WHO'S RUDY? A TRIBUTE TO RUDY KUHN

One of our founders, Vi Kenyon, passed away in April 2013. Vi was an avid collector with tons of knowledge and stories that she was always willing to share. She will be greatly missed.

Del Kenyon, our club founder and mentor and loving spouse of Vi Kenyon has passed this December, 2017. We will miss you Del!

There's little doubt that most of our current Bottle Club Members know the part that DEL KENYON played in our Club's History.

DEL'S CORNER:

By Del Kenyon

The Felton lime kilns produced most of the lime to rebuild San Francisco. They also had a Barrel factory that produced barrels used to ship the lime. I stumbled on the lime kilns while looking for old saw mills. There were many old cabins (shacks) so I knew there could be bottles in the area. Vi and I and our two boys went out many times to look for old bottles. After the kids finished their homework, they would prowl and horse around. Later we would have lunch in front of the kilns. There was a steep bank below the kilns and one day the kids lowered a rope down to the bottom. Then I heard one call out to me digging and came up with 11 whiskey 5ths, 1 quart, 4 pints, 3 half pints and 4 rectangular amber quarts. Don't remember the names on all the bottles now. We also found some food bottles, nothing really old. The place is now a State Park so no more digging but one can still look around. I did not get all the bottles. If you look north, you may find a real low water trough that the oxen used to drink out of.

Hunting Old Ghost Towns

By Pat & Louie Schuesler

In the 1960's we started going bottle hunting out to old ghost towns with friends from Reno, Nevada. One day we drove up Highway 49and stopped at an antique shop just on the south side of Placerville and looked at some of their old bottles. As we talked to the owners, they said that we could dig in the old Placerville dump ...just north of town. We came back the following weekend with our friends, and continued to dig there for several years. It was a very steep hill, and to get to the older bottles, we had to dig down deeper. Old cars were dumped up at the top of the dump, so we had to be extra careful!!! When new owners bought the property we had to sneak in across a canyon to the dump. Then it got closed permanently. Some of the people we dug bottles with were Jules & Irma Lapiz who lived in Boulder Creek. George and Ellen Matson went digging with us for many years and of course Ray & Jean Sickler. We started with bottles, arrowheads then rocks and minerals. Del Kenyon was the first president of our club, Pat Koster was 2nd, Jules Lapiz was 3rd and Louie was 4th president of our club. Ben Zeitman was the 5th. I believe that's as far as they got.

I Had A Dream

By Judy Bakke

My luckiest bottle find started with a dream. I had a dream that Kim and I were walking in the Santa Cruz Mountains and found a hill that looked promising for old bottles. We started moving the dirt and uncovered beer bottle after beer bottle on this hillside. It was such an exciting dream that I remembered it strong when I woke up. A couple days later we decided to go exploring around Wright's Station. We were walking through the creek bed and I was looking at the hillside. They were bumpy full of dirt, rocks and roots. Kim was way ahead. All of a sudden I noticed a small blue glass shaped feature blending in with the soil. I could tell right away it was a bottle. Scooping away the the dirt I could see that the glass on the bottom was crude and not symmetrical. I could see a beautiful embossed W on the bottom. I was so excited. I called over and over for Kim. I wanted him to see it just the way I found it Finally he came and we finished getting all the dirt off the sides and carefully pulled it straight out. Even though the top was missing, the ice blue glass was in perfect condition. A crown top William Brother's soda from San Jose sat cradled carefully in my hand. It sits proudly on my dresser to this day. I have yet to go to an official bottle dig but this one I have found myself.

Horseback Riding on Highway 17

By Pat Schuesler

In the early 1960s, I rode a horse right down

In the middle of Highway 17, to a small Los Gatos town,

I galloped then on weekends, when the highway work was done

Or.. in the quiet evening....that was a lot of fun!

My brother's horse Cayenne, was a wonderful horse to ride

He galloped along so freely with a magnificent fluid stride

And when the highway work was finished my riding had to stop

But the fun of all those memories, are really hard to top!

I loved it!! and, the memories...I'm the only one I know

Who rode horseback on Hwy 17....55 years ago.

Pat Schuesler, September, 2017

THE DEL KENYON STORY

There's little doubt that most of our current Bottle Club Members know the part that DEL KENYON played in our Club's History.

Perhaps in spite of the fact that many have heard the story, it's one that's worth repeating in perhaps a bit more detail, for while it's not an historical epic, as yet, there will be a day when all that is left are a few written words and the memories of not only Del, but of all of us who are now a part of the "thought" long ago, that brought us to this day.

Del started in the days when bottles were something to either throw a rock at, shoot at with a rifle or totally ignore.

It was while on a fishing trip in the Feather River Canyon, in the year 1958 that Del, while making his way through the woods to a better spot on the river to cast his line, ran across an old Mountain Cabin and not far from the Cabin he also saw a grave, that had been there many years.

Del had decided to look through the Cabin. His search was born from curiosity, for in those days he wasn't interested in antiques. His interests were hunting and fishing.

The Cabin turned up nothing. So he left for his fishing spot

A couple days later he and Vi were driving down an old dirt road and Del saw a small sign that said, he thought, Antiques. He backed up and ventured down this so called road and ended up at at an Old Store, which was run by Charlie and Winnie Steele.

Del and Vi spent three hours talking to Charlie and Winnie, and when they left, Del had developed a mild interest in "Old Bottles", for the Antique part of the sign was referring to "Old Bottles."

With the information gained from talking to Charlie and Winnie, Del thought that there might be a chance there would be a "Valuable bottle back at the Cabin he'd found a couple days ago.

His next move was to return to the old Cabin. With shovel in hand, he went to work. All his efforts did for him was produce a Worcestershire Sauce along with two other nondescript bottles. But, although the Worcestershire had no value in today's market, it was solid gold to Del.

From that day on, Del was in search of "Old Bottles." Vi was sure that Del had strained his brain. He not only spent a good share of his time crawling down gopher holes in search of Bottles, he was on a constant lookout for other Old Cabins and Dumps. It became physically impossible for him to pass an Antique shop, Vi was usually with him as he rooted through them, she would wait in the truck and sit and knit, knit and sit, sit and knit.

Finally out of desperation she too, decided to search the so called "Antique Shops." Bad move, soon she too was hooked, not on bottles but on Dolls, along with other paraphernalia.

Del, along with two newly acquired buddies, Pat Koster and Giles Ralston searched high and low for four years. Their quest was a well kept secret. For who in those days would admit to spending their leisure time looking for "Old Bottles?"

One day while digging, Del heard about a "Bottle Club" in Sacramento. Once again, Del's curiosity got the better of him, so he and Vi decided to run down the lead, to learn more about their "New Hobby."

Both he and Vi found their meeting place. There they met Jackie Scroggins, Lou Denchfield. George Reiber and John Tibbets. Del was impressed with the Club, so over the months he and his buddies, Pat Koster and Giles Ralston worked out a set of rules and by-laws, by which to govern their new club.

The New Club formed in 1963, was an exclusive one. The now three members formerly met in Del's house. This being one of the two reasons Del was elected President. The other being that he had the most bottles.

The meetings were held in Del's house until the "Select" membership grew to 28. At that time it became necessary to find larger quarters for their meetings.

Their first public meeting place was in the Adult Education Building in Cupertino. Since there was no charge and the building was for public use, there could be no "private" meetings. That's when the doors were open to the public.

It wasn't long until the "Bottle Craze" started spreading and soon the S.J.A.B.C.A. Club became one of, if not the best, in Northern California.

It should be noted that Charlie Steele has since died, but Winnie Steel is alive and still interested in "Old Bottles."

Del credits them for his interest in bottles and hence they were his reason for starting our club.

Members email addresses

Warren Whited

Jeff and Jacqueline Walston

Kathie Craig

Pat Schuesler

Roger Hill

Dave Sisson

Willy Young

Mark Davis

John O'Neill

Dave & Mary Smith

Lois Robinson

Pat & Nancy Miller

Paul Merchain

Kim Bakke

Tobin Gilman

LINKS TO BOTTLE AND TREASURE SITES

Eulogy To Arnold Sierras

Ricks Bottle Room

Peachridge Glass

Medicine Nexus

My Best Coin Day E.V.E.R.

Bottle Digging in Hawaii

Jon Dunlavy-Ceramic Artist Glaze Specialist

Treasure Hunting For Antique Bottles

Toadstool Millionaires

Antique Ink Bottles

American Land Rights Association-Land Rights Network

Bottle wants, Sales or Trades

CALIFORNIA METAL DETECTING FORUM

JAR DOCTOR-CLEANING EQUIPMENT-EMAIL JARDOCTOR@AOL.COM

THE JAR DOCTOR

PACIFIC GLASS AUCTION

SAN FRANCISCO DIGGIN'S

TREASURE HUNTERS SOCIETY OF SANTA CLARA VALLEY

ARCHAEOLOGICAL HEADQUARTERS THROUGH-OUT THE U.S.

CALTRANS ARCHAEOLOGICAL DIGS AT WOOLEN MILLS SITE-TAYLOR AND GUADALUPE-SAN JOSE, CA

Club Diggin's at Woolen Mills Oct. 15th and 16th 1999