original antique mid-nineteenth century deep olive amber or black glass quart bottle manufactured for clarke & white in new york. the saratoga quart shaped bottle has a squat body finished with a long, narrow neck and a crude applied double tapered collar that exhibits heavy slop and asymmetry. the richly colored glass is a dark olive amber, nearly black glass. at the shoulder is embossed "new york". the bottle exhibits crudities typical of its age and date of manufacture, including whittling and allover seeding that appears as a speckled appearance. john clarke was a soda fountain owner in new york city who saw the potential of the area’s pure water and purchased land with thomas lynch in 1823. in 1825 both men started bottling water. saratoga springs was the home to 122 natural springs and renowned for the therapeutic mineral water. the iroquois called the high rock spring “the medicine springs of the great spirit”. the first bottles produced were from the mt. vernon glass works. the bottles were embossed “lynch & clarke” until 1833, when thomas lynch died. thereafter bottles were embossed “john clark”. john clarke soon married eliza white, who purchased the high rock springs, and together they formed the company clarke & white. john clarke would die in 1856. after his death the company changed hands, and eventually became the congress and empire spring company. by 1884 the company split into two companies.