Flea Market Find - Reply (Great Radium...)

[Todd Jackson <TJJ@nrc.gov>]

     On June 10, 1996 Jeff Mason asked about bottles labeled "Great Radium Spring Water
Co., Inc., Pittsfield MA".  Pittsfield is at least 100 miles from Saratoga Springs, NY so not
likely they used the same source (as someone else suggested), unless the water was
imported from NY.  I have family in Pittsfield and was there over the July 4th holiday, so what
better to do than stop in the local library for some light research on an interesting topic!
     Unfortunately there was very little info available.  The Pittsfield telephone directories from
1919 through 1922 listed the Great Radium Spring Water Company at 24 North Street,
Pittsfield.  Some of the listings indicated there was an advertisement on the back cover of the
directory, however the cover was removed during library re-binding and the ads are lost. 
Although some people I talked thought they remembered such a company, none had any solid
information.  Nobody knew of any local water source that was known to contain radium, so it
is possible that the water was obtained elsewhere.  From reading Paul Frames excellent
historical tale in the July 1996 HPS Newsletter, the Company existed at the time that Radithor
elixir was available, so it was probably a local competitor (kind of like a microbrew compared
to a national brand). 
    Wish I had more to tell, but that's it.

Todd Jackson CHP
tjj@nrc.gov