| Canada Dry Mixers and Flavors
The earliest Canada Dry bottles found locally precede the actual establishment of the Canada Dry Bottling Company in El Paso. An ad in the El Paso Times placed Canada Dry Ginger Ale as a sales item in El Paso by at least 1931. The ad pictured a dark-colored bottle (probably forest green) with both shoulder and body paper labels. The shoulder label had a shield similar to the one described below but with THE/CHAMPAGNE/OF/GINGER ALES to the left and BOTTLED/IN THE/U. S. A. on the right. Although most of the body label was illegible in the ad, the larger letters stated CANADA DRY (slight downward arch)/PALE GINGER ALE/CANADA DRY GINGER ALE/NEW YORK backgrounded by a map of Canada. The crown cap and upper neck were foil wrapped. The ad suggested, however, that Canada Dry Ginger Ale was only recently introduced to El Paso when it said:
|
| CD 01
Method of Manufacture: Machine Color: Emerald Green [Colorless] Size (in cm.): 24.9 (h); 6.6 (d) Primary Labeling Style: Paper Finish: Crown Capacity: 12 oz. Overall Bottle Design: Cylindrical with embossed orange peel design from heel to beginning of finish Front Description Neck: Embossed - CANADA DRY Neck/Shoulder: - Bare [Paper label - a long horizontal rectangle with a sliver border contained a highly decorated shield below the words, "CLUB SODA" (blue). Blue italicized letters proclaimed A delightful/table water to the left of the shield and A marvelous mixer to the right. (Note that both shoulder and body label on four samples examined overlapped the embossed lettering on the bottle)] Body: Bare (paper label) [Paper label - a horizontal rectangle with a silver border was labeled CLUB in the upper left corner and SODA in the upper right above a centered stylized diamond with Sparkling (script) in the center. The remaining label is words: CANADA DRY/WATER/A SPECIAL FORMULA./A DELIGHTFULLY PALATABLE CARBONATED WATER/MANUFACTURED AND BOTTLED BY/Canada Dry Ginger Ale Inc., General Offices, New York, N. Y. (script)/CONTENTS 12 FLUID OUNCES (355 CC'S) (0.355 LITRES)] It is possible that on local bottles, the script portion of the label contained El Paso bottler information. Heel: Embossed - CANADA DRY GINGER ALE, INC. Back Description Neck: Embossed - CANADA DRY Body: Bare Heel: Embossed - NEW YORK, N. Y. CONTENTS 12 FL. OZ. Base: Unmarked [23 I-in-an-oval-superimposed-on-a-diamond 9/4 C in an inverted triangle with REG. along left side and CAL. along right side] Manufacturer: Unknown [Owens Illinois Glass Co. (1929-1954)] Dating: [ca. 1930-ca. 1940 or later] Green bottles were probably only used for Ginger Ale with colorless containers used for a variety of Canada Dry mixers. P. D. Saylor and Associates purchased Canada Dry in 1923 and operated the company in the United States as Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Inc. (Riley 1958:264). Bottles of this type, therefore, date between 1923 and at least the late 1930s or early 1940s when ACL lettering became popular. Paper label bottles, however, may have been used until the late 1950s. Two paper label bottles in the author's collection contain date designations of 1939 and 1940. The sale of Canada Dry products in El Paso probably did not predate about 1930. Collection(s): Viola Salas Collection, Alamogordo; author's collection.
|
| ACL bottles followed those containing paper
labels.
Ginger Ale
|
| CD 02
Method of Manufacture: Machine Color: Forest Green Size (in cm.): 20.2 (h); 5.8 (d) Primary Labeling Style: White, and Red ACL Finish: Crown Capacity: 7 oz. Overall Bottle Design: Cylindrical Front Description Neck/Shoulder: A white ACL shield (without the background of Canada) and crown with CANADA/DRY in red letters below a white bar. The words, THE/CHAMPAGNE appeared to the left of the shield with OF/GINGER ALES to the right. [same as 1955 but the words GINGER ALE appeared under the logo] Body: A larger white ACL shield (with the map of Canada as a background) and crown with a red CANADA DRY [A downwardly-pointing white chevron appeared above a larger shield and crown with CANADA/DRY in red with an upwardly-pointing chevron below.] Back Description Neck:/Shoulder: A white ACL bar [A white ACL shield and crown with CANADA DRY in red] Body: White ACL - CANADA DRY/Pale Dry (script)/GINGER ALE/SCIENTIFICALLY TREATED CARBONATED/WATER, SUGAR, JAMAICA GINGER, FLAVOR-/ING, CITRIC ACID, CARAMEL COLOR. (3 dots in triangular form)/(red ACL) CONTENTS 7 FLUID OZS./MANUFACTURED AND BOTTLED BY/CANADA DRY BOTTLING CO./EL PASO, TEXAS [CANADA DRY/Pale Dry (script)/GINGER ALE/SCIENTIFICALLY TREATED CARBONATED/WATER, SUGAR, SELECT IMPORTED/GINGERS, FLAVORING, CITRIC ACID,/CARAMEL COLOR (red ACL) CONTENTS 7 FLUID OZS./MANUFACTURED AND BOTTLED BY/CANADA DRY BOTTLING CO./EL PASO, TEXAS] Base: Embossed - G-94/Duraglass (script)/3 I-in-an-oval-superimposed-on-a-diamond 51/31 [G 94/Duraglass (script)/9 I-in-an-oval 60/7] Manufacturer: Owens Illinois Glass Co. (1929-1954) [Owens Illinois Glass Co. (1954-present] Dating: [early 1940s to mid-1950s] [mid 1950s to mid 1960s] Collection(s): Andy Nicholson Collection, author's collection.
|
| The bottle that followed in the mid-1960s
changed shape to a gentle upward taper from the heel to the top of the
body expanding to a bulbous shoulder that again tapered to the finish.
The shoulder logo lost THE CHAMPAGNE OF GINGER ALES, and the body logo
shrunk to fit the smaller area created by the taper. The back differed
only slightly from the front, mostly with the inclusion of ingredients
and THE CHAMPAGNE/OF GINGER ALES below the body logo. As with other
franchisers, Canada Dry had by this time discontinued the individual identification
of local bottlers.
Hi-Spot Hi-Spot was one of the flavors bottled in El Paso. |
| CD 03
Method of Manufacture: Machine Color: Emerald Green Size (in cm.): 20.2 (h); 5.8 (d) Primary Labeling Style: White and Yellow ACL Finish: Crown Capacity: 7 oz. Overall Bottle Design: Cylindrical Front Description Neck/Shoulder: White shield and crown with a circular non-enameled area in the center bearing the designation, Hi-/spot, in yellow. The words, DELIGHTFUL/BEVERAGE appear to the right of the shield, with EXCELLENT/AS A MIXER to the left Body: A larger shield and crown with ® at the shield's lower tip and CANADA DRY stenciled into the upper shield area but no lettering to right or left Back Description Neck/Shoulder: Bare Body: A CITRATED AND LITHIATED LEMON SODA/CONTAINING CARBONATED WATER, SUGAR,/CITRIC ACID, FLAVOR DERIVED FROM/CITRUS FRUIT OILS, LITHIUM AND/SODIUM CITRATES. FORMULA DEVELOPED/BY THE CANADA DRY LABORATORIES/CONTENTS 7 FLUID OZS./MANUFACTURED AND BOTTLED BY/CANADA DRY BOTTLING CO./EL PASO, TEXAS Base: Embossed - G-95/Duraglass in script (after 1940)/5 I-in-an-oval-superimposed-on-a- diamond 48/41 [G-94/Duraglass in script (after 1940)/3 I-in-an-oval-superimposed-on-a-diamond 48/48]. Manufacturer: Owens Illinois Glass Company (1929-1954) Dating: [1948-mid-1950s] Bottles of this type may have been used in El Paso during the earliest days of Canada Dry's tenure in the city, 1948 to the mid-1950s. Collection(s): Author's Collection.
|
| Other Canada Dry
Canada also offered a generic bottle in El Paso that may have described the mixer type on the cap. These are the only ten-ounce Canada Dry containers that I have found with El Paso place designatons. Included in the photos below are Spur Cola, Quinine Water, and Club Soda. I have not discovered or created a dating scheme for later Canada Dry bottles. |
| CD 04
Method of Manufacture: Machine Color: Colorless Size (in cm.): 23.2 (h); 6.3 (d) Primary Labeling Style: White and Red ACL Finish: Crown Capacity: 10 oz. Overall Bottle Design: Cylindrical with fine stippling from heel to neck Front Description Neck/Shoulder: White shield and crown with WORLD FAMOUS in red ACL below two white ACL bands. An indistinct word that may have been WHOLESOME appeared in white ACL to the left with DELICIOUS to the right. Body: A larger white shield and crown with CANADA/DRY (red ACL)/Beverages (red script) and CONTENTS 10 FL. OZ. below the shield Back Description Neck/Shoulder: Two white ACL bars Body: Bare Heel: White ACL - MANUFACTURED AND BOTTLED BY/CANADA DRY BOTTLING CO./EL PASO, TEXAS Base: Embossed - 15 I-in-an-oval-superimposed-on-a-diamond 49/4/g - 2702 Manufacturer: Owens Illinois Glass Company (1929-1954) Dating: [1948-mid-1950s] Bottles of this type may have been used in El Paso during the earliest days of Canada Dry's tenure in the city, 1948 to the mid-1950s. Collection(s): Author's Collection.
|
| Canada Dry Shell
This shell measures 41 cm. in length, 30 cm.
in width, and is 12.8 cm. deep (with slight variations caused by wear and
warping of the wood). Side and base boards are ca. 1.0 cm. thick,
but the end boards are thicker (ca. 2.0 cm.). The boards are
joined by a 1.5 cm. steel band attached by nails. Internal dividers
(ca. 0.8 cm. thick) partition the inner space into 12 square compartments
to hold quart-sized bottles. Each end has a ca. 9.0 x 2.5 cm. oval
handle cut into its upper end. Each side is labeled CANADA DRY (green)/RETURN
BOTTLES FOR DEPOSIT (red), and each end is labeled PROPERTY OF CANADA DRY/EL
PASO, TEXAS (green). Inside each side board is labeled with a logo
on the left that consists of a stenciled star on a circular green background
with a coniferous tree in the center (also green). Below the logo
is TEMPLE MFG. CO./FT. WORTH, TEX./5 - 54 (green). Extending the
rest of the length of the board is "CANADA DRY" in red-outlined letters.
Quart bottles were used during the first few years that Canda Dry was distributed
by the Seven-Up Bottling Co. and were probably used by the Canada Dry Bottling
Co. prior to that.
|
| Kalil Bottling Company
In addition to the above-described brands (such as Seven-Up, Royal Crown, Nehi, Canada Dry, etc.), Kalil introduced several new varieties into the area. among these were Delaware Punch, Vernors, Texas Light, Bubble Up, Hires, Sunglo, Sas'parilla, and Yoo Hoo Chocolate. Oddly, only Vernor's Ginger Ale, created in 1880, was apparently unknown in El Paso prior to its introduction by Kalil. Hires Root Beer, manufactured by 1876, was only marketed by Woodlawn sometime between 1920 and 1943. Kalil also introduced RC 100 to the El Paso market. Many of these brands are not and never were offered in returnable bottles. Some brands did not appear on the market until after the beginning of the era of tin (thinly rolled steel) cans, aluminum cans, nonreturnable glass bottles, and plastic containers. |
| Table
of Contents
Chapter 11a - Barq's Bottling Co. and Double Cola Bottling Co. |
