Located in Southampton the Saugeen Mineral Water Company sold mineral water from 1893 until around the 1920s. The water came from an artesian well (an underground water deposit with running water) discovered by the Bruce Salt Company while looking for salt deposits in 1871.
The lot (Lot 7, Front St.) was purchased by the Southampton Mineral Water and Bath Co., later the Southampton Mineral Well and Water Co., who operated there between 1886 and 1892. The president of the company was A.B. Klein of Walkerton, and the plant was managed by different individuals including James Dundas (1886-87), and John Morrison (1888-89). In some instances, the baths were managed or run by another person; in 1888 W.J. Holden leased the baths, and in 1889 The Paisley Advocate reported a “Chinaman is be imported to Southampton to run the mineral baths this summer.”. Though likely producing bottled water at this time, the company is not listed in the directories as being bottlers or mineral water producers, but the accompanying the directory listings is “hot and cold baths at any hour” suggesting the company was perhaps more focused on the bath business than commercial bottled water distribution.
Carey & Creighton
The Southampton Mineral Well and Water Co. was liquidated in 1892 and the property was purchased by May Carey, a music teacher in Southampton. It then passed to John Carey in 1893, with the business being named the Saugeen Mineral Water Company.
By August of that year the bottling operation was up and running with stores acting as their agents. An ad for the Mammoth Cash Grocery Store found in an August edition of the Bruce Herald states they are an “Agent for Saugeen Mineral Water. Always in Supply.”. The baths were also open at this time, and an advertisement for them can also be found in an August edition of the Bruce Herald. The ad states “The Saugeen Mineral Magnetic Baths” were open to the public for 25 cents per bath. It also mentions the water was good to drink and bathe in, if you suffered from “rheumatism, liver or kidney disease, constipation, or any kind of nervous debility”. Charles F. Carey was acting as manager.
John Creighton came on as a business partner in 1895. Charles F. Carey continued acting as proprietor as can be seen from an advertisement in the 1895 Ontario Gazetteer and Directory. John Carey and John Creighton owned the company until 1905 when a fire in January destroyed the original building. A new facility was promptly rebuilt.
Advertisement from 1895 Ontario Gazetteer & Directory
Becker & Frank
In 1906, the company was sold to Max Becker and Anthony Frank for $7,000. They added soft drinks to their production, using real fruit juices, and featured flavours such as strawberry, lemon sour, ginger ale, and birch beer. Becker and Frank continued to delivery locally, by horse and buggy to places such as Wiarton, Hepworth and Chesley.
Creighton and Carey had changed the name of the business to Saugeen Magnetic Mineral Water Co. at the turn of the 20th Century, and Becker and Frank continued to use this name for some time before it was changed to Saugeen Natural Mineral Water Co. In 1921, Becker and Frank sold to Alton Huber for $2500.
The 1920s and Onward
Alton Huber sold to George McCallum of Niagara Falls in 1928. It is unclear if Huber ran a business during his ownership as he is listed on the 1921 census as the proprietor of the pool hall.
An advertisement from 1930 shows the business was still active, but on a much smaller local scale. The advertisement mentions water “will be on sale at the spring May 1st to October 15th”. Prices were ten cents for an Imperial quart if the customer brought their own container, and fifteen cents for a paper container with a stopper. Interestingly this advertisement states that the water was radio-active due to the presence of potassium, and that it tasted good due to the lack of sulphur. This claim is backed up by a 1929 study regarding potassium, and an 1876 water quality analysis.
After George McCallum, the property went to Charles McCallum and the well went unused, suggesting the water operations were done in the 1930s.
In 1944, Dr. James Moyle bought Lot 8, Front Street, beside Lot 7 where the spring was located. In the purchase, Dr. Moyle was allowed to use the well for domestic purposes. Dr. Moyle and the town came to an agreement in 1946 allowing residents to take water from a pump on the edge of the property.
The quality of the water has reports from clear and tasteless to sulphurous, murky, and disgusting. John McNabb of Southampton is quoted in the 1968 edition of the Bruce County Historical Society Yearbook that “for many years, in every bar in the county, Saugeen Mineral Water was the popular remedy for that morning after feeling”.
After flowing for a century, the artesian well stopped in the early 1970s, with many people attributing this to the new sewer system installed in Southampton.
Sources:
BCM&CC. Image, Digital. 1911. A2013.083.010, Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre.
Government of Canada. Western Ontario Gazetteer and Directory 1898-99. 1899. Canadian Directories Collection. https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/directories-collection/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=7753 . Nov. 18th 2022.
Hilborn, Robin R. “Saugeen Mineral Water Company”. Southampton Vignettes: A brief history of a Lake Huron town. Family Helper, June 2010, A2015.096.001, pg. 71-72, Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre.
Mineral Springs 1940. 1940. AT2014.002.temp, Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre.
“Object Record.” 954.092.006 – Bottle, Drinking. Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre, https://brucemuseum.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/2C7F2A64-AB8F-48A9-9A90-093234381602. Nov 17th 2022.
“Southampton Radio-Active Mineral Water.” The Chesley Enterprise, Thursday, April 3rd 1930. Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre,
“Town & District News.” The Times, January 12th, 1905.
Weichel, John. Bruce Coast fo’c’s’le. No. 52, December 1995. Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre.
Ontario Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1888-9. — Toronto : R.L. Polk & Co., 1888. — xii, [3]-1644, vii p. — Printed by Hunter, Rose & Co.
Ontario Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1886-7. — Toronto : R.L. Polk & Co., 1886. — viii, [2], 1657, [10] p. — Printed by Hunter, Rose & Co.
Ontario Gazetteer and Business Directory. 1884-5. — Toronto : R.L. Polk & Co., 1884. — [1xvi], 1680, [22] p. — Printed by Hunter, Rose & Co.
Province of Ontario Gazetteer and Directory, Including the City of Montreal, P.Q. 1895. — Toronto : Might Directory Co., 1895. — [2003] p. — Printed by Murray Printing Co
“Southampton Radio-Active Mineral Water”. Paisley Advocate, April 2, 1930.
“Local and District News”, The Paisley Advocate, May 9, 1889.
Advertisement “Mammoth Cash Grocery Store”, Bruce Herald, August 10, 1893
Advertisement “The Saugeen Mineral Magnetic Baths”, Bruce Herald, August 17, 1893
McNabb, John. “Early Settlers in Bruce.” The Bruce County Historical Society Yearbook, 1968, pp. 10-11
