# pioneer soda works hutchinson



## bottlesjhbottler (Dec 8, 2011)

any info on this one pioneer soda works with w in shield and s.f below??


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## CALDIGR2 (Dec 8, 2011)

A fairly common bottle. It was the product of Martin and Charles Walsh, who along with Raymo Angelo, founded the Pioneer Soda Worksate 1719 1/2 Market Street in San Francisco in 1877 They moved to 1721 Market in 1881 and by 1884 Angelo was no longer in business with them. They moved to 1555 Mission Street in 1896. In 1897 the works was taken over by William Welch. 

 Prior to 1896 the bottles used by Pioneer were blob top types, with the Hutchinson style used after the 1896 move. I have dug as many as 47 examples of the various Pioneer bottles out of one pit in SF. All told there were 98 blobs and hutchs in that hole, along with dozens of SF embossed whiskies, both fifths and pumpkinseeds.


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## blobbottlebob (Dec 8, 2011)

It is an attractive design with the shield on it. We have shielded hutch from Wisconsin, but it looks a bit different.


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## Plumbata (Dec 9, 2011)

Nice bottle, the shield is indeed attractive. 



> ORIGINAL:  CALDIGR2
> 
> A fairly common bottle. It was the product of Martin and Charles Walsh, who along with Raymo Angelo, founded the Pioneer Soda Worksate 1719 1/2 Market Street in San Francisco in 1877 They moved to 1721 Market in 1881 and by 1884 Angelo was no longer in business with them. They moved to 1555 Mission Street in 1896. In 1897 the works was taken over by William Welch.
> 
> Prior to 1896 the bottles used by Pioneer were blob top types, with the Hutchinson style used after the 1896 move. I have dug as many as 47 examples of the various Pioneer bottles out of one pit in SF. All told there were 98 blobs and hutchs in that hole, along with dozens of SF embossed whiskies, both fifths and pumpkinseeds.


 
 I doubt that there is much anyone can add about the bottle; seems like you are a living Western-Bottle Encyclopedia! [8|] I suppose one learns a thing or two in 50 years of digging, but dang, to have it all accessible for immediate recall is darn sharp.


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## CALDIGR2 (Dec 10, 2011)

My mind is great, my body, um, not so. I can recall the exact position of bottles in pits from long, long ago. One time I was digging a little 4 footer by myself and had been doing one side while sitting on the shelf of the other. I turned to start that side and, lo and behold, I had been sitting on a green London Jockey Clubhouse Gin that was less than an inch below when I stopped to take a seat and take the other half to the bottom. The horse and rider were shined up nicely from my Levis. That cracked me up; what a []killer surprise.


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## tigue710 (Dec 11, 2011)

> ORIGINAL:  CALDIGR2
> 
> My mind is great, my body, um, not so. I can recall the exact position of bottles in pits from long, long ago. One time I was digging a little 4 footer by myself and had been doing one side while sitting on the shelf of the other. I turned to start that side and, lo and behold, I had been sitting on a green London Jockey Clubhouse Gin that was less than an inch below when I stopped to take a seat and take the other half to the bottom. The horse and rider were shined up nicely from my Levis. That cracked me up; what a []killer surprise.


 
 love it!  My first placerville hutch I dug in a spot I went back to a few months after digging it out.  It was an inch past where I left off before...


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## CALDIGR2 (Dec 13, 2011)

Matt, don't forget that what might seem to be bottom may not be so. Plugs are very common out here. Some are obvious because the clay doesn't match native soil, others far more subtle. You have to probe the "bottom" to make sure that you've cleaned 'er out. If you're digging a privy make sure to probe all of the interior walls for "neighbors". Sometimes they are literally inches away.


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## tigue710 (Dec 14, 2011)

thanks Mike, its a whole new game out here and im trying to learn as quick as I can...  Someone told me they never capped anything here but I found that hard to believe...You how strange they are up here... the ones ive found so far were cut in bedrock, or didnt seem to have walls?  idk... I could use a lesson or two for sure... this area in particular the ground is rock hard... a few thing Ive dug I couldnt get a probe through, but there were bottles under it...  I was actually using a rock hammer in one spot!


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## CALDIGR2 (Dec 14, 2011)

Not too many "woodies" up there, Matt. Like you said, they are cut from the bedrock which is often inches under what little soil there is. They also filled 'em with rock that becomes almost solidified over time. Lotta work.


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## tigue710 (Dec 15, 2011)

lotta work, and they seemed to have crapped in a bucket and thrown nutting but broke bottles and rocks in the privy's, Gimme some fluff!  and of courses everybody decided to terrace their yards in the 1940's while obliterating any privy holes...  I love it...


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