The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1884-09-04
A Town Run by Natural Gas.

"Our glass factory and our residences
are heated and lighted with natural
gas" said Captain James B. Ford, the
veteran plate glass manufacturer, a few
days ago, to your correspondent atzthe
Monongahela House, Pittsburg.
'Do you mean that the furnaces of
your foundry and; the CRATES Of your
houses consume only gas?"
Eyes. Not pound of coal or wood
is consumed at creighton, where the
Pittsburg Plate Glass. Company have
their plant. Come out and I'll show
you" ,.... s.r.,-~
So to Creighton, 20, miles north of
Pittsburg, on the Allegheny river, and
on the "West Penn Road" as people
style it, went your. correspondent. And
what saw he there? AnswerJ the model
community Of the age!
Captain. Ford, whose round form was
so familiar years ago in the cities about
the falls, met me, and, without cere-
monv, escorted me through the town of
Creighton. will use his explanation
without quotation marks. Three years
ago, believeing. that a natural flow of
gas could be obtained in the valley Of
the Allegheny north of Pittsburg suf-
fclent to serve the purposes of fuel and
light for any mandatory, two hundred
acres were purchased and we'll was
sunk. A we'll defined coal vein was on
the property, hutscoa1 was not wanted !;
gds was, and gas was struck 1t 1900
feet, in q five inch bora A stream, q
torrent of pure hydrogen gas, burst out
inch, and the establishment of plate
glass works on an economical basis be-
came fixed fact. Last November the
Pittsburg Plate Glass Company was
organized s1s IT. So ; ~ -
4 What I saw, is what / wish to speak
about. No coal, no wood, no cinders,
no ashes, no smoke (think of that), no
debris of a factory to be seen anywhere.
In the fnrnacesa lurid, steady heat,
regulates like cleck work.. Overhead,
in the vast works; were gas burners
ablaze in tlle broad day, because, as
Captain Ford said, lit was not worth
while: to turn the burners Of and on,
as there was plenty of gas, and to spare.
All through this vast establishment,
with its great whirling tables loaded
with plate glass; undergoing the several
processes of polishing. was observable
the supreme power. Of the five-inch pipe
of natural gas. The great engine
'throbbed and moved in perfect regular
ity~ all the mechanism of the establish
ment, actuated by the same simple,
natural power. No coal, no ashes; no
cinders, no smoke!
"Come to the house and I'll show
you: how We get along without coal, ;"
said Captain Ford. .t-: Il .t@.fr 49,:
- Wonderingly I followed. :, .--f-~
In a charming cottage residence of
large capacity, with CRATE aud gaslights
in every room and hall, and in the
kitchen stove, even, were nothing but
fringes of gas jets. 81.
''Last winter, us cold as the winter
| was we didn't know what cold was"
! said lady in this delightful home.
Why should they A thumbscrew on
gas pipe regulated the temperature
to absolute perfection. We live in
fest age. To primitive people, depend
ent upon coal and wood for heating
purposes, whether we get it through
cheap stoves, CRATES, or costly furna-
| ces, what. q revelation this ma
lures gas company ~ is. / am in
clined to have q mighty poor opinion 0
.our local gas companies with their mil
Hons of capital when I think of Cap
tain Ford's fye-inch pipe stuck in the
hills, Just beyond the town Of Creighton,
on the Allegheny river Nature has