Garden Artifacts

[windchicken]

My garden is on a narrow stream terrace on the western edge of the Red River valley. People have been living here, apparently, for a pretty long time. I've been saving the most interesting artifacts that I've dug up so far, including the horse shoe and the cork closure type patent medicine bottle I found today. The letters on the bottle spell "Chamberlains." Still clinging to the pieces you can see the typical orangey sand of this valley:

Not nearly as old, but artifacts nonetheless:

I know some of you fellas in Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas have dug up some old stuff like this...

 

[mmcdermott1]

Thats very cool WC. I like old stuff like that..especially when you find it yourself Keep diggin!

 

[RedtailForester]

Keep your Schlitz to yourself WC!

 

[mmcdermott1]

Man that was some really nasty beer..do they even make that anymore?

 

[windchicken]

Thats very cool WC. I like old stuff like that..especially when you find it yourself Keep diggin!

Got 7 more short rows to build, and I'm paying way better attention now...

Keep your Schlitz to yourself WC!

Man that was some really nasty beer..do they even make that anymore?

There was a massive Schlitz brewery near here at Longview in East Texas, but it closed down years ago. If you were super hot and thirsty and the beer was frosty cold, it tasted pretty good. Otherwise it tasted like burnt corn to me...

 

[capsidadburn]

Windchicken, Thought I would let you know a bit about your chamberlin bottle. My parents were seperated when I was very young and one of the things my dad and I would do on my visits was dig bottles from old city dumps. I did this a great deal growing up. School kids and teachers looked at me funny back then and probably still would today. As a young adult I took up more interest in reserching the finds. Patent medicines, especially the ones marked "cure" were my favorites. I don't serch for these any more but still have them all. Since I am at work I will only give a brief overview. I can certainly provide many more details when I am home. Chamberlain was a popular colic and diarrhea remedy. He started before the turn of the century sometime around 1882 in Des Moines, Iowa. Your bottle was probably manufactured after 1903. It has the appearance of a machine made (automatic mold blown) bottle. You can find the mold seam (fine line) and follow it up toward the neck. If the line continues up over the top of the mouth (cork top) then it is definatly a machine made bottle (Automatic Bottle machine invented in 1903, widespread use by 1910). Here is a link that is probably the appropriate label/box for yours.

Cheers Mike


http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object.cfm?key=35&objkey=4515&gkey=51

 

[Oziam]

Interesting history about the bottle & bottle making since I am a bottle collector myself, unfortunately the only thing I ever got from digging around in my garden was a bad back

 

[SRBII]

You beat me to it capsidadburn lol i was going to tell him that that company was from my good ol state of Iowa haha.

anyway if your curious its worth 5 bucks LINK

 

[windchicken]

Wow, thanks Mike! The information you provided is compelling as all heck to me. I am a geologist by trade, and I love ancient stuff that has long since passed away. I'm always squatting down and sifting through the dirt...People really don't know what to think about it, do they? Thanks so much for the link to the bottle label. I think it says 45% alcohol, but considering its intended purpose, would it have not contained some kind of opium derivative as well?

I looked real close at the bottle neck. There is a seam that comes up about half way on the thick part that held the cork. My secretary says she can feel a seam coming all the way up to the top, but I can't see or feel it...I did a macro shot with the camera, but the glass is real frosted up from erosion and it's hard to tell:

 

[SRBII]

Here is a link to Chamberlain full history LINK

 

[capsidadburn]

Windchicken, I'd be happy to send more after work and probably in a PM unless I can find the presence of capsicum in it. I've making a list that did contain capsicum. I might have on microfiche the origional patent. Also actual ingredients as per American Medical Association. A human (mouth) blown bottle the seam will be much more visable and dissappear somewhere on the lower portion of the neck from a hand finishing tool that was squeezed into the inside and outside and rotated to form the lip.

I am a pretend geologist!
Mike

 

[windchicken]

Interesting history about the bottle & bottle making since I am a bottle collector myself, unfortunately the only thing I ever got from digging around in my garden was a bad back

I kept hearing stuff clanking under the hoe blade, but I figured it was gravel...Now I reckon I need to go back and poke around with a little more attention...

You beat me to it capsidadburn lol i was going to tell him that that company was from my good ol state of Iowa haha.

anyway if your curious its worth 5 bucks LINK

Cool, thanks! I think I'll hang onto it for now. If my garden fails, then I'll have something to show for my trouble...

 

[windchicken]

Here is a link to Chamberlain full history LINK

Thanks! Interesting stuff!

Windchicken, I'd be happy to send more after work and probably in a PM unless I can find the presence of capsicum in it. I've making a list that did contain capsicum. I might have on microfiche the origional patent. Also actual ingredients as per American Medical Association. A human (mouth) blown bottle the seam will be much more visable and dissappear somewhere on the lower portion of the neck from a hand finishing tool that was squeezed into the inside and outside and rotated to form the lip.

I am a pretend geologist!
Mike

Yes, please, that's very interesting to me, especially products with capsaicin in them...

I believe I blabbered too soon about the ingredients. I went back and studied the link you sent me, and it's right there in plain print:
"Material(s): alcohol 45%, ether 10.7%, chloroform 19 minums, tri-chlor-tertiary-butyl-alcohol 3 grains"

Cool! What aspect of geology interests you?

 

[Oziam]

Here's one of my favourite bottles I got from my nan years ago, she found it in her back yard in Adelaide S.A,

Between 1890 and 1910 heroin was sold as a non-addictive substitute for morphine.
It was also used to treat children suffering with a strong cough. (I'm surprised that they remember anything!!)

 

[windchicken]

Here's one of my favourite bottles I got from my nan years ago, she found it in her back yard in Adelaide S.A,

Between 1890 and 1910 heroin was sold as a non-addictive substitute for morphine.
It was also used to treat children suffering with a strong cough. (I'm surprised that they remember anything!!)

Wow, thanks! Can you imagine what that world must have been like? Any sort of understanding of addiction and recovery as we know it was years and years in the future, and one could buy this sort of thing over the counter?

 

[synclinorium]

I am a geologist by trade, and I love ancient stuff that has long since passed away. I'm always squatting down and sifting through the dirt...People really don't know what to think about it, do they?

We are a curious sort, aren't we? Right now I'm living with an archaeologist so it's twice as bad. We half jested that we should do a formal survey before we broke new ground this year.

Pretty nifty stuff you've found. Alas, no artifacts in our yard.

 

[capsidadburn]

Well I got home and checked to see if your Chamberlain was listed in my copy of, "The composition of certain PATENT and PROPRIETARY MEDICINES" by John Phillips Street AMA Chicago 1917. I knew from it's popularity that it would be there but could not remember if it contained capsicum. Here is the listing;

Chamberlain's Colic and Diarrhoea remedy (Chamberlain Medicine Co. Des Moines, Iowa)

Formerly "Chamberlain's Diarrhoea Cure". Contained alcohol 35.8 percent, with chloroform, morphin, peppermint, capsicum and sugar. Minn. D. & F. Dept. report 1907, case 614

Regarding the list I am making from this book so far I have approx. 60 that contained some quantity of capsicum. I am just under halfway through the alphabet. There are several of them with questionable (what were they thinking!) ingredients. I have a few other sources of similar info and quite possibly many of these in my own collection or friends. I will continue my late evening research and will post eventually if permissible by the forum.

Chamberlain is not listed in either Volume 1 or 2 of Nostrums and Quackery 1912 and 1921.

Apparantly Chamberlain was a salesman and Dr. Owen was his Marion, Iowa business partner who the originator of 4 registered trade marks or patents in 1873.

1. Dr. Von Hopf's Curacoa Tonic Bitters
2. Owen & Chamberlain's Cholera and Diarrhea Remedy
3. Owen & Chamberlain's Cough Remedy
4. Owen & Chamberlain's Camphorated Hartshorn Liniment

Dr. Owen died in 1880 and Chamberlain moved to Des Moines the same year. His registered trademarks are;

1. Chamberlain's Eye & Skin ointment
2. St. Patrick's Pills
3. Chamberlain's Cough Remedy
4. Chamberlains Pain Balm
5. Chamberlains Colic, Cholera, & Diarrhea Remedy
6. Dr. Cady's Condition powders for Horses and Cattle

No images of the patents and or labels.

I think I have the Chamberlain's Cholera and Diarrhea Cure in my collection packed away somewhere. Perhaps I will dig it out since it had some Capsicum in it. If I find it i will post a pic somewhere. Here is a pic from the internet.

I collect samples of impact geology. Breccias',Shattercones. and Melt Glass from terrestrial impact craters. How I arrived at that obsession is a different story.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uyxz4RivWkk/TUtR-ZXvKDI/AAAAAAAABg4/17yB4M8R5KM/s1600/colic%252B001_b.jpg&imgrefurl=http://civilwarmed.blogspot.com/2011/02/flatulence-is-not-laughing-matter.html&usg=__A4F4n1Tg6VgD_2MzUcci5G6enEQ=&h=1024&w=462&sz=114&hl=en&start=45&zoom=1&tbnid=ojwsG5BeqLm3wM:&tbnh=139&tbnw=63&ei=i7bNTfzAKMqBtgfVuZmHDg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dchamberlains%2Bcholera%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1016%26bih%3D597%26tbm%3Disch0%2C1254&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=650&vpy=156&dur=8186&hovh=334&hovw=151&tx=78&ty=197&page=4&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:45&biw=1016&bih=597

 

[Chillihead_benny]

My garden is on a narrow stream terrace on the western edge of the Red River valley. People have been living here, apparently, for a pretty long time. I've been saving the most interesting artifacts that I've dug up so far, including the horse shoe and the cork closure type patent medicine bottle I found today. The letters on the bottle spell "Chamberlains." Still clinging to the pieces you can see the typical orangey sand of this valley:

Not nearly as old, but artifacts nonetheless:

I know some of you fellas in Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas have dug up some old stuff like this...

Hey Wind. Iam originally from upstate new york the new lebanon valley area.. small farming community that has been there since 1740 or so. the locals, including my father have been pulling "trash" that has covered 300 years or so.. my folks house is full of some of the stuff. crockery.. some glass solid rusted iron of all shapes.. it's amazing what we as a race throw away!! Happy digging!

 

[SuperHot]

That's very interesting…each item has its own story and history of the area where you found it.
It's all good!!

 

[windchicken]

We are a curious sort, aren't we? Right now I'm living with an archaeologist so it's twice as bad. We half jested that we should do a formal survey before we broke new ground this year.

Pretty nifty stuff you've found. Alas, no artifacts in our yard.

Nice! An extra scientifically curious mind must make for some interesting excavations. When I tell my wife that I really only seem to be interested in stuff whose glory days are long past she says, "Is that why you picked me?"

I dig your screen name by the way.

I think I have the Chamberlain's Cholera and Diarrhea Cure in my collection packed away somewhere. Perhaps I will dig it out since it had some Capsicum in it. If I find it i will post a pic somewhere. Here is a pic from the internet.

I collect samples of impact geology. Breccias',Shattercones. and Melt Glass from terrestrial impact craters. How I arrived at that obsession is a different story.

Cool! I knew it must have some type of opiate in it. I had no idea so many patent meds contained capsaicin...I guess that's what they mean by "capsicum?" Well, it's certainly one of my No. 1 medicines.

Thanks for the link...great photo! I look forward to your list of "capsicum cures."

Impact geology...sweet! Back in undergrad school I did one of my first papers on the end of Cretaceous meteor impact theory, back when it was a rank hypothesis...

Hey Wind. Iam originally from upstate new york the new lebanon valley area.. small farming community that has been there since 1740 or so. the locals, including my father have been pulling "trash" that has covered 300 years or so.. my folks house is full of some of the stuff. crockery.. some glass solid rusted iron of all shapes.. it's amazing what we as a race throw away!! Happy digging!

Wow...that's about 100 years before any European people settled around here. There is quite a bit of broken glass in this plot, but not so much crockery. Lots and lots of nails and strange pieces of rusty iron that I can't identify...Maybe I should save them, too?

That's very interesting…each item has its own story and history of the area where you found it.
It's all good!!

Funny you should say that, because that's what I'm beginning to see myself. The Schlitz brewery was just across the Sabine River to the west, and the old 7-Up bottling plant was in Shreveport, right across the street from the Municipal Auditorium, where they held the Louisiana Hayride, and Elvis got his big start. The horse shoe...sheesh who knows, was it a mule who plowed this land way back in the day, or a horse that pulled his master's buggy to town for supplies? As for the diarrhea and colic medicine, I wonder what that person was like...what were his or her days like out here on this hillside?