Step Back In Time
Well-Known Member
Yesterday I dug up four husky beverages bottles at an old sawmill buried in the sawdust pile. All of the bottles were not perfect, but were not too bad either. One had two cracks through it and unfortunately it didn't make the drive home it split into three pieces. I found one of those bottles in the same place before that was laying on the surface. So I found five in total there. Before we went to The sawmill we also stopped at an abandoned gold mine that was opened between 1930 and 1939, but there was prospecting there every decade since it closed and another shaft was started in the 80s so you can find trash from 1930 until now. I looked in the dumps there. In the dumps there wasn't really anything I wanted to take home, a lot of ketchup and medicine bottles but none of them were embossed with anything except maybe the contents. Lots of 1930s stuff with 40 stuff mixed in the dumps. In the first dump I found maybe 4 or 5 bottle caps, but they weren't in the greatest shape with a lot of bubbles in the paint all of the caps were completely rusty so I couldn't see what it was. In the second dump I ended up finding the band to a jar which I decided to keep because some of my jars were missing the bands/rings. I also found another bottle cap that was in much better shape with only one bubble. I decided to take that one and I gave it to my Grandpa. Later on he told me he somehow lost it but I didn't matter too much to me because I figured it was probably a Canada Bud cap which I already have two of. Later on my grandma found again in the back of their ATV. It's a good thing that she did because it was not a Canada Bud cap after cleaning it with lemon juice it was revealed that it was actually a Husky bottle cap which is neat because that's the same day I found the four Husky bottles. I've done lots of research on the company Dominion bottling works in Kirkland Lake Ontario. And it says they bottled three brands, Husky Beverages, Husky Dry Ginger Ale, and Coca-Cola. It doesn't say what flavors Husky beverages made, but I figured because they were just a small town cheaper brand that they probably made most of the normal flavors. The cap says cream soda on it, so they definitely made cream soda. After looking at some archive newspapers and some other sources it looks like Dominion bottling works was started in 1927. I'm not 100% sure when the company closed but every year it is listed in the Jewish Chronicle which is a newspaper in Northern Ontario, except it is not listed after 1945. This makes me think that they closed in 1945. The other option is that they just didn't advertise in that newspaper after that. In about the same time (1945) in the same newspaper other bottlers seem to pop up and advertise, Kist beverages, there is mentions of Canada Dry, and other small bottlers. Maybe Dominion bottling works closed because of these other bottlers? The bottles I have were made by consumers glass company which makes it hard to date because consumers didn't put date codes on bottles until later on. I've seen other Husky beverages bottles on this site and was wondering if we could come up with a rough timeline or evolution of Dominion glass company/the Husky beverages bottles. Maybe others could share there own bottles and insight? Around the cap it says Dominion bottling works Kirkland Lake. Contains (a number I can't make out) of (and another number or fraction I can't make out) Benzone. Soda colored MCI or MCL I can't tell. The front says Drink Husky Beverages. And the back says Dominion Bottling Works Kirkland Lake Ontario. The bottle has six husky heads on it. On the bottom it has the Consumer's glass company logo and a mould number. Two bottles have a mold number one and one bottle has a mold number two. Around the base it says Contents 6 fluid ounces. These are my questions, how old are my bottles? How old is the cap? Roughly where does it fit in the timeline? Where does the other known bottles fit in the timeline? What does MCI or MCL mean? Does anybody have any pictures of any caps? Has anybody seen this cap before? How rare is the bottle and cap? And how much are they worth? When was the ACL version of this bottle made? And does it have date codes? Does anybody have any of these bottles that is made by Dominion glass company instead of consumers glass company? Also if anybody has any information at all about the brand or the company especially when they closed please let me know. By the way we live near Matachawan Ontario, so not that far away from Kirkland Lake.
Any information at all is appreciated and helps alot. I'm counting on you! But no pressure.
Thanks,
-Austin Priddle
Any information at all is appreciated and helps alot. I'm counting on you! But no pressure.
Thanks,
-Austin Priddle
