Message is a bottle

In September, the kids and I spent an hour or so on a bend in the Salt Fork river a few miles from our house. The river is higher in the spring and is lower in the summer and fall months.This particular spot is out in the middle of the river, and an is on the edge of an island of tree branches and brambles trapped together. The kids like to look for shells along the river banks, and this spot is always great for finding a plethora of shells of all kinds.

Logan looking for shells along the Salt Fork River. I made this picture with my Pentax SPII 35mm camera.

This year the water was exceptionally low. We haven't had a lot of rain this spring and summer, so lots of shells are exposed and laying around on what used to be the river bottom.

Among the shells, rocks and other things exposed by the low water was a bottle sticking out of the muck. It caught my eye, because it was a nice shade of teal blue thick glass. When I pulled it out I was surprised to see that it was still intact. After looking it over for a few minutes I was going to leave it be, but the "clean up nature" person inside me (and the curious historian) decided to pick it up and take it home.

Beautiful Dudenhofer bottle found in the mud in the Salt Fork River.

On the side of the bottle is written: "This Bottle Filled By Dudenhofer Bottling Co. Danville, ILL"

There isn't much on the Net about the Dudenhofer Bottling Company. A biography of George Dudenhofer states that he started the bottling company in 1901 in Danville. Another source from an article about these particular bottles states that the company ceased production of bottles at the Danville location in January of 1919.

This particular bottle has a large square "D" on the bottom of the bottle, but no date of manufacture anywhere on the glass. It is thick and irregular, and has whisps in the glass as well as some air bubbles trapped during the bottle making process.

It is a great little bottle! I can only imagine how it ended up empty, resting in the bottom of the Salt Fork River some time about 100 years ago. The amazing thing is that this bottle stayed together, and has hardly any signs of abuse at all.

When I find the time, I would love to do more research on the Dudenhofer Bottling Company in Danville. I imagine a trip to the library and some mircofilm is in order :) But then again, that to me is the fun part about finding a piece of history.