El Paso Small Bottlers: Victory, Lone Star, Texas Bottling Works — Three Rivers Glass Evidence (Bill Lockhart, Bottles on the Border)

• Source URL: https://secure-sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/EPChap12b.pdf
• Ingested: 2026-07-26
• Note: This is a focused excerpt. The full chapter (“Bottles on the Border…,” © Bill Lockhart 2010, Revised Edition, Chapter 12b, covering El Paso’s small bottlers) presents complete histories of several firms; only the Three Rivers Glass-relevant passages plus standing context are extracted here.

Victory Bottling Works (1923-1931) — confirmed Three Rivers customer

History: E.M. Seggerson and Mauro Quevedo formed Victory in 1923 at 316 East Ninth St. Alejandro Marquez (a former Texas Bottling Works bottler/driver) joined as a helper in 1923, became a partner (Quevedo & Marquez, 1924-1927), and “took control of the establishment in 1927 but was only successful for a few years. He was followed in 1931 by Benjamin E. Armijo,” almost certainly a receiver — “another probably casualty of the Great Depression.”

Victory’s proprietary six-panel bottle came in four variations. The third variation (aqua, base “MQ”) introduced the panel text “Victory / Bottling / Works / El Paso / Texas / Phone M2590” (one entry per panel, orange-peel surface, four five-point stars at the shoulder). The fourth and final variation is the Three Rivers-marked bottle:

4. The final variation was virtually identical to the preceding one, except that the bottle was colorless, where the first three were all aqua in color (Figures 12b-37 & 12b-38). The bottle also had slightly different dimensions, measuring 19.6 cm. in height and 5.7 cm. in diameter. Although one side of the heel was still embossed 6½ FL. OZ., the other had the 3 RIVERS {star} manufacturer’s mark, used by the Three Rivers Glass Company (1922-1937). A slightly larger version of the bottle was illustrated in Smith (1989:51). The bottle was embossed A.M., the initials of Alejandro Marquez, the final owner (Figure 12b-39). Marquez operated the firm from 1927 until it went into receivership in 1931.

(Collections cited for the latter variations: Lawrence Angus, John Gross, Mike Morrison, and the author’s collections.)

Note the dates: here Lockhart gives Three Rivers Glass Company as “(1922-1937)” — elsewhere in the same series (Chapters 5c, 9a, 9b) he consistently uses “(1925-1937).” The A.M. base initials bracket the bottle to Marquez’s sole ownership, 1927-1931. The chapter also spells the name variously “Marquez” and “Marques.”

Depression-era context on why Victory bottles survive at all:

With the exception of the Victory Bottling Works (see below), very few bottles remain from this period.

Lone Star Bottling Works (1918-1934) — confirmed Three Rivers customer

History: “Founded in 1918 by Manuel Torres Saldaña… the Lone Star Bottling works was soon purchased by Jose Urrutia. The business was located at 1831-33 Magoffin Ave.” In 1923 Lone Star relocated to 123 North Raynor St., beside Urrutia’s home. “The family renamed the business the Lone Star Bottling & Fuel Co. in 1930, but the firm was no longer listed after 1934.”

The known house-brand bottle (aqua, 7 oz., four embossed rings, body “LONE STAR BOTTLING WORKS,” heel “EL PASO, TEXAS,” base “J.U. / H-B [connected]”) was recovered from a Lone Star bottle dump at Socorro, Texas. On the Three Rivers example:

The bottle described here was certainly ordered by Urritia [sic — Urrutia] – as evidenced by his initials on the base. An example in the Ram Davila collection was made by the Three Rivers Glass Co.

(Dating for the style: [1918-1934]; generic paper-labeled bottles were the norm ca. 1918 to the mid-1920s, so the embossed bottles are likely from the later period. Collections: Freeway Trash Dump, Socorro, Texas; Ram Davila collection.)

Texas Bottling Works (1918-1934) — negative case, NOT a confirmed customer

The Texas Bottling Works (first listed 1918 at 520 Park Dr.; last listed 1934) used a colorless four-panel bottle base-marked “M.M.” (probably Morales and Morales). It is identical in form to Union Bottling Works bottles that Three Rivers made — but carries no manufacturer’s mark:

The Union Bottling Works used identical bottles (although those were labeled in the panels rather than the shoulder/heel areas). The containers used by Union were made by Three Rivers Glass Co. between 1925 and 1937. Although there is no indication of the manufacturer on the Texas Bottling Works container, the characteristics of the bottle certainly fit into the time period.

Because the bottle is unmarked, Texas Bottling Works cannot be counted as a confirmed Three Rivers Glass customer — only as a plausible one on stylistic grounds.

Depression-era reuse context

Because the Great Depression was so devastating, even the largest bottlers had problems. Since money was tight, bottlers continued to use containers that they would normally have discarded. If a bottle would still seal and no cracks that caused leaks, it would still be reused – regardless of how bad it looked. As a result, few bottles remain from the period. It is probable that bottlers even scavenged their own dumps and reused older bottles that had been previously discarded.