# Quick Creek Dig



## BenTheDigger (Dec 23, 2014)

Hi everybody, I decided to go to a creek today to check it out for bottles. When I got there I was surprised to find 1000's but they didn't seem to old. So I decided to grab a few that caught my eye. One whiskey said I.W. Harper which is from around the 1920's, I found a few sodas, I found a small amber colored bottle maybe medicine and a few miscellaneous bottles? I attached pictures on the bottom, can anybody tell me around what date range I have and anything about the bottles. The bottles are also still mucky any idea on how to get gunk out of them?Thanks and have a Merry Christmas!!-Ben


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## sunrunner (Dec 23, 2014)

hay it's great you were abele to get out to the creeks to look . The first group of bottles you have is a mix . The dr pepper and pepsi look like there from the 1950s . So do's the bubal up. The whisk may be from the 1930s or 40s , but the beers look modern , like a red strip and a import German beer. That catsup may also be from the 1930s .


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## CanadianBottles (Dec 23, 2014)

The little brown beer looks like one of those Canadian stubby beer bottles used from the 60's to the 80's by most breweries.  The woods and rivers are full of those things up here.


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## BenTheDigger (Dec 23, 2014)

Thanks for the responses! I do collect Dr pepper so I am happy to dig one of there signature bottles. So should I throw out the three beer bottles, the green one, the small amber one and the big amber colored one? Thanks,-Ben


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## CanadianBottles (Dec 23, 2014)

Yeah I'd say the recycling bin is the best place for the beer bottles.


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## BenTheDigger (Dec 23, 2014)

K thank you!!


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## Robby Raccoon (Dec 24, 2014)

What does the base of the Dr. Pepper bottle say? Also, does "Dr." have the period in it still or not?


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## sunrunner (Dec 24, 2014)

you have a lot of area to cover , keep looking you will find some thing good. so good luck!


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## BenTheDigger (Dec 24, 2014)

Spirit bear the Dr pepper says 10 2 4 which is the time your supposed to drink Dr pepper each day. Dr pepper removed its period in the early 1950's so this bottle is from the late 1950's to 1960's so it has a period. Its a pretty common bottle but i'm happy to dig it being a big Dr Pepper collector.


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## Robby Raccoon (Dec 24, 2014)

I meant the base as in bottom. Mine says, "DR. PEPPER BOT. CO. / 9 <(I)> 5. / MUSKEGON / MICH." (1945.) Your second sentence did not make sense. I think they removed the period in 1947, but I could be wrong. Yours should not then have a period if it's from the '50s.


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## BenTheDigger (Dec 24, 2014)

Wow I just read my sentence and it doesn't make sense. I meant to say mine doesn't have a period since its from the late 50's to 60's. The base has a few numbers but there batch number etc no location.


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## Robby Raccoon (Dec 24, 2014)

Duraglass in scripted form, (I), <(I)>, 56-89??? Could you type it out or photograph it, please. I know it seems odd, but I'm curious.


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## BenTheDigger (Dec 24, 2014)

Sure Ill include a photo but the scripture is 20 O 65 (probably a date code) Then at the bottom 20127 - weird symbol


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## Robby Raccoon (Dec 24, 2014)

On just above the heel (where base attaches to sides,) is there a little indented circle? Should be on the back. The (I) is one of Owen-Illinois's many symbols: <(I)>, (I), Duraglass.... should be 1965, I think.


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## sandchip (Dec 25, 2014)

If your creek is in or downstream from an old town, you may find something real nice.  I've been looking the same one for 40 years because it's nearby and like an old friend.  Although I've never found anything earthshaking and you have to put up with the modern junk, it'll give up a goodie once in a while.  After a big rain, creeks always change and you never know what's gonna show up.  Hope springs eternal. [attachment=flask.jpg] [attachment=lock1.JPG] [attachment=pet5.JPG]


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## sandchip (Dec 25, 2014)

I hope that none of this is interpreted as hijacking, but hopefully as an incentive to keep looking.  Here's a few more that I failed to get creek shots of. [attachment=barber1.JPG] [attachment=blade.jpg] [attachment=eldridge.JPG]


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## CreekWalker (Dec 25, 2014)

I agree, the creeks are home to a new present after every storm, washed out bottles in the drifts, and creek bends. Check the washed banks every spring. You never know what may turn up! Remember dig them out , don't pull 'em out! Merry Christmas!


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## BenTheDigger (Dec 25, 2014)

Hey spiritbear,Ya there is a little indented circle on the base, how long has Duraglass been around for? Sandchip and Creekwalker those are some nice bottles! I especially like the drug store one. Hopefully a storm comes up soon so I can maybe get my hands on some older glass! Creekwalker the bottles were sticking out of the mud, so do you suggest I dig down?Thanks,-Ben


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## Robby Raccoon (Dec 25, 2014)

Duraglass: circa mid 1940s if not early 1940s. Used until the 1960s(?) They (the bottles) tend to last due to some special stuff in/on the glass that made them durable glass items-- hence the name. 
Look in the hills along water areas as well. Today, whilst walking my dogs by Lake Michigan, I found signs of bottles and crystal glassware in a muddy-faced dune overlooking the channel. One bottle was one I love to see--the company went out in the '40s and started in like the 1880s, so who knows (just a shard of the bottle--enough to identify it.) Bring a hand trowel to poke around, and learn the feeling of using either a tined rake or a stick on glass in the water/mud--test it out, it's more useful than vision and safer than hands. Good luck and keep us posted on all finds--bottles, coins, sign, anything. Keep an eye out for coins. Last trip I pulled out a badly corroded but always-a-nice-find '40s Wheaty. You see a small circle-- grab it. 
Sandchip, amazing!!


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## BenTheDigger (Dec 28, 2014)

Sorry for the late response I was on vacation. Thanks for the information on duraglass. I will remember to bring a hand trowel next time I go to the creek.Thanks,-Ben


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## Robby Raccoon (Dec 29, 2014)

Best tool ever--in my opinion. 
Some 1940s stuff I dug around Christmas with my trowel. One in a creek--plate-- and the other--bowl-- in the hillside. The license and Ford sign are not dug, though. 
Then the other pics'stuff I dug with one trowel, which then broke, and then I used yet another. Trowels are to me as saws are to lumbermen.


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## BenTheDigger (Dec 30, 2014)

Wow that is some very cool stuff! I use a trowel all the time for poking around stuff. They are very small and easy to carry.


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## Rufus (Jan 1, 2015)

Hey Ben,Do you wade out in the creek? Do you any special tools?I have a few canals that were used for mills back in the 1860's and who knows what people discarded into them?Thanks in advance for any help.Karl


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## BenTheDigger (Jan 1, 2015)

Hey Karl,I dont wade out into the creek I just go when the water is relatively low and then look for bottles that are partially sticking out of the mud. I usually bring a trowel and sometimes a small shovel to dig out the bottles.-Ben


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## Robby Raccoon (Jan 1, 2015)

If there isn't a strong current, too many obstacles, or water traffic, get a dive mask and slowly swim on the bottom. Even in murky waters, this can be useful. Just go slowly, and poke gently with a stick to feel for bottles in the sediment.


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## Rufus (Jan 1, 2015)

Thanks! I was thinking of getting some waders, fishing type up to waste and use a pitch fork? This Canal is only about 15 feet wide and two feet deep. On the 1884 Sanborn it calls it out as a "Tail Race".


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## sandchip (Jan 2, 2015)

A long-tined potato rake works good.  I use waders in the cold months, shorts and water shoes in the summer.  In really hot weather, I'll take along a mask and snorkel to check out certain areas.


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## sunrunner (Jan 2, 2015)

for  most of you who have not been up in this part of California creek only have water in them only a few weeks of the year . a great deal of the time that are dry.


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