One of the interesting things about the area around the old town site of Ideal are the bottles that we have found.  What is even more interesting are the majority of the bottles that we find are not near the foundations.  They are found along the edge of the arroyos. It’s almost as if they used the arroyo for dumping there trash.   Some of the bottles we can easily identify what the contents are.  Others are a mystery.   These bottles provide an interesting insight into the lives of the people in the town.
Coors
	One of the finds this summer was a bottle that had Coors Golden Colorado embossed on the glass.  According to the Coors archivist this is  a Malted Milk Bottle.   Production began around 1914/1916 and continued until 1957.  These jars would have been delivered in a wooden case to pharmacies, stores and soda fountains.  Then sold by the jar to customers.  They would have also had a label affixed to the jar.  The jar would have contained powdered malted milk.  below the picture of the bottle are images of the wooden case and the label that would have been applied to the bottle.
Mrs Stewart’s  Bluing
We have also found several bottles that show the different products that were used by the people in the town.  The bottle to the right is a Mrs Stewarts Bluing bottle.  This product is still made today.  According to their website this company was started in 1883 by Al Stewart, a midwest peddler, and was used to keep white clothing looking their whitest and dingy whites being restored to bright white!  I would think a very handy product to have available if you worked or lived around a coal mine.