26 - Jun 26 Part 2 of 4 A Rminiscinc Rminiscnc of 53 Yars of Bottl Collcting in South Carolina by Harvy S. Tal Antiqu Bottl Collcting Historis On of a sris... Up and coming diggr Lbby Clmnti with Stv Harris in trnch off King and Spring strts in downtown Charlston. (Courtsy of Vic Svndsn
BBottls ottlsand and xtras xtras 27 27 M ay--jjun un Nw Dirctions in Bottl Nw Dirctions in Bottl Collcting Collcting B y th lat 1960s, much intrst had dvlopd in th Bywhol th lat 1960s, much intrst had in bing th ara of bottl collcting. Thisdvlopd intrst was whol ara of bottlbycollcting. This was bing sparkd primarily nw sourcs of intrst bottls across th stat sparkd primarily by nwwhn sourcs bottls across this 15 to in city and town dumps. youofhav a dump that stat in city dumps. Whn you hav a dump 20 ft dpand andtown 200 yards long, quit a numbr of can that 15 to ft dp and 200thy yards long,it. quit a wr dig is thr for20 a long tim bfor xhaust Thr numbr of of dig thr for a long tim bfor a numbr townscan in South Carolina startd thy xhaust it. Thr wr a numbr of towns in South digging in thir dumps. Carolina startd digging in thir dumps. Thr wr various dumps hr in Columbia. On was Thr various hr in Columbia. Ona was sixwr blocks from dumps th Stat Hous. At this spot, stl six blocks from th Stat Attracks. this spot, a had company was locatd bsid thhous. railroad A dump occurrd hr a ravin and ath littl stramtracks. ran bnath stl company was locatd bsid railroad A th railroad and thnhr undr th ara stl company dump had occurrd a ravin andtha littl was locatd. This dump was loadd with undr dispnsary bottls stram ran bnath th railroad and thn th ara and othrs fromcompany th 1880swas andlocatd. 90s. This dump was th stl loadd with dispnsary bottls and othrs from th 1880s dump locatd hr was calld th Hugr Strt and ïanothr 90s. dump and was th chif city dump for Columbia starting in th arly 1900s nding cam to light during Anothr dumpand locatd hr was1920. callditth Hugr construction of an intrstat highway into town. In spots, it Strt dump and was th chif city dump for Columbia was 30 in ft in- and out-of-town starting thdp. arlydozns 1900s and and dozns nding of 1920. It bgan to dig thr for a fw yars. cam to light during construction of an intrstat highway into town. In spots, it was 30 ft dp. Dozns and Popl to dig on thos placs and to thy dozns of in-bgan and out-of-town bgan digbgan thrto look out in th country and call up grandpapa and s if h for a fw yars. had any old bottls. Many individuals contractd bottl collcting fvr toduring Popl bgan dig onthos thostims. placs and thy bgan to look out in th country and call up grandpapa and s if Ltany mold rlat on prsonal digging story from this h had bottls. Many individuals contractd priod. Th story bgan on July 3, 1965. My wif had gon ñbottl collcting fvrîduring thos tims. downtown to do som shopping and whil sh was doing that, Lt m rlat on prsonal digging story from this I dcidd to scout around xcavation was occurring and priod. Th story bgan on July 3, 1965. My wif had might b turning up old bottls. gon downtown to do som shopping and whil sh was doing that, I dcidd to scout around xcavation As I approachd th xcavation for a parking garag was occurring and might b turning up old bottls. across from th main post offic in town, I saw a cramic pint gingr bottl lying top of thfor ground. I hustld ovr, As Ibr approachd th on xcavation a parking garag pickdfrom up th th hol bing dug for th across thbottl mainand postprd officinto in town, I saw a cramic garag foundations. About four ft down, a fiv-foot pint gingr br bottl lying on top of th ground. I layr of glass and bottls lookd at m. hustld ovr, pickd up th bottl and prd into th hol bing dug for th garag foundations. About four Th sit was bhind thof oldglass C.C.and Habnicht Br Bottling ft down, a fiv-foot layr bottls lookd at Plant. Th ground slopd away to a formr gully and th m. company had thrown away lots and lots of bottls it couldn t sit was th old C.C. Habnicht Brand som us.th b sombhind cam from out-of-town brwris Bottling Plant. Th wr othr typs ofground bottls.slopd away to a formr gully and th company had thrown away lots and lots of bottls it couldnít us. b som cam from out-oftown brwris and som wr othr typs of bottls. Harvy Tal Blow: Dark grn pontild Gorg Washington/Flls Point historical flask dug by Vic Svndsn on sam day as Baltimor Bottl Club show. (Courtsy of Vic Svndsn)
28 I didn t hav a shovl or any digging tools with m, but that did not stop m. I jumpd into th hol, scratchd around and libratd 15 or 20 bottls. Aftr taking my wif hom, I rturnd that aftrnoon and found 100 bottls. Ths bottls datd to th 1880s and arly 90s and includd br, soda watr, Hutchinson and a fw othr typs of bottls. For a month, I wnt to th sit vry aftrnoon aftr work and dug until dark. No othr collctor was to b sn. I talkd to th construction and thy xplaind thy wr just going to haul off th dirt, dbris and bottls and for m to gt all I wantd. Whn I xplaind I fard on sid of th hol might cav in on m, th forman calld ovr th bulldozr oprator and had him shav off th ovrhang at th hol for m. I calld my brothr to com ovr and w dug thr togthr a coupl of tims. Thn H Had Company A month aftr I found th sit, a nwspapr rportr discovrd it and put an articl in th Columbia Rcord along with a workr holding a bottl. Th nxt day whn I arrivd at th sit, thr wr 12 digging. My xclusiv had ndd. In th mantim, I had acquird 700 to 800 bottls. I had takn hom so many of a fw typs of ths bottls, I d rachd th point of not picking thm up. Most of th individuals who showd up to dig wr frinds. W wr comptitiv, but in this cas, thr wr plnty to go around. Although comptitiv, w kpt it on a frindly basis. This would stand us in good stad whn w latr organizd th South Carolina Bottl Club. This is a part of th Columbia story, but lt m rturn to Charlston and addrss th mattr of why so many bottls wr found thr. In 1800, Boston, Charlston and Philadlphia wr th largst citis in th Unitd Stats. Charlston rmaind th largst city in th South until bypassd by Nw Orlans by 1830. It would rmain th largst city in South Carolina until wll into th 20th cntury. In Charlston, th hony wagons, as thy wr calld, mptid thir contnts from claning out privis into th marshs nar th rivrs or in low placs. Many collctors dug th marshs. In th arly days, collctors mostly dug privis, howvr. Whn larg hotls bgan to b built, urban rnwal projcts undrtakn and intrstats travrsing th city, placs to dig matrializd. Svral collctors amassd wondrful collctions of antbllum Charlston colord sodas, drugs, bittrs and mdicin bottls from ths sourcs. Thir bottls gnrally datd much arlir than thos found ls in th stat. Although I got in on Charlston digs in only a limitd way, ovr th yars I managd to acquir som wondrful bottls from that port city. My collction includs svral xampls of drug, mdicins, soda watr, br, bittrs, Hutchinsons and whisky bottls, plus a fw othrs. Howvr, I nvr pursud Charlston bottls to th xtnt I hav othr South Carolina bottls. I knw I could not match th bttr local Charlston collctions unlss I spnt tons of mony to purchas rar bottls. Toward th nd of th 1960s, I had stoppd looking for bottls out in th country. Dumps and privis causd m to bgin digging for bottls in mor urban placs. At first, it was difficult to locat privis in Columbia, but w soon bgan to find thm. Trio Bcoms a Tam Whn I say w, I am rfrring to thr. Paul Diggrs 3: (L-R) Paul Jtr, Harvy Tal and John Drrick (Courtsy of Harvy Tal)
Jtr, lik myslf, was a school administrator. John Drrick was th purchasing agnt for an Allid Chmical plant locatd on th outskirts of town. Th thr of us bcam a bottl digging tam who dug trash pits, privis, wlls, hdgrows and dumps in Columbia for mor than a dcad. Almost vry wknd would find us digging bottls. 29 W found untold numbrs of drug bottls from 40 diffrnt local drugstors dating from th 1870s to th arly 1900s. Dispnsary bottls, local sodas, brs, mdicins, tc. rgularly showd up in privis and ls. Back thn, it was fairly asy to gt prmission to dig a privy, but thr wr tims whn w ndd prmission to dig othr kinds of placs. Such a plac was th sit for a nw highway dpartmnt building to b constructd in 1977 thr blocks from th Stat Hous. Th building was bing placd in an ara a small crk had bn covrd ovr with 15 ft of fill dirt. Stv Harris with a nic whol chambr pot dug out of a Tradd Strt privy in Charlston. (Courtsy of Vic Svndsn) Whn digging th foundation for th building it bcam ncssary to clan out all that fill dirt and construct a culvrt ovr th crk in ordr to gt a solid foundation. This xcavation uncovrd a dump along th crk. Svral prsons trid to gt prmission to dig th sit for bottls, but had faild. I mt with th construction company ownr and was abl to convinc him to lt us go in thr for on night. Th thr of us dug from dark until 3 a.m. Bon wary and slpy, w lockd up th sit, loadd our cars with mor than 400 bottls, and caught a fw hours slp. Th nxt aftrnoon w mt and dividd th bottls. Th bottls datd from th lat 1860s to 1890, two yars bfor th S.C. Dispnsary cam into xistnc. Thr wr lots of arly bottls from Columbia and a numbr of bottls from ls including on lat historical flask. Growing out of all our digging in Columbia, in 1976 Paul Jtr and I dcidd w would put togthr a publication on what w had found in our capital city. W calld it Columbia s Past in Glass. W had don such xtnsiv digging in Columbia and had such a good handl on what was hr until vrything that s bn discovrd sinc our publication cam out in 1976 can b listd on on pag. Virgil Svndsn (L) and Stv Harris with a coupl of nic black glass bottls dug fromm an Alxandr Strt privy in Charlston, S.C. (Coutsy of Vic Svndsn) Sinc thn, of cours, w hav larnd far mor historical information th drug stors and brwris which had bottls, plus th mrchants who had flasks with thir nams and othr information mbossd on thm. W v larnd mor information ths mattrs, but w includd 95 prcnt of what has turnd up to dat. Exampls of most of ths bottls ar in my collction. Jtr and Drrick also hav xampls in thirs. Our publication was addd to my library, along with
30 Dr. Huggins dispnsary book publishd in 1971. Wll-Digging Profitabl On of th sourcs w found old bottls was wlls. Many lots in town not only had a privy, but a wll. Ovr tim, a wll might go dry or th watr bcom unsuitabl for drinking for on rason or anothr. Th homownr thn had a 10- to 60-foot-dp hol in his backyard. H could haul in dirt to fill it, or h could fill it with kitchn garbag, yard trash, tc. ovr tim. That s what oftn happnd. Our Columbia digging tam dug ovr a dozn wlls in town and rcovrd hundrds of bottls in th procss. In Columbia, wlls wr found in a varity of soils. Som wr in hard clay, othrs in soft sandy soil; Many of th wlls originally had woodn curbing supporting th sids, spcially thos locatd in sandy soil. Wlls in hard clay did not rquir any lining to support thir sids. W riggd up a 5-foot-high mtal fram, placd it ovr th top of a wll and attachd a whl to it. W thn thradd a nylon rop ovr th whl and tid a buckt to on nd of th rop. As w dug down, w would windlass th buckt full of soil and dbris to th top, dump it and rpat th procss. Somtims w would find bottls starting at th top for a fw ft and thn ncountrd dirt that had bn hauld in to fill th wll. W usually did not dig furthr. I suspct w may hav missd many bottls by not doing so. It rquird much faith and commitmnt to continu digging for 20 or mor ft in th hops th trash layr would rsum latr. Th trash and dbris in on wll in particular provd to b a tim capsul dating from 1920 back to th Civil War. W do not know just how dp this wll was sinc w stoppd digging at 60 ft and had not rachd th bottom. I hav chosn to rlat th digging of this wll sinc I found it to b on of th most intrsting and productiv w vr dug. Th lot on which this wll was locatd sat only a short distanc from th hadquartrs of th Columbia Polic Dpartmnt. Svral diggrs, including our tam had dug 10 or 15 privis and trash pits along th primtr of th lot. In th middl of th lot nxt to th strt sat an abandond hous usd by vagrants. On of ths diggrs discovrd th wll and dug it down to fiv ft, but was too skittish to dig furthr. H had found svral straight-sidd Coks dating from just bfor 1915 and a fw local soft drink bottls dating to 1920. H rfilld th wll. Shortly thraftr, our tam bgan to dig this wll. In th first 10 ft, w movd from straightsidd Coks and local drink bottls to monogrammd S.C. Dispnsary bottls. Thy dat from 1899 to 1907. By now, w wr at th 15-foot lvl. W dug 15 mor ft and ntrd th Baming Vic Svndsn with a pair of 1790s black glass bottls. ( Courtsy of Vic Svndsn)
31 ra of palmtto tr S.C. dispnsaris dating from 1893 to 1899. W wr finding many local Hutchinson bottls and local brs and a fw non-columbia bottls. At this point, w had rachd as dp as w could with our quipmnt and as dp as w flt comfortabl to dig. With som rgrts, w filld in th wll. During th nxt yar, w thought oftn that wll, knowing w wr finding good bottls whil w wr digging. At this point, anothr brothr of min, Hollis Tal, ntrd th pictur. H was a rcnt carr Air Forc rtir. A fw yars arlir, h also had bcom intrstd in collcting bottls. I told him th wll and h prsuadd our tam to r-dig it. Gtting In Dpr W bgan 6 p.m., on th Friday night bfor th Labor Day wknd. By 9 p.m., th four of us had r-dug all of th first 30 ft that had bn dug a yar arlir. At that point, w thrw two old doors w found stackd bnath th abandond hous ovr th top of th wll, thrw a littl dirt ovr th doors for camouflag and rtird for th night. Th nxt morning, w rmovd th wll covring and bgan to dig in th un-dug portion of th wll. Almost immdiatly w found mor S.C. Dispnsaris, including a pint round ambr and an ambr half-pint w brok whil digging it out. It was not long bfor w passd from th dispnsary ra and movd into bottls from th 1880s. W unarthd lots of local brs, Hutchinsons and othr bottls. W closd up th wll that aftrnoon in th fashion of th prvious night and dcidd w would rst up on Sunday and rturn Labor Day. Bright and arly Labor Day morning, w rmovd th wll covring and prpard to rntr th wll to bgin digging. W wr using two 22-foot-long, chain-linkd laddrs to ntr and lav th wll. W wr now at a dpth of btwn 45 and 50 ft. Hollis wantd to b first in th wll and quickly dscndd to th bottom. In a minut, h calld up saying h flt funny and was going to com out. I told Paul and John, H s lost his nrv. Whn h gts out, I ll go down and dig. As soon as Hollis rachd th top, I hoppd onto th laddrs and quickly dscndd to th bottom and startd digging. In a minut, I bgan to brath vry rapidly. A light cam on in my thick skull. Thr was vry littl oxygn in th bottom of that wll! I quickly climbd out and informd th othrs of my suspicion. To tst th oxygn lvl, w lit a pic of papr with a match and droppd it into th wll. At 10 ft, it snuffd out. That confirmd my suspicion. W tid a cardboard box to th nd of a rop and liftd it rapidly up and down to stir and mix th air. W thn lit anothr pic of papr and it burnd all th way to th bottom. It was Labor Day and gtting an air pump smd problmatic. A trip to my hom scurd two 30-foot long watring hoss. W tid on nd of th hos to th top of our rig and droppd th hos into th wll. W continud our dig by sucking air out of th hos as w ndd it. Thr o clock in th aftrnoon found us th 60- foot lvl. W had addd a 10-foot aluminum laddr to our quipmnt and wr as dp as w could go. I was th last prson in th hol and at th vry nd, I dug a brokn U.S.A. Hospital bottl. W had movd from 1920 back to th Civil War! W tossd all th dbris and dirt back into th wll and dividd up th bottls and that nds th story of that dig. This story illustrats how prsistnt and ddicatd to collcting bottls many of us ar. In rtrospct, it may also illustrat how unsaf it might hav bn to dig 60 ft into th ground th air quality is in qustion. I dug a coupl of wlls in Charlston with othrs, but thy wr not productiv. Thy usually wr bricklind and wr only 8 to 10 ft dp. I dug on in Gorgtown, S.C., with th Glnns and hav a small black glass bottl on my shlf from it. A fw othr wlls out in th country wr not productiv. With all this intrst hr in South Carolina and ls promptd by information on bottls and th xprinc gaind ovr tim in digging bottls, thr wr nough rasons to congrgat and organiz a bottl club. To B Continud... Th FOHBC Editorial Committ for Bottls and Extras is looking for storis and articls for th nxt yar and outwards. Plas considr contacting th Bottls and Extras Editor, Martin Van Zant (mdvanzant@yahoo.com) with your idas and qustions.