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Show NATURAL GAS DEAL. SU1TLYIXG CAPITAL FOR PlTIXa IT INTO THIS CITY. j 'f Rhode Brother of Denver Will Probably liny the Controlling Interest In-terest in the American Natural ' ;a Company and Develop Its Property Predicted that ;a 'M'i!t be Keady for I'se in Salt take 1 tit hin Xinety .iiays Contract Soon to be Signed. An important deal is now bein? negotiated by which the firm of Rhodes Brothers of Denver wiil undoubtedly acquire ac-quire the controlling interest in the prop, trty of the American Natural Gas company. According to au item iu a Denver evening paper, one of the linn of .Rhodes Bros., is eportcd assaying: "We have an option oa the American Natural Gas company's property at Salt Lake but the deal has not been closed. The transaction represents about ;r0,000 and we think it will be closed up within ten days. The property is very valuable. L'tah and Salt Lake will be greatly benefitted when the property is properly handled. We are of the opiniou that it is a sure paying investment. When work bearius it will he with a large force of men with a view to getting the property into shape as soon as possible." H. L. Driver, secretary of the American Natural Gas company, was interrogated by a Tim f.s reporter. Mr. Driver was by no means . in a loquacious mood. In the beginning ho was not inclined to talk abuit the mattf-r. But when the Denver statement was quoted he unbent to the extent of saying that Rhodes Bros, were in Salt Lake City today and that the negotiations were pending. Personally, Mr. Driver is not in favor of turning over to the Denver people the exclusive exclu-sive control of the matters. On the contrary con-trary he advocates the retention of an interest in-terest here. The scheme, bo says, is a splendid one and and wiil be a wealth-producer from the start. The timely action of the company iu securing se-curing a franchise from the city council has made everything plain sailing. All that now remains is to put in the plant, furnUU citizens and firms witli natural gas as they desire it and collect the revenue accruing. Mr. Driver w as not posted as to the details of the contract, but referred the news hustler hust-ler to W. C. Hall, attorney for the corporation. corpora-tion. Mr. Hall admitted that Rhodes Bros, were negotiating for the purchase of a controlling interest. As to the terms of the agreement he cou'.d not say, as the preliminaries were now under consideration. He would bo only too glad, however, to inform the pubiie. through The Times of any action at thu proper time. As the case now stands. Mr. Hull does not think the public has any riiriit to expect, nor is it entitled to information regardmg the details of the contract or the terms as discussed in conference. He wasn't prepared to state the amount of money required re-quired to make a purchase. In good thru everything would come out ail right, and the publie fully informed as to the details of the transaction. - One of the-stockholders of the company who is" thoroughly posted oa the euoject ' " gave the appended information under promise prom-ise that his name should bj withheld: "With others I have beeu in favor of selling sell-ing a controlling interest, and for these reasons: rea-sons: While we have a franchise to lay pipes into the city, we did not have the money at our disposal to carry out the plan. We were certain that it was a paying investment, in-vestment, but what could we do without the simoleons to carry out the work? Now, it is proposed to sell a controlling interest to parties with money. We, too, are benefitted, and I will wager $100 that we have gas in Salt Lake inside of ninety days. The price Rhodes Bros, are to pay is between $300,000 aud t-fKl.OOO. That point is yet to be considered. con-sidered. But you can safely announce that the deal will be made. In fact the contract con-tract is already drawn and, with slight changes, will be agreed to." |