Sunday Program – July 9
Karen Ballentine of 19th-Century News will be presenting a free program on Sunday, July 9 at 1:30 p.m. and will be doing a book signing. Among others, Karen has written books about the San Luis Valley, Alamosa, and is currently working on book about Spook City, which was near Saguache.
Thank you
Thank you, Wilber Lewis, for the donation of the “40 & 8” medal. It is located in the museum in the military case display.
Thank you to Tracy Beach for the wonderful stories she presented on Madam Laura Evens of Salida during the program she gave on Sunday, June 25. Tracy is the author of Laura Evens biography, My Life As A Whore. She is revising her book The Tunnels Under Our Feet. Tracy’s new book, Michael, will be released this fall.
It is very much appreciated that the following people attended this presentation: from Salida, Barb and Denny Daley, Betty Karis, Kim Karsten, Ray and Kathy Steffa, Linda Cook, Karen Peeples; from Moffat, Henry Espinoza, Connie Rapalski; from Crestone, Jim R. Moore, Dean Lively, Dorraine Gasseling; from Alamosa, Bill Madrill; from Del Norte, Johnny Mayeux, Diane Mayeux; from Saguache, Patti Massie, Wilber and Wilma Lewis, Janice Aldrich, Jeannie Norris, Nyla Thompson, Sarah Krantz, David Smalley, Alice Hill, Faith Magill, Jean Wilcox, Dolores Worley, James Worley, Larry and Jeannie Ewing, Sarah Simmeth, Virginia Sutherland; no town named, Michaelyn Luttze, Diane Heflery; and to others to who attended but did not sign in.
History of soft drinks
Is it soda? Is it pop? Is it coke? Is it sody pop or sodie pop? These are all common terms for carbonated soft drinks, which are the most consumed beverages in the U.S., averaging 44.7 gallons consumed per person per year.
Since it is summer and it is hot, here is some basic history of what may be your favorite cold drink.
Coca Cola
In 1886, Coca-Cola was invented by a pharmacist named John Pemberton, otherwise known as “Doc.” He fought in the Civil War, and at the end of the war he decided he wanted to invent something that would bring him commercial success.
Usually, everything he made failed in pharmacies. He invented many drugs, but none of them ever made any money. So, after a move to Atlanta, Pemberton decided to try his hand in the beverage market.
In his time, the soda fountain was rising in popularity as a social gathering spot. Temperance was keeping patrons out of bars, so making a soda-fountain drink just made sense.
And this was when Coca-Cola was born.
However, Pemberton had no idea how to advertise. This is where Frank Robinson came in. He registered Coca-Cola’s formula with the patent office, and he designed the logo. He also wrote the slogan, “The Pause That Refreshes.”
Coke did not do so well in its first year. And to make matters worse, Doc Pemberton died in August 1888, meaning he would never see the commercial success he had been seeking.
After Pemberton’s death, a man named Asa Griggs Candler rescued the business. In 1891, he became the sole owner of Coca-Cola.
It was when Candler took over that one of the most innovative marketing techniques was invented. He hired traveling salesmen to pass out coupons for a free Coke. His goal was for people to try the drink, like it, and buy it later on,
In addition to the coupons, Candler also decided to spread the word of Coca-Cola by plastering logos on calendars, posters, notebooks and bookmarks to reach customers. It was one step in making Coca-Cola a national brand, rather than just a regional brand.
A controversial move on the part of Candler was to sell Coca-Cola syrup as a patent medicine, claiming it would get rid of fatigue and headaches.
In 1898, however, Congress passed a tax in the wake of the Spanish-American war. The tax was on all medicines, so Coca-Cola wanted to be sold only as a beverage. After a court battle, Coca-Cola was no longer sold as a drug.
7-Up
7-Up, the 88 year-old citrus soft drink, once went by the less-catchy name, “Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda. It was packed with mood-enhancing lithium. Soon after it’s release it was renamed to 7-Up.
Lithium is a salt found in ground water and has long been used to treat bipolar disorder and depression. Its mind-altering effects may have been an early draw for 7-Up. It contained a compound called lithium citrate. 7-Up started selling two weeks before the stock market crashed in October 1929 kicking off the Great Depression.
Theories about the name vary. The most logical explanation is that the “7” in the name refers to the drink’s seven ingredients: carbonated water, sugar, citrus oils, citric acid, sodium citrate and lithium citrate. The “Up” references the lithium lift. In 1948 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned the use of lithium, and two years later 7-Up was reformulated.
Dr. Pepper
Dr Pepper is a “native Texan,” originating at Morrison’s Old Corner Drug Store in Waco, Texas. It is the oldest of the major brand soft drinks in America and was sold beginning in 1885. Like its flavor, the origin of Dr. Pepper is out-of-the-ordinary.
Charles Alderton, a young pharmacist working at Morrison’s store, is believed to be the inventor of the now famous drink. Alderton spent most of his time mixing up medicine for the people of Waco, but in his spare time he liked to serve carbonated drinks at the soda fountain. He liked the way the drug store smelled, with all the fruit syrup flavor smells mixing together in the air. He decided to create a drink that tasted like that smell. It contains 23 fruit flavors.
In 1904, Dr Pepper was introduced to almost 20 million people attending the 1904 World’s Fair Exposition in St. Louis.