cowboys

There is probably no more quintessentially American figure than the cowboy. Although the actual work of a cowboy is hard, dirty and sometimes dangerous, he has been romanticized and commercialized since the mid-nineteenth century through the present day. Especially in the West, soda pop bottlers often used dramatic, colorful images of cowboys (and cowgirls) to sell their products throughout the ACL era (1930s to mid1980s). Today, these cowboy and cowgirl bottles are hugely popular with collectors. Let’s look at a few of them.

“Frontier Beverages” is considered one of the masterpieces of ACL artwork. The bottle depicts a cowboy riding a bucking bronco and was put up by the Platte Valley Bottling Company of North Platte, Nebraska, in 1948. In a 2002 article, Rick Sweeney explained why the bottle is so desirable to collectors, apart from its relative rarity. First, the illustration is large, filling much of the front label; it is dramatic and detailed, displaying realistic minutiae such as the horse’s muscular legs, flailing mane and tail, and horse- shoes. Second, the typestyle used for the word “Frontier” is unique, created by an artist specifically for this bottle, and has a decidedly Western feel. The placement of the words, arched above and below the illustration, compliments the action. Also, the unusual colors, brownish burgundy on an ivory background, add to the ACL’s beauty, with the bottle made with a pebbled, rustic-looking texture. All in all, “Frontier Beverages” is a miniature work of commercial art worthy of a museum. But the bottle is substantially more affordable than a Monet or Picasso, typically selling for about $100. (Fig. 1)

ACL’s showing a bucking horse and rider were a popular theme on Western soda bottles. Three such bottles were “Flathead Beverages” from Kalispell, Montana, a 12-ounce product put up in 1942 (Fig. 2); “Circle W Beverages” from Miles City, Montana, a little 7-ounce soda bottle that also was bottled in 1942 (Fig. 3); and “Roundup” from Roundup, Montana, which was put up in 1959 and contained 10 ounces of soda pop, and was touted on its back label as “The Drink of the West” with the advice to “Round-Out Your Day with Round-Up”

(Fig. 4). All three bottles are fairly scarce and desirable. “Flathead Beverages” typically sell for about $100, while a clean “Roundup” sold for $250 in 2022. Saddle bronc riding is one of the traditional events at American commercial rodeos, which started as a non-monetary pastime for working cowboys to test their skills against one another.

Several Western ACL soda bottles depict cowgirls, including the rare “PlainsMaid Beverages” from Lubbock, Texas, holding 7-1/2 ounces of soda and bottled in 1948 (Fig. 5), and the fairly common “Western Beverages” from Glendive, Montana, containing 7 ounces and put up in 1957 (Fig. 6). In 2022, a mint example of the “Plains-Maid Beverages” sold for $600 on eBay, while in contrast, nice examples of “Western Beverages” sold for $45, $50 and $60 in early 2023. The “Western Beverages,” with its sweet image, demonstrates that a wonderful collection of colorful, historical ACL sodas doesn’t have to break the bank.

One of the most famous and remarkable cowgirls was Annie Oakley (1860-1926), who taught herself to shoot and hunt at age eight to be able to sell game to local shopkeepers to help support her widowed mom and siblings. She toured for decades with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show under the name “Little Sure Shot” (she was barely five feet tall) and earned more money than any other performer except Buffalo Bill himself. Her marksmanship almost defied belief. At thirty paces, Annie would split in half a playing card held edge-on; shoot a cigar out of her husband’s lips; snuff out the flame from a burning candle with the draft from a passing bullet; and unfailingly hit dime after dime after tiny dime tossed high into the air! She performed for Queen Victoria and other European royalty and shot a cigarette from Kaiser Wilhelm’s mouth at his insistence. Unfortunately, there are no ACL soda bottles that depict the extraordinary Little Sure Shot.

“Canyon City Quality Beverages” is a 7-ounce soda bottle put up by the Canyon City Bottling Co. of Canyon City, Oregon, in 1953. The front ACL depicts the silhouette of a couple of mounted cowboys chatting as they ride beneath a pine tree with snow-capped peaks in the distance. (Fig. 7) The bottle is not expensive when found and is one of my personal favorites. Canyon City is the rugged, mountainous seat of Grant County in central Oregon. Founded in 1862 after large nuggets of placer gold were discovered in nearby Whiskey Gulch, the town’s population swelled to 10,000 in a matter of months and became a wild and woolly place known for its gunfights. By 1870, however, the census showed that just 250 residents remained in the town as more copious amounts of gold were discovered elsewhere. The town never again came close to its Gold Rush population and only 660 people were living there in 2020. But Canyon City sure gave us a great bottle!

Finally, less realistic but more folksy illustrations of cowboys are depicted on “Desert Cooler” and “Rancho,” which were bottled, respectively, in 1962 in Tucson, Arizona and in 1948 in Ontario, California. (Figs. 8 and 9) “Desert Cooler” claimed on the back that it was a “vitalized beverage” (whatever that means), while “Rancho” bragged that it was “Today’s Favorite.” Both ACLs were made using unusual colors: dramatic white on black in the case of “Rancho” and a not-terribly-successful (in my opinion) green on flesh-colored tan in the case of “Desert Cooler.” Both bottles are somewhat hard to find but not too pricey, with clean examples of either one typically selling for less than $100.

Cowboys and cowgirls are a unique part of American history, tradition and culture, as are the colorful ACL soda bottles that depict them. The author welcomes comments, questions and suggestions at mikedickman@yahoo.com