rare, museum quality documented repository of c. 1840's-1850's bottles discovered in a silt layer along the south shoreline of wolf point in downtown chicago. settlement of the point dates to the early 19th century, where log homes, a tavern and later a hotel were built, before the railroad laid track in and around this area. the very distinct and rare pontiled glass and glazed earthenware bottles were likely pitched from the side of a schooner passing along the chicago river. several bottles have been retrieved from this area for the past few decades when excavations for new construction unearthed privy pits, dredged shorelines and so on. this unique grouping of bottles were found during excavations from the 1980's and in 2014 when foundations for the wolf point towers were being poured. the majority of the bottles traveled by ships heading west from new york state (e.g., the port of buffalo). the bottles are amazingly intact and well-preserved from being buried deep in the riverbed's layers of silt deposits. a remarkably historic and highly unique collection of the chicago's past in the form of bottles.