Strong Hold is a brand name used by the Brownstein, Newmark, and Louis
Company and the Brownstein-Louis Company for some of their work clothing
from 1906 to sometime after 1942.  They were a Los Angeles firm.  A pair
of jeans found in a mine in Inyo County, California had the Strong Hold
buttons with "B-L/Co." rivets.  A handwritten reciept in the back pocket
was dated to the early or mid 1920s.  It was sold on e-bay within the
last year or so (sorry that info is at my work).

We found many of these at Alabama Gates Construction Camp.  While the
site was used between April 1912 to February 1913, we found a
combination of Strong Hold, "B.N. & L./L.A.", and "B.L./Co." buttons.
The comapny change to BL & Co in 1911 providing us the closest artifact
tpq for this short-lived site.  In LA they sold for about $1.00 in
1911.   (Page 103)


This is the best citation until the new HA journal comes out.

Van Bueren, Thad, N., Judith Marvin, Sunshine Psota, and Michael Stoyka
1999    Building the Los Angeles Aqueduct:  Archaeological Data Recovery
at the Alabama Gates    Construction Camp.  Prepared for California
Department of Transportation, Fresno.

Sunshine Psota