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Black plaque № 20256

Jefferson, TX, United States

First Texas Artificial Gas Plant. Jefferson Gas Light Company, chartered 1870 for public ;and domestic service, used retorts-- 7 foot iron drums with small necks-- to make illuminating gas. (One retort stood on this site.) Loaded with pine knots and rich pine wood, a retort was heated; its gas was f

orced into mains by use of a pressure drum. Street lights on hollow posts, 300 feet apart, were 10-candle glass globes, lighted by a man on a ladder. These and gaslights in houses gave Jefferson-- the

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