Natural Gas, What is it Doing for Muncie; Hemingray among industries listed

NATURAL GAS.

WHAT IT IS DOING FOR MUNCIE, INDIANA.

New York Capital Seeking Investments in

This Wonderful Country — Manufacturers

Seeking This City of Free Fuel,

Enterprise and Wealth — An

Investment of $2,000,000

New York World, Feb. 17.

Years ago the Delaware Indians driven from their homes in the East by the fierce encroachment of the, Five Nations, fled westward and sought refuge among the Miami tribe in the beautiful and fertile val­ley of the White River. Here they prospered, and here a few years later, Tecumseh, that wily leader of the scattered tribes, came among them.

Here began the desperate struggle for supremacy in which the blood of the savage mingled with that of the hardy pioneer. After years of war the weakened remnants of the once powerful tribes were agian [sic] again driven towards the setting sun. The cabins of white settlers took the place of the Indian wigwams. The native village gave place to the town of Muncie, where the restless foot of the untamed sav­age once roamed now stands a grow­ing city, reaching forth in all direc­tions with her myriad arms of com­mercial activity, inviting the manu­factories of the world to share her many natural advantages. On June 11, 1827, Muncie was selected by a board of commissioners as the county-seat of Delaware County, so named in honor of the Delaware Indians.

Muncie is now recognized beyond a doubt as the fairest, as well as the greatest, natural gas city of the West.

The beautiful location, on a nearly level plateau thirty to fifty feet above White River, its miles of macadmized streets lined with thrifty and beautiful maple shade trees, its beau­tiful houses, its stone and brick side walks, its excellent water-works, sew­erage system and perfect drainage, its squares of brick and stone build­ings, its beautiful and stately High School buildings, its magnificent stone Court-House erected at a cost of nearly $300,000, the finest in the

State, except at Indianapolis, its ex­cellent hotels and churches, its gen­eral appearance of thrift, neatness, health and prosperity — all these, combined with the unlimited supply of natural gas, render it one of the most desirable as well as one of the important cities in the State.

Muncie is the county seat of Dela­ware County, one of the richest and best cultivated counties in the State. Radiating from its centre like the spokes of a wheel from its hub are twenty splendidly graded and grav­elled turnpikes, forming charming drives and penetrating everywhere the wealth of agriculture.

Three railroads cross at Muncie — two East and West trunk lines — the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railway, familiarly known as the "Bee Line" system, with its connections by fast trains from Cleveland to the East, and to Indianapolis, and St. Louis on to the West.

The Lake Erie & Western, running from Sandusky, on Lake Erie, west through Ohio and Indiana to Peoria, Ill., gives excellent shipping faculties, crossing as it does the great North and South trunk lines.

The Fort Wayne, Cincinnati and Louisville Railway, running north and south, crosses all of the great East and West trunk lines, furnish­ing connections for the shipment of freight to all points at comepetitive [sic] competetive prices. A belt railway has been con­structed around the southern part of the city to give greater convenience to manufacturers to reach the differ­ent rosds.

Two years ago Muncie had a pop­ulation of 7,000, to day it has a population of 14,000, and during the past year over three hundred buildings have been erected and hundreds are now required to meet the demands of tenants.

Muncie has a paid fire department splendid water-works, electric lights, schools equal to any in the State, churches of almost every denomina­tion, opera-house, public library, tele­phone, Mayor and Council.

NATURAL GAS.

The power of natural gas is such that one must see, feel and hear the effect in order to realize the power and capacity of this monarch of all fuels. As a heat producer it excels anything and everything yet known to man. As a convenience and lux­ury it has no equal, It is wonderful miraculous, strange. We know not how it is made nor whence it comes.

We only know that it is obtained by driving a well 950 feet and tapping the Trenton rock.

Theories and opinions are plenty, but a knowledge of the facts concern­ing its origin leaves us as much en­veloped in mystery to-day as were the Orientals in the Dark Ages when natural gas was first discovered in China.

One thing we know, and that it is revolutionizing the manufacturing industries of the United States.

Muncie has now thirty-two gas wells, capable of producing 100,000,000 cubic feet per day, equal in heat­ing power to 5,000 tons of coal. Es­timating coal at $2 per ton, the thir­ty-two wells will produce $10,000 worth of the best kind of fuel every twenty-four hours, or over $3,000,000 per year. But this is not all. Cen­tre Township, in which Muncie is located, will supply gas for over 850 wells, without one interfering with the other.

The first well was sank in Novem­ber, 1886, and of the thirty-two since drilled not one has proved a failure. Gas in this section is of the finest quality. No oil or water has ever been found, and the field is the high­est part of the formation of Trenton rock, thus guaranteeing quantity and quality for ages to come.

MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

The total number of factories of all kinds now located at Muncie are fifty-two, and the total number of hands employed 2,773. Among the largest may be mentioned the follow­ing: Muncie Nail Works employ 300 hands, Hemingray Glass Works employ 275 hands, Muncie Pulp Co. employ 200 hands, Maring, Hart & Co. employ 250 hands, C. H. Over, window glass, employs 175 hands, Ball Bros. & Co., glass, employ 125 hands, Muncie Bagging Co employ 100 hands, J. H. Smith & Co. employ 135 hands.

Since the discovery of natural gas, two years ago, Muncie has secured seventeen new factories, with a com­bined capital of $1,000,000. These have been secured without the expen­diture of a dollar for advertising.

It has been but the natural growth of a beautiful city located in the cen­tral portion of the United States, and favored by everything nature can be­stow.

Manufacturers must seek the gas belt or go out of business. No manufacturer using coal to a large extent can compete with those who use nat­ural gas.

In Muncie fuel costs nothing. Each factory can have its own well and control its own supply.

The Muncie Pulp Company and Muncie Nail and Iron Works each save $40,000 yearly in fuel alone, cer­tainly quite a profit in itself.

Several large manufacturers are soon to locate here, one of which will employ about 2,700 men, and it looks as though Muncie is destined to be­come a flourishing manufacturing city of 50,000 inhabitants within three years. No city in Indiana has the advantages of railroad facilities, natural gas, water and location that Muncie has.

The cost of fuel and lights for a medium-sized house here is $12 to $16 a year. Here the poor man can en­joy the luxuries of life at a nominal cost.

A $2,000,000 COMPANY.

A party of New York gentlemen, experienced in operating real estate, have purchased about 2,000 acres at Muncie, and will develop and im­prove by establishing manufactories, building, renting and selling houses, selling house lots and supplying nat­ural gas to consumers.

The final purchase of over a mil­lion dollars’ worth of property was completed at Muncie Feb. 11, and the following officers and directors were elected at the stockholders’ meeting of that date:

Ex-Gov. Leon Abbott, of New Jer­sey, President; Wm. Harris, Union City, Ind., Treasurer; E. G. Ride­out General Manager; S. C. Goshorn, Muncie, Ind., Secretary; W. S. Hall, Findlay, O.; James E. Bishop, Cincinnati, O.,and N. Ohmer, Dayton, O, compose the balance of the Board of Directors.

The land is being laid off in build­ing lots and factory sites in an ar­tistic manner, with broad avenues and beautiful drives.

A mammoth hotel is soon to be erected and a street-car line built, bringing into close communication every part of the city. The three railroads are to combine in erecting a union depot and altogether Muncie will take on such a boom as no town in the West has ever experienced. Already all is life and activity, and property is selling rapidly at fair prices. It is expected to more than quadruple in value in the next year.

Property at Findlay, O., advanced over tenfold in one year, and over $36,000,000 was made by different syndicates in two years.

Muncie is acknowledged by all as the best natural-gas town in the en­tire Western gas field.

Already a sale is neatly completed with Eastern capitalists who will purchase 500 house lots upon which will be commenced at once the erection of 500 houses, and it is estimated that at least 1,600 houses will be built to meet the demands during the coming year.

The managers propose to run a parlor vestibule train over the New York Central and "Bee Line," leaving the Grand Central Depot at 6 p.m. March 9. Gov. Abbott and others interested, with their friends, will make up the party.

The company have opened branch offices in rooms 81 and 83 at 45 Broadway, where they will be glad furnish any information desired to intending purchasers or investors.