Yemassee Pure Rye Whiskey

Bateman & Switzer

The document is a letter from Dan Sullivan on his letterhead, to Bateman & Switzer, a Great Falls, Montana business that provided Wine, Liquor, Cigars and Billiard supplies to a great deal of Montana saloons and bars. The letter is dated July 9, 1904. The little vignette in the upper left hand corner is fascinating to me.

The bottle itself is a dug bottle from Unionville, a small mining community near Helena. It was given to me by a fellow here in town - a patron, actually. I used this bottle in November of 2011, and posted it HERE.

A month ago, I removed the Last Chance Whiskey label that was affixed to the bottle, and glued a good copy of a Yemassee label which I obtained from a bottle collector in Bozeman. I then had a Vietnam veteran friend of mine take a photograph of the bottle with whiskey in it. I worked from his photograph with his permission. I was told yesterday of a different Bateman & Switzer label with a different Indian depicted. I love these labels! 

Frackin' Bolshevik

This is the first in a series of pieces of business paper for C. B. Stalnaker. He was known as "Charlie" in the oil extraction business of the early 30's, 40's and very early 50's of Northern Montana and Southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. I have an image of a device with this label on it, and I also have a piece of Charlie's business paper that specifies this very device - a torpedo - by name. This one has some information missing or I could actually point to a spot on the map where he used 35 quarts of oil explosive - nitroglycerin - to improve the output of the well. Charlie was an expert. He died in bed at the age of 87.

Charlie Stalnaker, The Shooter.

C. B. Stalnaker was a Shooter. He was to the oil extraction business what the Roto-Rooter man is to the plumbing business of today. The Bolshevik- Greene Cave Catcher, or as it was known to begin with The Bolshevik Safe Electric Time Bomb was one of his 'tools'. After all, a shooter has to have the right tools.

There is of course a story that I'm going to tell about Mr. Stalnaker. I knew him because I delivered a newspaper to the man, and collected for them every two weeks. I had no idea the kind of life this man led. Trust me. It involves the border, Nitro Glycerin in the rumble seat and a frackin' Bolshevik.

I told you he was a SHOOTER. This is not from a fake birth certificate. It is from a piece of billhead for Mr. Stalnaker's company. The magazine was NOT in town. More on that later.

Shelby, Montana - Indian Home

I've had this piece of paper for quite awhile. I had been avoiding doing alcohol and tobacco related art, simply because I felt that neither were subjects that were popular with my patrons. I finally looked at it for more than the second time, and because of the nature of the letter, the age of the paper, (Shelby Junction predated Shelby), and the fact that establishment was created near the Great Northern boxcar which served as the station, I decided it was worth enhancing. The Shelby Junction Station was the connecting link for the Great Northern Railway and the Great Falls & Canada Railway.  Peter P. Shelby was a general manager for the Montana Central Railroad before becoming an employee of the Great Northern.

And - that's how my hometown got its name!

The text of the letter:
                                      Sirs,

                                              Please hurry up the cigars ordered
                                 from you over a month ago.         If you cannot
                                 send me the entire order,   please
                                 forward 50 on the next train
                                 and oblige.
                                                                                                  Truly,
                                                                                                Dan Sullivan