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History and
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BIOGRAPHIES
JOHN C. HOWARD
John C. Howard, a dynamic force in business circles, has left the impress of his individuality and ability in large measure upon the history of Utah. He stands today as one of the most prominent figures in the commercial circles of the state—a dominating factor in connection with the oil refining business and the pioneer in this field in Utah. From a small beginning he has developed interests of mammoth proportions, constituting one of the most important of the productive industries of the state. To those who have appreciation of victories won in the pursuits of peace—won through close application, through indefatigable energy and a ready recognition and utilization of opportunities, the life story of John C. Howard cannot fail to be of inspirational value.
Mr. Howard was born in Randolph county, Utah, November 6, 1879, a son of William and Leonora J. (Perkins) Howard, The mother was born in Bountiful, Utah, November, 1856, daughter of John and Elizabeth Perkins, pioneers of Utah, who came to this state in 1848. William Howard, the father of John C. Howard, was born January 13, 1847, in Belfast, Ireland, a son of William and Elizabeth (Anderson) Howard, who were also pioneers of Utah crossing the plains with their family and reaching Salt Lake City in September, 1853. The Howard family settled at Salt Lake, while the Perkins family were the founders of Bountiful, Utah, and were active among the early developers of the gold fields of Nevada and California. William Howard was among the colonizers of Bear Lake county, Utah, where he built a sawmill, manufacturing much of the lumber from which the early homes and buildings of that locality were erected. Later he colonized Castle Valley, Utah. He was a man of power and influence along many lines, possessing marked administrative and executive ability and also exercising wide Influence in democratic circles yet honored and respected by people of all political parties. He died in Huntington, Utah, in 1912, having for four years survived the mother of John C. Howard, who passed away in Salt Lake City in 1908. They were the parents of five children, three of whom are yet living, John C. having been the fourth in order of birth. He is a brother of W. A. Howard, of Salt Lake, and of Miss Lillian Howard, of Midvale, Utah.
In early boyhood John C. Howard's schooling was limited, owing to pioneer conditions of Uinta County and Castle Valley, Emery county, where the family then made their home. Between the ages of ten and twelve years he lived at Huntington, Utah. He afterward assisted his father in the sawmill in Crandel canyon, but subsequently came to Salt Lake and applied for a position as cash boy with the manager of the Walker Brothers Dry Goods Company. His bright freckled face and easy manner caused him to be immediately accepted. He displayed a very studious nature even at that early age and his associates in the store tell of his having a dictionary in one hand, studying the hard words and phrases, and a dust brush in the other while dusting off the ready-to-wear clothes which were a part of the store's stock in trade. As an illustration of his energy and ambition at the age when most boys would have been glad to escape the drudgery of school work, he was so anxious to secure an education that he took advantage of every opportunity to acquire learning. Circumstances obliged him to work for a living and consequently he was deprived of higher educational opportunities.
However, through the kindness of his boss, Charles F. Adams of the clothing department of Walker Brothers Dry Goods Company, young Howard attended high school during his noon hour and took two years in the English course. It was evident that he never neglected duty, however, for he remained with Walker Brothers for nine years and rose from the humble position of cash boy to that of stock and clothing salesman and floor manager, serving in the last named position when but twenty years of age. Another source of valuable literary training in his latter teens was his membership in the James A. Garfield Lyceum, that was conducted in the basement of the Congregational Church and presided over by Pastor Brown. Young Howard took great interest in the work of this organization and feels indebted to it not only for educational results, but for a number of very pleasant acquaintances that have ever since been maintained.
On leaving Walker Brothers Mr. Howard was delegated by the church to go on a mission to Switzerland for two and a half years and afterward traveled through that country, Germany, France, Italy and England. On his return he entered business on his own account and so continued for six months, after which he sold out to become provision salesman in Utah for Armour & Company of Chicago. Demonstrating his ability in that direction, he was promoted to the position of special salesman for Oregon, Idaho, Utah and northern California and successfully continued to serve in that capacity until 1906, when he resigned his place with Armour & Company and entered the merchandise brokerage business. Within two years he built up a business of mammoth proportions, his annual sales reaching four hundred thousand dollars. In 1908 he became manager for the Lubra Oils Company and so served until 1910. While thus engaged he recognized the need for an oil refinery in Utah, and from this point forward he has proceeded by leaps and bounds, his career being a notable record of successful achievement.
Mr. Howard, leasing a quarter of an acre on an alkali fiat near a railroad, put upon it several second-hand oil tanks and a little building equipped with second-hand machinery and thus started his oil refinery, purchasing about seven barrels of crude oil per day and turning out a little residuum oil. Fire, however, soon destroyed the building, leaving him with only the tanks and machinery. With characteristic energy he erected other buildings, however, and began the production of kerosene, gasoline and lubricating oil. This was in 1908, in which year his sales amounted to twenty thousand dollars and his territory covered only a few miles. Something of the marvelous development of the business is indicated in the fact that in 1918 his sales reached three million dollars and covered territory that includes not only all of America but extends as far as Japan. The business has been developed and organized under the name of the Utah Oil Refining Company, representing an investment of one million six hundred thousand dollars, and from the beginning Mr. Howard has been general manager and president since 1911. A big "U" has been adopted as its trademark, a symbol now familiar to hundreds of thousands of oil consumers. The present plant is situated on the northern outskirts of Salt Lake City, along the main line of the Oregon Short Line Railroad. It covers many acres and includes immense tanks and brick buildings, constituting one of the best equipped and most solidly constructed refineries in the country.
The New West Magazine said of this industry: "Its output per month includes nine hundred and fifty thousand gallons of gasoline, two hundred thousand gallons of kerosene, sixty-five thousand gallons of automobile oils, one hundred and fifty tons of paraffin wax and one thousand barrels of grease. Construction work now under way will give it even greater scope. Its still capacity will soon be seventy-five thousand gallons of crude oil per day, while its storage capacity is mounting into millions of gallons. One tank alone holds one million five hundred thousand gallons, another one million, while there are a score or more of lesser capacity. Yet another way to measure the huge creation of John C. Howard'? courage, ability and foresight is to consider the present market of the concern.
The Utah Oil Refining Company now supplies practically all the gasoline and kerosene used in Utah and southern Idaho, fifty per cent of the lubricating oils used in Utah, and a quantity of wax that sells throughout the east, in California and as far away as South America and the Orient. The company produces more than two hundred different kinds and grades of petroleum, for all of which it finds a ready market. As may well be imagined, so vast an enterprise has an intensely interesting human side. Endless anecdotes can be told of John C. Howard's manner of getting by difficulties, of finding his way to success when the cards seemed stacked and the game absolutely hopeless. Again, the human side shows in the attitude taken toward the employees of the company. To pay them the highest wages, to make their work as agreeable as possible, and to give them little extra perquisites that will win their loyalty and best effort is the firm policy of the Utah Oil Refining Company. The employees of the plant now number about two hundred and fifty. The common laborers among them are paid ten per cent more than in any other industry and the skilled workmen are remunerated on a proportionately high scale. A wage increase of approximately ten per cent and aggregating thirty-one thousand dollars a year was put into effect August 15. Special privileges, found in few other establishments, are accorded the men. Each one is provided with a locker for keeping his street clothes during the day and work clothes at night. Near the locker room are hot and cold showers, and the company furnishes soap and a towel daily for each employee. A room has been fitted up with heavy English oak tables and chairs for the men to eat their lunch, and as a finishing touch the company furnishes each one with two cups of hot cocoa, coffee or tea free of charge every day.
Ample provision is made also for the care of the sick. As a result of this kind of treatment the relations between the company and its employees are of the most cordial character. Such is the heart of the industry that has been built up in Utah by Utah brains and largely by Utah capital. That it is the heart is said advisedly, for it is by no means the entire organism. There are branches and subsidiary activities of great importance and of quite equal interest. Among these, for instance, are the reconnaissance’s being made by the Utah Oil Refining Company into prospective oil fields of Utah to determine the possible development. These investigations are being made by experts under the direction of W. R. Calvert, a leading authority on oil. Geological work costing thousands of dollars is being done in minute detail, locating favorable oil territory in various parts of the state. Investigations have been made in Washington, Uinta, Carbon, Sanpete, Sevier, Juab and Emery counties and are still in progress. The prime purpose of the Utah Oil Refining Company in conducting investigations of this character is to aid in the development of the oil fields of its own state.
The company is now adding hundreds of thousands of dollars to the wealth of the state through its manufacturing activities, and its officers hope to do as much by purchasing the crude oil largely from Utah wells. With the aim of making the company's plant grow as rapidly as possible it has been Mr. Howard's policy and that of his associate officials to put all the money the refinery made, plus a great deal more, back into it for purposes of expansion. New construction is going on all the time, new markets are constantly being developed, and in every way the refinery is being pushed to a maximum capacity. And yet the stockholders of the Utah Oil Refining Company have made money. They have made it through the quickness with which Mr. Howard has grasped opportunities in other fields. For example, his attention was called to certain conditions existing in the oil industry in California. He found that through a lack of proper financial backing and effective shipping methods, a great opportunity for marketing naphtha in the east was being neglected. He gathered together some Utah capital. employing to a large extent the resources of the Utah Oil Refining Company, went boldly into the California field, gave the refineries there the help they needed and soon trainload after trainload of naphtha was streaming toward the east.
"Again, in Wyoming, .Mr. Howard commercialized the gas fields near Byron. The wells located at that point had a potential production of about two hundred million cubic feet per day, but had no market. Being closely connected with the owners of the property, he was anxious to create a market for the gas, and accordingly approached the Butte-Superior, Senator Clark and American Zinc interests with the idea of inducing one of the three to put in a zinc smelter near the wells on the Burlington, Railway. But after he failed in accomplishing this, he learned that the natural gas had about one-half gallon of gasoline to one thousand cubic feet, and that after the gasoline was taken out, the gas would produce a carbon which could be used as the base for inks or in the manufacture of automobile tires. He immediately employed experts in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia to visit these fields and make careful tests on the practicability of establishing a gasoline and carbon plant. All of the experts reported favorably and then Mr. Howard induced the Columbian Carbon Company to go into the field. This concern put in a pipe line, a gasoline plant and a large carbon plant which consists in all of over sixty small buildings, representing an expenditure of nearly one million dollars. Today this plant is running successfully and is recovering about fifty thousand gallons of gasoline per month from the natural gas and making a carload of carbon every day. Not only the carbon people but the landowners and the stockholders of the various interests have and will continue to make a large amount of money out of this enterprise. Mr. Howard's company participated in the profits accruing from this transaction.
"As a last illustration of this oil genius' enterprise, let us cite his Cuban experience. In the fall of 1916, while on a visit to Havana, his attention was called to the fact that certain indications of oil had recently been discovered nearby. He leased one hundred and eighty-five acres of land and by March 1st had a producing well and was selling oil in the field at five dollars and four cents per barrel, two dollars per barrel more than was being obtained for American crude oil because of the Cuban protective tariff. A short time later he sold out, netting the investors over five hundred thousand dollars profit. In this manner, Mr. Howard has succeeded in building up one of the finest oil refineries in the country on the outskirts of his native state's capital, and at the same time has handsomely remunerated those who have stood by him with their financial support."
Aside from his presidency of the Utah Oil Refining Company, Mr. Howard is the president of the Republic Petroleum Company of Cuba, president of the Utah Petroleum Company of Cuba and vice president of the Carbon Oil Company of Wyoming. It is but natural that a man of his ability should be called upon for public service. He has been made a director of the American Mining Congress and he has spent considerable time in Washington, D. C., aiding the government and the treasury department to establish proper rules and regulations for the mining interests and the operation of mines.
On the 1st of June, 1905, Mr. Howard was married to Miss Gertrude Musser of Salt Lake, a daughter of Amos Milton and Mary (White) Musser. They have become parents of four children: Mary Elizabeth, Kathryn Musser, Virginia Musser, and Jeanne Musser, all born in Salt Lake. Mrs. Howard passed away April 9, 1919.
In politics Mr. Howard is a republican, and he takes a keen interest in civic affairs. He was a member of the board of education of Salt Lake City from January 1, 1915, to January 1, 1919,.and was reelected for a four years' term, which expires on the 31st of December, 1923. Appreciative of the social amenities of life, he is prominently known in club circles, belonging to the Bonneville, Alta, Country, Flat Rock, Timpanogas Rod Clubs of Salt Lake and also to the Salt Lake Commercial Club.
[Source: Utah since Statehood: Historical and Biographical Volume 2; By Noble Warrum; Publ. 1919; Transcribed and submitted by Andrea Stawski Pack.]
MELVIN STEWART
Melvin Stewart, a representative farmer of Grand county living near Moab, his wisely directed efforts bringing to him success in the development of the fields and in his stock raising activities, was born in Randolph, Utah, December 12, 1878. His parents were Randolph H. and Sarah (Blazzard) Stewart, pioneer residents of Utah, casting in their lot with the first settlers of Randolph, the town bearing the given name of the father, who was bishop there for a number of years. He was called to settle Moab in 1880 and spent his remaining days in Grand county. He became the first bishop of Moab and was a most prominent and influential citizen there to the time of his death in 1907. His wife survives and is still living at Moab.
Melvin Stewart attended the public schools of Moab and when twenty years of age entered the business world in connection with cattle raising in San Juan county, where he remained for seven years. He then sold his interests there and established himself in business in Moab, where he has since been engaged in cattle raising. He has a splendid farm, which he used entirely for his stock, his crops being utilized for feeding, and thus he obtains a double profit. His business affairs are wisely and carefully directed, and his efforts and industry constitute the basis of a growing and gratifying success.
At Provo, Utah on the 6th of January, 1904, Mr. Stewart was married to Miss Stella J. Taylor, a daughter of Crispin and Emma (Hughes) Taylor, the former a pioneer stockman of Grand county who for many years raised large herds of stock in this section of the state. He died in Springville in 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart have be come the parents of three children: M. Duane, who was born December 12, 1906; Mannel C., born may 27, 1908; and Jean M., born October 26, 1912.
Fraternally Mr. Stewart is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is a loyal follower of the teachings of that organization, the beneficent spirit of which has ever commanded for it the respect of the public everywhere.
[Source: Utah since Statehood: Historical and Biographical Volume 2; By Noble Warrum; Publ. 1919; Transcribed by Richard Ramos]
E. MANUEL TYSON
E. Manuel Tyson, postmaster of Brigham, was born in Rich county, Utah, May 8, 1874. His father, William Tyson, a native of the north of England, was a mason by trade and became a contractor for brick and stone work. In 1866 he crossed the plains, walking the entire distance, and settled at Salt Lake City, after which he removed to the northern part of the state, where he remained until death ended his labors in 1881. He was active in church affairs and was also prominent as a contractor. He built a number of canals and was a leading and representative business man of the section in which he lived. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Caldwell, is a native of Liverpool, England, and is now residing at Evanston, Wyoming, with a daughter. She has been an active business woman and continued to engage in cattle buying very successfully after the death of her husband. She too has been prominent in church work and has been stake president of the Woman's Relief Society.
E. Manuel Tyson pursued his education in the public schools of Randolph to the age of seventeen years. From the age of twelve years he had attended school only during the winter seasons, while the summer months were devoted to farm work, and thus from an early age he has depended upon his own resources. When his textbooks were put aside he turned his attention to the cattle and live stock business in Rich county but eventually gave this up on account of his wife's health. He then took up his abode in Brigham and for two years was in charge of the Studebaker Brothers Company. On the expiration of that period he organized the Intermountain Nursery Company, conducting the business for eight years, but there seemed to be little money in the fruit trade and he left that .line of activity. In February, 1916, he was appointed by President Wilson to the office of postmaster of Brigham and is still serving in that capacity. He discharges the duties of the position most capably, systematically and promptly and his course has won high endorsement. He is also a director of the Security
Savings Bank and is president of the Cash Feed & Fruit Company.
In 1901 Mr. Tyson was united in marriage to Miss May Spencer, a daughter of O. J. Spencer, one of the pioneer settlers of Rich county. They have two children: Gladys R., twelve years of age; and William E., aged nine years.
Mr. Tyson went to New York city in 1897, spending two years in the east as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and returning in 1900. That he is keenly interested in the welfare and progress of his section of the state is shown by his active and effective work as president of the Box Elder Commercial Club. Mr. Tyson is described as a big, genial man with many friends and of most broad humanitarian spirit. Perhaps his chief delight is in the care and help which he renders to the sick and unfortunate., He is certainly following the example of Him who came not to be ministered unto but to minister to others. In this he also follows the course of his mother, who is widely known by traveling men and others for her kindness to them when they are ill or in trouble. Mr. Tyson is continually extending a helping hand where aid is needed and there are many who have reason to bless him for his kindly assistance, his helpfulness and his words of good cheer.
[Source: Utah since Statehood: Historical and Biographical Volume 2; By Noble Warrum; Publ. 1919; Transcribed and submitted by Andrea Stawski Pack.]
John C. Howard, a dynamic force in business circles, has left the impress of his individuality and ability in large measure upon the history of Utah. He stands today as one of the most prominent figures in the commercial circles of the state—a dominating factor in connection with the oil refining business and the pioneer in this field in Utah. From a small beginning he has developed interests of mammoth proportions, constituting one of the most important of the productive industries of the state. To those who have appreciation of victories won in the pursuits of peace—won through close application, through indefatigable energy and a ready recognition and utilization of opportunities, the life story of John C. Howard cannot fail to be of inspirational value.
Mr. Howard was born in Randolph county, Utah, November 6, 1879, a son of William and Leonora J. (Perkins) Howard, The mother was born in Bountiful, Utah, November, 1856, daughter of John and Elizabeth Perkins, pioneers of Utah, who came to this state in 1848. William Howard, the father of John C. Howard, was born January 13, 1847, in Belfast, Ireland, a son of William and Elizabeth (Anderson) Howard, who were also pioneers of Utah crossing the plains with their family and reaching Salt Lake City in September, 1853. The Howard family settled at Salt Lake, while the Perkins family were the founders of Bountiful, Utah, and were active among the early developers of the gold fields of Nevada and California. William Howard was among the colonizers of Bear Lake county, Utah, where he built a sawmill, manufacturing much of the lumber from which the early homes and buildings of that locality were erected. Later he colonized Castle Valley, Utah. He was a man of power and influence along many lines, possessing marked administrative and executive ability and also exercising wide Influence in democratic circles yet honored and respected by people of all political parties. He died in Huntington, Utah, in 1912, having for four years survived the mother of John C. Howard, who passed away in Salt Lake City in 1908. They were the parents of five children, three of whom are yet living, John C. having been the fourth in order of birth. He is a brother of W. A. Howard, of Salt Lake, and of Miss Lillian Howard, of Midvale, Utah.
In early boyhood John C. Howard's schooling was limited, owing to pioneer conditions of Uinta County and Castle Valley, Emery county, where the family then made their home. Between the ages of ten and twelve years he lived at Huntington, Utah. He afterward assisted his father in the sawmill in Crandel canyon, but subsequently came to Salt Lake and applied for a position as cash boy with the manager of the Walker Brothers Dry Goods Company. His bright freckled face and easy manner caused him to be immediately accepted. He displayed a very studious nature even at that early age and his associates in the store tell of his having a dictionary in one hand, studying the hard words and phrases, and a dust brush in the other while dusting off the ready-to-wear clothes which were a part of the store's stock in trade. As an illustration of his energy and ambition at the age when most boys would have been glad to escape the drudgery of school work, he was so anxious to secure an education that he took advantage of every opportunity to acquire learning. Circumstances obliged him to work for a living and consequently he was deprived of higher educational opportunities.
However, through the kindness of his boss, Charles F. Adams of the clothing department of Walker Brothers Dry Goods Company, young Howard attended high school during his noon hour and took two years in the English course. It was evident that he never neglected duty, however, for he remained with Walker Brothers for nine years and rose from the humble position of cash boy to that of stock and clothing salesman and floor manager, serving in the last named position when but twenty years of age. Another source of valuable literary training in his latter teens was his membership in the James A. Garfield Lyceum, that was conducted in the basement of the Congregational Church and presided over by Pastor Brown. Young Howard took great interest in the work of this organization and feels indebted to it not only for educational results, but for a number of very pleasant acquaintances that have ever since been maintained.
On leaving Walker Brothers Mr. Howard was delegated by the church to go on a mission to Switzerland for two and a half years and afterward traveled through that country, Germany, France, Italy and England. On his return he entered business on his own account and so continued for six months, after which he sold out to become provision salesman in Utah for Armour & Company of Chicago. Demonstrating his ability in that direction, he was promoted to the position of special salesman for Oregon, Idaho, Utah and northern California and successfully continued to serve in that capacity until 1906, when he resigned his place with Armour & Company and entered the merchandise brokerage business. Within two years he built up a business of mammoth proportions, his annual sales reaching four hundred thousand dollars. In 1908 he became manager for the Lubra Oils Company and so served until 1910. While thus engaged he recognized the need for an oil refinery in Utah, and from this point forward he has proceeded by leaps and bounds, his career being a notable record of successful achievement.
Mr. Howard, leasing a quarter of an acre on an alkali fiat near a railroad, put upon it several second-hand oil tanks and a little building equipped with second-hand machinery and thus started his oil refinery, purchasing about seven barrels of crude oil per day and turning out a little residuum oil. Fire, however, soon destroyed the building, leaving him with only the tanks and machinery. With characteristic energy he erected other buildings, however, and began the production of kerosene, gasoline and lubricating oil. This was in 1908, in which year his sales amounted to twenty thousand dollars and his territory covered only a few miles. Something of the marvelous development of the business is indicated in the fact that in 1918 his sales reached three million dollars and covered territory that includes not only all of America but extends as far as Japan. The business has been developed and organized under the name of the Utah Oil Refining Company, representing an investment of one million six hundred thousand dollars, and from the beginning Mr. Howard has been general manager and president since 1911. A big "U" has been adopted as its trademark, a symbol now familiar to hundreds of thousands of oil consumers. The present plant is situated on the northern outskirts of Salt Lake City, along the main line of the Oregon Short Line Railroad. It covers many acres and includes immense tanks and brick buildings, constituting one of the best equipped and most solidly constructed refineries in the country.
The New West Magazine said of this industry: "Its output per month includes nine hundred and fifty thousand gallons of gasoline, two hundred thousand gallons of kerosene, sixty-five thousand gallons of automobile oils, one hundred and fifty tons of paraffin wax and one thousand barrels of grease. Construction work now under way will give it even greater scope. Its still capacity will soon be seventy-five thousand gallons of crude oil per day, while its storage capacity is mounting into millions of gallons. One tank alone holds one million five hundred thousand gallons, another one million, while there are a score or more of lesser capacity. Yet another way to measure the huge creation of John C. Howard'? courage, ability and foresight is to consider the present market of the concern.
The Utah Oil Refining Company now supplies practically all the gasoline and kerosene used in Utah and southern Idaho, fifty per cent of the lubricating oils used in Utah, and a quantity of wax that sells throughout the east, in California and as far away as South America and the Orient. The company produces more than two hundred different kinds and grades of petroleum, for all of which it finds a ready market. As may well be imagined, so vast an enterprise has an intensely interesting human side. Endless anecdotes can be told of John C. Howard's manner of getting by difficulties, of finding his way to success when the cards seemed stacked and the game absolutely hopeless. Again, the human side shows in the attitude taken toward the employees of the company. To pay them the highest wages, to make their work as agreeable as possible, and to give them little extra perquisites that will win their loyalty and best effort is the firm policy of the Utah Oil Refining Company. The employees of the plant now number about two hundred and fifty. The common laborers among them are paid ten per cent more than in any other industry and the skilled workmen are remunerated on a proportionately high scale. A wage increase of approximately ten per cent and aggregating thirty-one thousand dollars a year was put into effect August 15. Special privileges, found in few other establishments, are accorded the men. Each one is provided with a locker for keeping his street clothes during the day and work clothes at night. Near the locker room are hot and cold showers, and the company furnishes soap and a towel daily for each employee. A room has been fitted up with heavy English oak tables and chairs for the men to eat their lunch, and as a finishing touch the company furnishes each one with two cups of hot cocoa, coffee or tea free of charge every day.
Ample provision is made also for the care of the sick. As a result of this kind of treatment the relations between the company and its employees are of the most cordial character. Such is the heart of the industry that has been built up in Utah by Utah brains and largely by Utah capital. That it is the heart is said advisedly, for it is by no means the entire organism. There are branches and subsidiary activities of great importance and of quite equal interest. Among these, for instance, are the reconnaissance’s being made by the Utah Oil Refining Company into prospective oil fields of Utah to determine the possible development. These investigations are being made by experts under the direction of W. R. Calvert, a leading authority on oil. Geological work costing thousands of dollars is being done in minute detail, locating favorable oil territory in various parts of the state. Investigations have been made in Washington, Uinta, Carbon, Sanpete, Sevier, Juab and Emery counties and are still in progress. The prime purpose of the Utah Oil Refining Company in conducting investigations of this character is to aid in the development of the oil fields of its own state.
The company is now adding hundreds of thousands of dollars to the wealth of the state through its manufacturing activities, and its officers hope to do as much by purchasing the crude oil largely from Utah wells. With the aim of making the company's plant grow as rapidly as possible it has been Mr. Howard's policy and that of his associate officials to put all the money the refinery made, plus a great deal more, back into it for purposes of expansion. New construction is going on all the time, new markets are constantly being developed, and in every way the refinery is being pushed to a maximum capacity. And yet the stockholders of the Utah Oil Refining Company have made money. They have made it through the quickness with which Mr. Howard has grasped opportunities in other fields. For example, his attention was called to certain conditions existing in the oil industry in California. He found that through a lack of proper financial backing and effective shipping methods, a great opportunity for marketing naphtha in the east was being neglected. He gathered together some Utah capital. employing to a large extent the resources of the Utah Oil Refining Company, went boldly into the California field, gave the refineries there the help they needed and soon trainload after trainload of naphtha was streaming toward the east.
"Again, in Wyoming, .Mr. Howard commercialized the gas fields near Byron. The wells located at that point had a potential production of about two hundred million cubic feet per day, but had no market. Being closely connected with the owners of the property, he was anxious to create a market for the gas, and accordingly approached the Butte-Superior, Senator Clark and American Zinc interests with the idea of inducing one of the three to put in a zinc smelter near the wells on the Burlington, Railway. But after he failed in accomplishing this, he learned that the natural gas had about one-half gallon of gasoline to one thousand cubic feet, and that after the gasoline was taken out, the gas would produce a carbon which could be used as the base for inks or in the manufacture of automobile tires. He immediately employed experts in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia to visit these fields and make careful tests on the practicability of establishing a gasoline and carbon plant. All of the experts reported favorably and then Mr. Howard induced the Columbian Carbon Company to go into the field. This concern put in a pipe line, a gasoline plant and a large carbon plant which consists in all of over sixty small buildings, representing an expenditure of nearly one million dollars. Today this plant is running successfully and is recovering about fifty thousand gallons of gasoline per month from the natural gas and making a carload of carbon every day. Not only the carbon people but the landowners and the stockholders of the various interests have and will continue to make a large amount of money out of this enterprise. Mr. Howard's company participated in the profits accruing from this transaction.
"As a last illustration of this oil genius' enterprise, let us cite his Cuban experience. In the fall of 1916, while on a visit to Havana, his attention was called to the fact that certain indications of oil had recently been discovered nearby. He leased one hundred and eighty-five acres of land and by March 1st had a producing well and was selling oil in the field at five dollars and four cents per barrel, two dollars per barrel more than was being obtained for American crude oil because of the Cuban protective tariff. A short time later he sold out, netting the investors over five hundred thousand dollars profit. In this manner, Mr. Howard has succeeded in building up one of the finest oil refineries in the country on the outskirts of his native state's capital, and at the same time has handsomely remunerated those who have stood by him with their financial support."
Aside from his presidency of the Utah Oil Refining Company, Mr. Howard is the president of the Republic Petroleum Company of Cuba, president of the Utah Petroleum Company of Cuba and vice president of the Carbon Oil Company of Wyoming. It is but natural that a man of his ability should be called upon for public service. He has been made a director of the American Mining Congress and he has spent considerable time in Washington, D. C., aiding the government and the treasury department to establish proper rules and regulations for the mining interests and the operation of mines.
On the 1st of June, 1905, Mr. Howard was married to Miss Gertrude Musser of Salt Lake, a daughter of Amos Milton and Mary (White) Musser. They have become parents of four children: Mary Elizabeth, Kathryn Musser, Virginia Musser, and Jeanne Musser, all born in Salt Lake. Mrs. Howard passed away April 9, 1919.
In politics Mr. Howard is a republican, and he takes a keen interest in civic affairs. He was a member of the board of education of Salt Lake City from January 1, 1915, to January 1, 1919,.and was reelected for a four years' term, which expires on the 31st of December, 1923. Appreciative of the social amenities of life, he is prominently known in club circles, belonging to the Bonneville, Alta, Country, Flat Rock, Timpanogas Rod Clubs of Salt Lake and also to the Salt Lake Commercial Club.
[Source: Utah since Statehood: Historical and Biographical Volume 2; By Noble Warrum; Publ. 1919; Transcribed and submitted by Andrea Stawski Pack.]
MELVIN STEWART
Melvin Stewart, a representative farmer of Grand county living near Moab, his wisely directed efforts bringing to him success in the development of the fields and in his stock raising activities, was born in Randolph, Utah, December 12, 1878. His parents were Randolph H. and Sarah (Blazzard) Stewart, pioneer residents of Utah, casting in their lot with the first settlers of Randolph, the town bearing the given name of the father, who was bishop there for a number of years. He was called to settle Moab in 1880 and spent his remaining days in Grand county. He became the first bishop of Moab and was a most prominent and influential citizen there to the time of his death in 1907. His wife survives and is still living at Moab.
Melvin Stewart attended the public schools of Moab and when twenty years of age entered the business world in connection with cattle raising in San Juan county, where he remained for seven years. He then sold his interests there and established himself in business in Moab, where he has since been engaged in cattle raising. He has a splendid farm, which he used entirely for his stock, his crops being utilized for feeding, and thus he obtains a double profit. His business affairs are wisely and carefully directed, and his efforts and industry constitute the basis of a growing and gratifying success.
At Provo, Utah on the 6th of January, 1904, Mr. Stewart was married to Miss Stella J. Taylor, a daughter of Crispin and Emma (Hughes) Taylor, the former a pioneer stockman of Grand county who for many years raised large herds of stock in this section of the state. He died in Springville in 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart have be come the parents of three children: M. Duane, who was born December 12, 1906; Mannel C., born may 27, 1908; and Jean M., born October 26, 1912.
Fraternally Mr. Stewart is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is a loyal follower of the teachings of that organization, the beneficent spirit of which has ever commanded for it the respect of the public everywhere.
[Source: Utah since Statehood: Historical and Biographical Volume 2; By Noble Warrum; Publ. 1919; Transcribed by Richard Ramos]
E. MANUEL TYSON
E. Manuel Tyson, postmaster of Brigham, was born in Rich county, Utah, May 8, 1874. His father, William Tyson, a native of the north of England, was a mason by trade and became a contractor for brick and stone work. In 1866 he crossed the plains, walking the entire distance, and settled at Salt Lake City, after which he removed to the northern part of the state, where he remained until death ended his labors in 1881. He was active in church affairs and was also prominent as a contractor. He built a number of canals and was a leading and representative business man of the section in which he lived. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Caldwell, is a native of Liverpool, England, and is now residing at Evanston, Wyoming, with a daughter. She has been an active business woman and continued to engage in cattle buying very successfully after the death of her husband. She too has been prominent in church work and has been stake president of the Woman's Relief Society.
E. Manuel Tyson pursued his education in the public schools of Randolph to the age of seventeen years. From the age of twelve years he had attended school only during the winter seasons, while the summer months were devoted to farm work, and thus from an early age he has depended upon his own resources. When his textbooks were put aside he turned his attention to the cattle and live stock business in Rich county but eventually gave this up on account of his wife's health. He then took up his abode in Brigham and for two years was in charge of the Studebaker Brothers Company. On the expiration of that period he organized the Intermountain Nursery Company, conducting the business for eight years, but there seemed to be little money in the fruit trade and he left that .line of activity. In February, 1916, he was appointed by President Wilson to the office of postmaster of Brigham and is still serving in that capacity. He discharges the duties of the position most capably, systematically and promptly and his course has won high endorsement. He is also a director of the Security
Savings Bank and is president of the Cash Feed & Fruit Company.
In 1901 Mr. Tyson was united in marriage to Miss May Spencer, a daughter of O. J. Spencer, one of the pioneer settlers of Rich county. They have two children: Gladys R., twelve years of age; and William E., aged nine years.
Mr. Tyson went to New York city in 1897, spending two years in the east as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and returning in 1900. That he is keenly interested in the welfare and progress of his section of the state is shown by his active and effective work as president of the Box Elder Commercial Club. Mr. Tyson is described as a big, genial man with many friends and of most broad humanitarian spirit. Perhaps his chief delight is in the care and help which he renders to the sick and unfortunate., He is certainly following the example of Him who came not to be ministered unto but to minister to others. In this he also follows the course of his mother, who is widely known by traveling men and others for her kindness to them when they are ill or in trouble. Mr. Tyson is continually extending a helping hand where aid is needed and there are many who have reason to bless him for his kindly assistance, his helpfulness and his words of good cheer.
[Source: Utah since Statehood: Historical and Biographical Volume 2; By Noble Warrum; Publ. 1919; Transcribed and submitted by Andrea Stawski Pack.]
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