bottling Works was owned by six proprietors, the last of whom named it Crystal Bottling Co.  It was followed by Crystal Beverage Co., owned by Thomas O'Conor. In 1910, George Weigele, the original owner (and his son, George, Jr.) brought the original bottling equipment to the business.  Jerry M. Johnson moved the plant to a new location in 1914, but I have not found any reference to new equipment.  While L. H. Karosen did not leave a record of new equipment in 1920, the paper was much more interested in his pitching skills (baseball) than the bottling work.  However, since he obtained the first Coca- Cola franchise in Alamogordo, it may have necessitated new bottling machinery.  I have found no newspaper account of the changeover from Karosen to D. H. Pharr in 1922, so any technological changes are unknown.  A. B. Rose overhauled all the old equipment prior to opening for the season in 1923.  In 1929, E. L. Craig, who renamed the business (Crystal Bottling Co.), brought in new equipment to compliment the name.  Thomas O'Conor, who again renamed the operation also changed location (across the street and a switch to ownership rather than renting) and purchased new equipment.

     Thus, each of the last three owners either purchased new equipment or overhauled the old.  This indicates that at least 57% of the owners (including Weigele, the initial owner) either overhauled equipment or bought new.  Change of machinery, therefore, may have been a normal consideration during change of ownership. 
 Both the second owner and the last independent bottlers in Alamogordo changed locations, although Johnson may not have had any options; Weigele may have only offered the business for sale, not the lot.  O'Conor, on the other hand, obviously wanted to own the land his business was on.  Once he discovered that the plant would make money, he invested more deeply.

     As is common in much historic research, these data provide more questions than they do answers.  How common was the replacement or upgrading of equipment when new owners purchased a bottling works?  Did the replacement of equipment reflect new technology, or was the new owner merely buying for the "newness?"  Was this a common practice in other communities?  Hopefully, the future will provide new answers.

     Crystal Beverage Co. provides us with some insight into the bottle ordering practices of small companies, although samples of each variation used by the firm are small.  Examples of the bottles used by Crystal over the 18 years of its existence suggest that the company ordered bottles fairly infrequently.  The only example of the embossed bottle that I have seen contained the digit "6" on the base.  This may indicate 1936.  To my knowledge there has been no research on specific dates on bottles made by Three Rivers (although the earlier bottles in my collection did not include date marks).  There was probably a previous run of the same variation of the embossed bottle.  The Alamogordo Advertiser of March 13, 1930, noted that Crystal had received "a carload of distinctive bottles (fluted sides) and new made-to-order cases to hold them."  That description fits the known early bottles for the company.

     The White Sands version of the bi-chrome ACL bottle was almost certainly only bought in 1938 (three examples).  The large letter "Lula" bottles (ca. nine examples) are all dated "39."  They were apparently replaced by the only small letter "Lula" bottle I have seen in 1941.  The final white ACL bottle (ca. 11 examples) are all dated 1947, suggesting that they were bought after O'Conor's death by the group who ran the business for about a year prior to disbanding.  See Bottles of Crystal Beverage Co. in Chapter 6 for a description of the above mentioned bottles.

     Assuming that these bottles comprise the entire container history of Crystal, O'Conor (and his followers) bought bottles fairly infrequently compared to larger companies (many El Paso companies bought bottles more than once a year).  Assuming that bottles were not used during the year the next variation is dated, Crystal bottles were employed as follows: first embossed (?) 1930-1635 [5 years]; second embossed 1936-1937 [2 years]; red-and-white ACL (White Sands) 1938 [1 year] ; red-and-white ACL (Lula - large letters) 1939-1940 [2 years]; red- and-white ACL (Lula - small letters) 1941-1946 [5 years]; and white ACL 1947-1948 [2 years].  Bottles seem to generally have been ordered every one to two years except for the first five years (first embossed bottle?) and the 1941-1946 period.  The longer 1941-1946 period, however, was during the timespan of World War II when sugar was rationed.  Many bottlers during the war (except those adjacent to military bases/posts) were forced to drastically reduce their sales due to the shortage of sugar for home consumption.  The above reasoning assumes that O'Conor bought approximately the same number of bottles each time.  The World War II bottles just lasted longer.  It is also possible that bottles were in short supply during the war.  That possibility, along with a longer use period, would explain why there are so few of the small letter (1941-1946) containers.

     Although Alamogordo papers did not mention quantity, Deming and Las Cruces bottlers (the closest small New Mexico towns) were reported as ordering 1,000 containers at a time.  It may be that 1,000 was a minimum order required by the glass houses (manufacturers).  If this number is correct, then the normal life of a bottle in Alamogordo during the 1930s and early 1940s was about two years.  Of course, some would last longer, and some would be broken within a week.  It would be interesting to know whether all new bottles were added to the circulation at once or if they were gradually introduced to the production line as older bottles needed replacement.