by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Area children might be disappointed to know they missed the era of Machias-made soda. It’s not quite like losing the chocolate factory to Charlie, but close.

“They were very good soft drinks, I had all I wanted of them,” said John Sprague of Marshfield. “They were in big vats upstairs, vats big enough so that they would put a big bag of sugar in them to mix it.” Sprague’s uncles Quentin “Spike” Sprague and Roland Sprague owned part of the business with Peter Palmer.