CHAPTER XXI.
GROVE TOWNSHIP.

THE ATLANTIC GAS & FUEL COMPANY.

This enterprising corporation, whose plant for years furnished light for the city and homes of Atlantic, and which at all times since the works were first erected, under every change of management, has met the requirements of its business with promptness, readiness and breadth of view, is now a stock company organized in April, 1905, with a capital of $30,000 and the following officers: W. A. McWaid, president; F. N. Porterfield, vice-president; and E. J. Young, secretary, treasurer and general manager. It is the successor of former owners of the gas plant, which was opened for business in 1882 by C. D. Jones of Independence, Iowa, and H. K. Patten, of Chicago, and was among the first of its kind in use in the West. Mr. Patten was the patentee of the process used by it, which is the manufacture of gas form crude oil and naphtha.

In the first year of their business the founders laid about six miles of mains, and until the city installed the municipal electric light plant which it owns, continued to light the city. Some years ago Mr. Patten retired from the old company and Mr. Hovey, of Independence, took his place as a stockholder and director, he and Mr. Jones owning and operating the plant until the organization of the present company. The business was extended from time to time, and additional mains were laid as required by the growth of the city, until at the date of the transfer there were about fifteen miles in operation. The new company has continued the work of extension and improvement in the same enterprising spirit, and now has a very considerable volume of business.

E. J. YOUNG, the secretary, treasurer and general manager, is a native of this county, born at Grove City on November 29, 1868. His parents, Philip and Margaret (Strucy) Young, came to the county in 1865, the father having previously (in 1862) crossed the plains to Virginia City, Mont., where for three years he successfully engaged in gold mining. On their arrival in this county they bought a prairie farm, which they improved and occupied until 1869, when they moved into Atlantic, where the father died in 1897and the mother is still living. The father was born and reared in Germany and upon his emigration to the United States located at Mansfield, Ohio. They had two sons and four daughters, all living but two of the daughters.

E. J. Young was reared and educated in Atlantic, and has been interested in business there from his youth. He is a stockholder in the Iowa Trust & Savings Bank, and finds the enjoyments of fraternal life in the Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias. His whole life from childhood has passed under the review of the people of his home city, and by them and others who know him he is considered one of the best business men and most useful and acceptable citizens of the county. With keenness and clearness of vision, alertness and energy of action, and constancy and devotion in obeying the commands of duty, he has the requirements for pronounced success in whatever he undertakes, and his genial disposition and obliging manner have given him a popularity which is an additional asset of value in the employment of his energy for the advancement of the city, in which he is always deeply interested.

"Compendium and History of Cass County, Iowa." Chicago: Henry and Taylor & Co., 1906, pg. 574-575.
Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, July, 2018.