The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1907-11-21
THE FAR-FAMED ALTA
MONT SPRINGS WATER
Being Shipped In Car Lead lo:S To
Eastern Cities.
DESCRIPTION OF BOTTLING WORKS
Every thing Appertaining to The
Handling Of The Water Is Scurpu-
lousy Clean and Contamination Is
Almost Absolutely Impossible.

/ Garrett county, Maryland, has long
had the reputation Of possessirr :, among
other things, abundance Of = 3od pure
water, and now that the 1ltamont
Spring Water Company has aiken the
initiative in bottling and shipping it
away, the people of this section Of
Maryland feel that a new and important
industry has been set on foot
When Col. George Truesdell, former
District Commissioner Of Washington
city, because the owner of the Alta
mont Springs farm, he found several
springs Of water Of remarkable purity.
He at once began shipping the water,
in limited quantities to Washington,
and it has become quite noted there and
in Philadelphia and Baltimore.
One of these springs known as Alta
mont Spring on Great Backbone Noun
tain, 5000 feet above the sea, is a spring
of large proportions and icy tempera-
ture. The demand for the Altamont
| Spring water has induced the proprietor
to build a stone house over the spring,
and erect barbed wire fence about it,
so that no possible contamination should
result This water has been piped to
the Altamont Springs Farm station on
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and
| building erected for the bottling and
shipping of this product
The building was begun in 1905 and
completed in the carly part of the pres
ent year. 1t has frontage on the
| Baltimore and Ohio Railroad of forty
! feet, with depth of eighty feet. It
has two stories, the first story being of
concrete. The machinery is of the
very latest manufacture, and the build
ing contains every possible improve
ment that can be thought of. There
are four storage rooms, two Of them
with ten foot ceiling, and two with
heighth Of fourteen feet. A siding.
with car capacity of four cars, has
been put in place by the Railroad Com
pany.
Absolutely nothing is done to the
water, but everything to the bottles.
The machinery for cleansing, washing,
! sterilizing and labelling the bottles is Of
the very best, and that cleanliness may
prevail throughout the establishment,
. rubber gloves are provided for the
operators at the sterilizing machines,
and on the first floor, bath rooms, with
all modern innoyations, for the male
employees, and similar accommodations
on the second floor for the female en-
ployes have been instaIledin accordance
with the rigid rule for absolute cleanli-
ness throughout the works.
Owing to the inability to steriliza the
five gallon carboys formerly in use, on
account Of uneven thickness Of the
glass, and unequal expansion and con-
traction when subjected to extreme
heat, that form of vessel has been aban-
doned, and only half gallon size bottles
used. While the machinery was fully
capable of sterilizing the carboys, they
themselves could not stand the uneven
expansion and contraction due to the
excessive heat, and subsequent cooling
incident to the process. Half gallon
bottles, on the contrary, stand the high
degree Of temperature very well.
Each case contains twelve half gallon
bottles. The shoppers used are the
familiar crowns manufactured by the
Crown. C1ra sid Seal Company of.Bal-
timore, -sca extensively on all bottles
throughout the country.
The boxes containing the empty bot f.
ties received from the b. and o. cars at |
the building platform, are brought to
the ground floor by an elevator, where
they are placed on a gravity conveyor
to the ponderous steel soaking machine, |
that revolyes once every Ethirty-two /
minutes. This soaking machine has
eight hundred pockets with capacity
for as many bottles, and one hour is i
consumed in the soaking process of
these eight hundred bottles. The soak
ing machine holds thousand gallons.
1t is divided into two compartments, !
and both of these compartments are
filled with solution of caustic soda.
The first solution is strong, and the nexm
weaker, and during the passage ofEthe
bottles through the soaking machine,
80 minutes are consumed, during which
time the bottles are automatically filled
and emptied twice.
After passing through the soaking
machine, the bottles are automatically |
dumped into tank of warm spring
water, where the outside of the bottle +,
u