original and largely intact chicago privy dug nineteenth century blue aqua soda bottle manufactured for chicago bottler james stenson. the squat body and sloping shoulders are finished with a short, tapering neck and applied oval blob top. on the front body is embossed "james stenson / chicago / ill". the base is smooth, and seams evidence manufacture with a keyed hinge mold. surface wear and discoloration or irridization from being buried are evident. crudities are consistent with age and date of manufacture, including casewear on the embossing, stretch marks and bubbles. there is a flat chip at the lip. in 1869-1870, james stenson became the junior partner with john amberg at a spruce beer, mineral water and soda water bottling plant that had been in operation for several years at 99 & 101 monroe street in chicago. in 1868, a year before his association with amberg, stenson had opened a wholesale and retail wine and liquor business at 132 state street. it is likely that he took the opportunity to join a bottling operation to ensure that he would have an outlet for bottling his own alcoholic beverages. when he bought out amberg and took over the business entirely in 1871, he decided to continue the ongoing soda and mineral water bottling operation as well, under his own name. according to the city directories, stenson's soda water and ale bottling business at his monroe street factory spanned the entire decade of the 1870's and continued until 1882. at that point, he decided to close the monroe street bottling plant and focus his efforts entirely on generic retail-liquor sales at his 132 state street address. toward the end of the 1870's he switched over to using the new hutchinson internal stopper bottles, four styles of which are known that are embossed with his company name.