Legion Utensils Co., Inc. made this prune steamer pot between 1897 and 1988; it was filled with boiling water and lye, then dry prune plums were added so the boiling process would crack and wrinkle the skins, making them edible. In the early 1900's, prunes were the number one product produced in Sunnyvale. Many manhole covers for Sunnyvale were made by Joshua Hendy Iron Works, Sunnyvale, from 1891 into the 1940s. Hendy was a world leader in mining technology and in the manufacture of turbines for West Coast Liberty ships, and it also contributed to the construction of the Panama Canal.