Antique 1927 Witter Water Label 💧 Quack Americana Cures, Capone Hangout!

What Was Witter Water? 💧 Witter Water, "A Natural Mineral Water," Witter Water, Inc., Chicago, © 1927

Size: 10 1/2" x 5 1/2" ~ Slight to little edge wear. Never would notice on display but please see pics and judge for yourself.

Now this is a piece of Quack Americana! This is an antique 1927 Witter Water bottle label, printed in deep green on pale green paper, with a snowy pine forest and a little stream running right across it. On one side, the directions for taking it. On the other, a big "Analytical Report" listing every mineral in the water, down to the parts per million. It wraps all the way around a bottle, and it's never been on one.

My pictures seriously don't do it justice.

🔍 What's Printed on It

WITTER WATER, "A NATURAL Mineral Water," and in bold, "Shake before using," because the small precipitate that settles out, the label tells you, is about 70% carbonate of iron, 16% carbonate of lime and 14% carbonate of magnesia. Then the dosing, and this is where it gets good: "Witter Water is not a beverage water." You were to take TWO ounces, 16 teaspoonfuls, right after each meal and again a half hour later, and if that didn't do the trick, a stepped-up schedule of four doses within an hour and a half after every meal. "Do not eat between meals." And in capitals, "WITTER WATER IS NOT A LAXATIVE."

It was "Bottled pure, exactly as it flows from the spring at Witter Springs, California," 24 fluid ounces for the hefty price of $1.50 in 1927, from WITTER WATER, Inc., General Offices, 62nd and La Salle Sts., Chicago, Illinois. The Analytical Report on the right lists nearly twenty "hypothetical combinations," from sodium bicarbonate and magnesia bicarbonate down to a little lithium chloride, each with an asterisk if it was one of the "elements having purifying and healing properties or necessary to cell life." A little © 1927 sits down in the snow at the lower left.

⚖️ What the Government Thought

Uncle Sam wasn't buying it. Shipments of Witter Water sent from Ukiah, California to Chicago in 1932 ended up in federal court, and the FDA's Notices of Judgment tell the rest. The government's chemists found an alkaline water carrying about 177 grains of dissolved minerals to the quart, mostly sodium, magnesium and calcium bicarbonates, borax and salt. The circular that came with it promised relief for stomach acid, stomach and duodenal ulcers, colitis, anemia, colds, chronic fatigue, high blood pressure, rheumatism and even obesity, and bragged that the water supplied "11 of the 12 natural minerals essential to human life." The government called those claims false and fraudulent. In May 1933 one seizure of 2,109 cartons ended in a consent decree, with the water released under a $2,500 bond only to be relabeled, and in April 1936 Witter Water, Inc. pleaded guilty in a second case and paid a $100 fine.

🌲 Witter Springs and the Legends

The water came from Witter Springs in Lake County, California, about three miles northwest of Upper Lake. The springs were discovered in 1870, a resort grew up around them soon after, and water from Witter Medical Springs was being bottled and sold to the public by around 1909. The Witter's Springs post office opened in 1873, and the name Witter Springs came back on the post office in 1913.

During the golden age of the 1900s, the Witter Resort was the luxurious summer getaway for many famous and notorious figures. The story goes that Al Capone himself preferred it as a recreational retreat, guarded by his loyal entourage with Tommy guns and only letting in his invited guests, and that the resort drew the biggest names in Hollywood too, including Pickford, Fairbanks, Chaplin, Gilbert and Fatty Arbuckle. The bottled water was sold at the resort and all over the country, and it was said to have healing powers, a must-have for anyone seeking rejuvenation.

🏡 Display

Antique and Vintage labels show you what antique advertising is all about with the wonderful graphics that lithography provided that modern printing just can't reproduce. This was mostly a lost art after the 1920s unfortunately. Americana Labels are a reminder of a bygone era, but the amazing lithography process is unparalleled even to this day in my opinion. Museums and Art Institutes have galleries dedicated to them and more and more collectors are seeking these out to preserve their history. Once the limited supply for sale is gone and on display with collectors or in galleries then they will be very difficult to acquire.

Most of these artists were very good but desperate for work during that era and got paid very little and received no recognition for their work. Unfortunately, the majority of these artists will remain unknown, but we can keep their art alive forever.

Imagine hanging this antique advertising on your wall as home decor in any room! It's a perfect conversation piece for a bathroom, a pharmacy collection, a doctor's office, or anybody from Lake County.