Ahhh - the pause that refreshes - Glimpses of the Past with Karen Webster
Hey, guys, it’s awfully hot today! Let’s take our bikes up to Bert’s for a Wishing Well pop.
Naturally-occurring bubbling or sparkling mineral water has been popular for thousands of years. Believing in the healthy attributes of it, ancient peoples bathed in the mineral springs that produced it and also built resorts around them.
In the 1700s, scientists learned how to “push” carbon dioxide into water under pressure to produce fairly long-lasting bubbles. This technique led to the development of the soft drink industry.
Originally, corks were used to stop the bottles. Wires were used to secure the corks and the bottles had to be stored inverted, thus the invention of the “crown” cap was a boon to the industry.
When diet soft drinks were first introduced, they contained sweeteners called cyclamate and saccharine, both of which were eventually banned because of health concerns. The adoption of aspartame, a naturally-occurring amino acid, had a dramatic effect on the industry.
The Dominion of Canada issued a report on manufacturing in the country and included statistics on the soft drink industry. In that year, there were 514 establishments in Canada producing carbonated beverages. These plants employed 7,602 people and generated over $1 million in sales. The materials used in the manufacture of their products included carbon dioxide gas in cylinders, solid carbon dioxide, sugar, glucose, citric and tartaric acids, syrups, concentrates and flavourings, chemicals and supplies for washing bottles, boxes, cases, labels crowns (caps), and corks. In 1952 alone, 133,155,147 pounds of sugar were used in this industry in Canada
Locally, several companies produced soft drinks. In 1947, Bert Mathers, an employee of the CKNX radio station, erected a cement block building at the corner of Josephine and North Streets with the intent to start a soft drink bottling company. Called Mathers Bottling, it was the sole manufacturer and distributor in the area for Wishing Well and Squirt soft drinks. Because of lingering wartime rationing regulations, it would be a while before Mathers would be able to obtain a sugar quota. He was a local booster and sponsored a bowling trophy. In addition, each year as the Lions Radio auction rolled around, Wishing Well beverages were popular items to bid on.
In 1951, the business changed hands when Mathers Beverages employee Earl Hamilton purchased it. The territory served would continue to be from Port Elgin to Bayfield and east to Mitchell and Arthur. Innocuous as a soft drink manufacturing facility may have seemed, the business was handling glass products. In 1955, Vernon Hamilton, brother of the owner, suffered a nasty laceration to his upper left arm when a bottle flew off the assembly line and cut him. In addition to the possibility of an accident, strong muscles were required to handle the finished product contained in glass bottles and stored in wooden crates.
Earl Hamilton changed careers from bottler to insurance agent in Guelph and passed the business along to Charles Mead. In 1961, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Mead and their sons Gordon, Earl and Kenneth moved from Hillsburg to Wingham after purchasing Hamilton Beverages. Gordon and Earl were to be working in the bottling plant and Kenneth was a school student. In 1962, Mead beverages installed a new bottling machine for their Wishing Well soft drinks. As a result of increased demand for their product, sales numbers were up.
Wingham was not the only locality in the beverage business. In Goderich, Charles Campbell Tweedie, a Clinton native, was the manufacturer and bottler of Coca-Cola and Tweedie’s popular drinks in that region. He built his plant at 58 Picton Street in 1931. Cam, as he was popularly known, registered his soft drinks under the name of “Tweedie’s Icy Drinks” and they were depicted in a scene of a polar bear seated on a cake of ice. He later purchased the property of the former King Edward Hotel on Kingston Street. During Young Canada Week in 1954, it was noted that Mr. Tweedie gave out free bottles of his company’s pop to all youngsters whether they were hockey players or not. On May 1, 1955, Jim Bissett purchased the Goderich Bottling Works from Cam Tweedie and later, in 1961, it was announced that Maurice Jenkins had hired on to work with Gordon McManus at the Goderich Bottling Works.
In Exeter, Tuckey Beverages produced Kist, Vernon’s and Hires products and later pivoted to Pepsi-Cola, which also included 7-UP and Canada Dry ginger ale. It was housed in a building originally erected in 1936 for office space and warehousing, but was converted for bottling around 1955. Tuckey later focused solely on the trucking business that came to be known under the name Guenther Tuckey. The beverage company was purchased by Maedel Beverages and later Pathfinder International. As of 1987, the company was solely involved with warehousing and distribution.
With the introduction of cans, non-returnable glass bottles and rigid plastic bottles, the days of the local glass bottlers were numbered.
So, even though the summer days continued to be hot and active boys still worked up a thirst swimming in the river or speeding around on their bikes, there no longer was a local bottling company in Wingham where Jimmy, Harold and Ron could spend their nickels on a cool bottle of Wishing Well orange, lemon lime, cream soda, root beer, ginger ale or lime rickey soft drinks.