A Peat Factory For Chelsea

Company with a $1,000,000 capital erects first factory to take advantage of the peat beds near Chelsea--its officers and what it promises

A peat factory is to be built near Chelsea by a company of Detroit capitalists. The following concerning the  new company has been given to the press:

Julian G. Dickinson, president.

Oscar A. Janes, vice-president.

George Gartner, secretary.

A. A. Southerland, superintendent.

Directors-Judson T. Mayhew, Fred Postal, Arthur H. Gaukler.

The above are the officers of the newly-formed National Peat Fuel Co. of Detroit, which has just been incorporated in Delaware with a capitalization of $1,000,000. Handsome offices have been secured on the ground floor of the McGraw building at 149 Griswold street, where a grate fire of peat is kept constantly going, and where the merits of the new fuel will be explained and demonstrated to the public.

The company will erect its first plant on its land near Chelsea, Mich., 54 miles from Detroit, on the Michigan Central and the Ypsi-Ann roads. The company also proposes building and equipping plants at various points throughout the United States, on dry peat beds which it controls adjacent to the large cities, where the market for each factory will be virtually at its doors.

The Southerland patents for compressing the raw material are in the control of the National company. The peat is compressed under pressure of 40,000 pounds into blocks or bricks weighing about half a pound each. Alex A. Southerland, a practical machinist and engineer of Detroit, has made peat a study for years. He has also perfected dryers for taking the moisture from the raw peat. He gives the results of tests of peat in comparison with coal. Peat is shown to have greater steam producing capacity and heat-giving powers than soft coal, being almost equal to anthracite.

Frank J. Peddie, the promoter of the new enterprise, stated that the company would be able at all times to compete with the poorest grade of soft coal, with a fuel that can be used in furnace, stove, range or grate. The cost of manufacture is about $1 a ton. Peat is free from dust and soot, leaves no clinkers, emits no sulphurous smell, and is cleanly at all times.

The new company expresses a determination to have the general public as stockholders, and is putting a block of $100,000 worth of treasury stock on the market at 25 cents on the dollar. The shares are par value at $1, and no one can subscribe for less than $10 worth.