While telephones and electricity came rather early to Mt. Pleasant, natural gas didn't arrive until latter 1929. Before 1929, wood or coal stoves and fireplaces heated Mt. Pleasant homes, businesses, and government offices. Their fuel supply required having a wood pile or coal bin, and burning them produced smoke and soot, dust, ashes, and grime. The Titus County Commissioner's Court had already gotten on the bad side of local garden club ladies when they stacked a huge pile of firewood for winter use on the Court House square, negating the beauty provided by landscaping the ladies paid to install. They quickly moved the wood elsewhere because "if she ain't happy, you ain't happy."
On Wednesday, January 18, 1928, representatives from Jefferson, Hughes Springs, Daingerfield, Pittsburg, Gilmer, Winnsboro and Mt. Pleasant met in Pittsburg to discuss granting natural gas franchises to G. H. Beach of Wichita, Kansas, and P.E. Hussey of Jefferson, Texas. Mr. Beach and Mr. Hussey proposed to form a company to construct a gas pipeline from the Waskom oil field into Northeast Texas. They had connections with the Dixie Gas Company which would enable them to connect to Dixie's pipe line at Marshall once they secured permission from the towns to enter with their gas line.
Each town's representative agreed to grant the men a franchise if they formally applied for one, with the requirement that work must begin on the line within six months and gas must be available in the towns not later than one year afterwards.
The cities investigated Mr. Beach and Mr. Hussey and determined that they were responsible men who made a sincere proposal. The Mt. Pleasant City Council held a called meeting on Thursday night, January 26 and granted a natural gas franchise to Mr. Beach and Mr. Hussey.
The Moran Utilities Company of Shreveport called a meeting of the same towns at Pittsburg Monday, January 26, 1928 and made a similar offer to bring gas to those towns, plus Mt. Vernon. They additionally offered to make a $1,000 forfeitable deposit with each town to demonstrate their sincerity to deliver the gas. If they defaulted in their contract with one town, they would simultaneously forfeit the full amount with each other town.
The seven city representatives held another meeting in early February, 1928 to consider a third offer for gas service. However, this offer involved municipal ownership and was not well received. Therefore, they decided to award Mr. Beach and Mr. Hussey franchises if they would include Mt. Vernon and would limit the maximum price to 75c per thousand cubic feet. The men agreed.
George Bussart of Wichita, Kansas, and P. E. Hussey came to Mt. Pleasant on March 21 investigating how much business they could expect. They said work was progressing nicely and that the pipeline was being surveyed and right of way secured from Waskom to Marshall to Jefferson. Work would progress toward Mt. Pleasant as fast as possible, and unless something unforeseen arose, they planned to be able to furnish gas to Mt. Pleasant by September.
Two crews began ditching for Mt. Pleasant's gas distribution system on September 18, 1929, one on the west side and the other on the north side of town.
The Southern Cities Distributing Company was a subsidiary of the Arkansas Natural Gas Corporation, which was part of Cities Service Company, the largest of its kind in the United States. Cities Service Company appropriated around a million dollars to pipe gas to Mt. Pleasant and nine other area towns.
Southern Cities Distributing Company representatives met with the City Council on September 17, 1929 to explain the operating system, and scheduled another meeting for September 20 to sign contracts and pass ordinances to regulate the system. At that meeting, Don G. Nolte was appointed as the City's building, plumbing, electrical, gas and milk inspector. In his capacity of city engineer, he would also oversee constructing Mt. Pleasant's distribution system.
Cold weather was closing in by the end of September, and Southern Cities Distributing made every effort to fulfill its promise to have gas ready for use in Mt. Pleasant before cold weather arrived. By September 30, 1929 over three and a half miles of pipe had been laid within the Mt. Pleasant city limits.
Southern Cities laid residential mains first, and by mid-October they were nearly all complete. Laying business district mains was more complicated and required special machinery to bore under pavement and sidewalks. As soon as the last residential mains were complete, they would be connected to the Louisiana gas supply. Mt. Pleasant homes would receive gas sooner than businesses.
The gas company warned people to arrange for plumbers to connect their houses immediately, because plumbers would be overwhelmed when the gas was turned on and everybody wanted service at the same time.
Laying mains was finished by Monday, November 25, 1929, and Southern Cities Distributing representatives came to town to plan a big celebration to mark the occasion. It was scheduled for November 27 on the south side of the court house square where the gas line crossed the street to reach the courthouse. The gas company installed a special flare to be lit during the dedication ceremony.
You know what happens to the best-laid plans of mice and men. The big ceremony was scheduled for 8 o'clock. A forty-foot pipe flare was erected on the south side of the court house square, and the whole south part of town was expected to be illuminated when it was lighted.
Chamber of Commerce president George Lilienstern was to turn the valve and Mayor A. H. O'Tyson was to light the flare, which was to burn throughout the program. Dr. Dan Witt, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce entertainment committee, was in charge of the program. A special orchestra brought in by the company, along with local talent, was to provide music before the program. Hiram G. Brown, E. I. Lazarus, C. L. Duncan and Southern Cities' local manager, A. B. Lawrence, were to speak on behalf Mt. Pleasant citizens. Paul F. McBride and M. E. Larkin would represent Southern Cities Distributing Company. Mrs. A. B. Lawrence was to give a reading. After the program was over, activities would move to the company's office, where souvenirs would be given out. Everybody was invited to attend.
To be sure that everything was in good working order, the gas system was tested at the company's local office on November 26. Local manager A. B. Lawrence, who also supervised Mt. Vernon and Daingerfield, connected several stoves to the office's pipe and lit them. The gas pressure was even and they burned beautifully.
Nothing could possibly go wrong. The night of the 27th, everything was in readiness for the big event; program speakers were present and a crowd of about two thousand people assembled to witness lighting the flare. Unfortunately, because of a mix-up in dates, workmen near Shreveport had cut off the gas supply.
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. The celebration wasn't a complete failure because the crowd visited the gas company's office which was elaborately decorated for the occasion. There they listened to orchestra music. Company representatives gave cigars and cigarettes to the men, wooden spoons and forks to the ladies and balloons to the kids. A much simpler formal dedication ceremony was re-scheduled for 7 o'clock Monday night, December 2.
The December 2 ceremony came off without a hitch. Construction superintendent Bill Steffey made sure there were no slip-ups and that the mains were filled with gas. In spite of intense cold, several hundred people assembled on the square to witness the flare-lighting ceremony. George Lilienstern opened the valve, Mayor O'Tyson lit the torch, and gas company manager A. B. Lawrence pulled the torch to the top of the flare. The flare's flame lit the square and burned for two hours so everyone could see it.
Dr. Dan Witt was master of ceremonies. Judge E. I. Lazarus noted that the flare lighting ceremony was one of four major Mt. Pleasant events that month: natural gas' arrival, the milk plant, talking pictures and the six-apartment Denman Courts. Southern Cities Distributing Company district manager M. E. Larkin made a short talk and spoke of his company's desire to provide the best service possible, and then introduced local manager A. B. Lawrence.
Setting residential meters had begun late that afternoon, and almost 30 years after it was incorporated, Mt. Pleasant residents finally had a convenient and cheap supply of clean burning fuel to heat their homes and businesses.
In January, 1935 four Arkansas National Gas Corporation utility companies were merged. Southern Cities Distributing Company, the Public Utilities Corporation of Arkansas, the Arkansas-Louisiana Pipe Line Company, and the Reserve Natural Gas Company of Louisiana were merged into a single company known as the Arkansas Louisiana Gas Company, or ARKLA Gas. ARKLA served 42 communities in three states at the time.
After oil was discovered near Talco in February, 1936, ARKLA began extended their pipeline to the Talco oil field in mid-July. The line served a dual purpose. First, it collected natural gas from the field, increasing supply. Secondly, even though Talco had not yet granted ARKLA a franchise to sell gas inside the town, ARKLA officials were sure this would happen once people there began demanding it.
The project was to cost about $100,000 and would require about a hundred men for at least a month. By using ditching machines, the project was expected to take about six weeks.
An eight inch line was laid beginning east of the Concord community about three miles south of Mt. Pleasant, then west of Mt. Pleasant near Tankersly Creek, and directly to the southwest corner of the Talco town site. Branch gathering lines were to be laid from there to different areas of the oil field.
At the same time, Bogata citizens petitioned the company to extend the line to their city, and negotiations were under way for the extension.
In October, 1936, wood heaters in the Court House were replaced by gas stoves. This project had its gremlins, too. All of the wood stoves had been removed and new gas heaters had been set in every office, but were not yet connected. On Monday, October 26, 1936 the official temperature was 53 degrees at 6:30 a.m., but a strong northwest wind dropped the temperature more than ten degrees and it was still falling at noon. The barometer was rising rapidly despite cloudy weather, indicating its highest reading in many months at 29.40. This indicated that even colder weather was in store for Mt. Pleasant.
Court house officials found themselves in an uncomfortable position for a short time because none of the offices had heat, a situation which was remedied quickly.
