R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press Delivery Driver Neil Larson fills a bobtail truck, the type that does rural residential deliveries, from a 30,000-gallon holding tank at U.P. Propane in Escanaba.

EDITOR NOTE: The Daily Press will be featuring a series of articles on local businesses, highlighting their history and what makes them unique. The series will run on a regular basis in the Daily Press.

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ESCANABA — The proud-to-be-local U.P. Propane does more than install green tanks in yards. From its origins in Iron Mountain, the business has grown to serve 17,000 customers in 16 counties, operate out of seven offices and half a dozen more satellite locations, fill portable propane tanks and sell appliances. They even reconstructed a railroad spur so that their supply isn’t reliant upon a pipeline.

The Iron Mountain Gas Company was founded by the Bertoldi family in the 1920s. In those days, said Dan Harrington, the current owner of U.P. Propane, the business model was centered mostly around deliveries of 100-pound cylinders for gas cookstoves.

Dan and his wife Cindy purchased the Iron Mountain Gas Company in 2006. Through a mutual friend, the Harringtons had heard the previous owner of the gas company was looking to sell at a time that aligned perfectly.

“I had been a builder my whole life, and just was looking for something where I didn’t have to be up on roofs in January,” said Dan, chuckling.

He stated proudly that U.P. Propane is “definitely a family business.”

Dan was born and raised in Ishpeming. Cindy is from Iron Mountain, where they are now based, and she does the bulk of the company paperwork. All of the Harrington kids have worked there at points throughout the years; currently, Dan and Cindy’s daughter, Meagan, is an office manager, while their youngest son, Daniel, does maintenance and some delivery driving.

Dan reported that when he bought the business, it had had about 1,000 customers.

The name changed to U.P. Propane, and under Harrington management, the Iron Mountain facility was rebuilt. They brought several more operations into their hands and built a new plant in Marquette County from the ground up.

“Part of that growth was with the acquisition of Suburban Propane, which was sort of key for the Escanaba area,” said Dan.

Years ago, 6731 U.S. Highway 2 and 41 and M-35 used to be the locally-owned DeCock Bottled Gas and Appliance Company. However, immediately before becoming U.P. Propane’s Escanaba hub, that facility, along with another in Germfask, belonged to Suburban Propane, a national corporation.

“We bought it back from the corporate entities to bring it back to local control,” Dan said. U.P. Propane also purchased Superior Propane and Harvey Oil, both in Marquette County.

The operation serves customers in 14 of the U.P.’s 15 counties, plus some in Wisconsin’s Florence and Marinette counties. All of the offices and satellites are located in the U.P.

Propane is a popular energy source for rural residences for a number of reasons — for one, it’s convenient as it’s relatively safe, stable and easy to transport. Natural gas pipelines rarely reach remote areas, so tanks for propane — which, unlike natural gas, releases no methane when burned — are found on many a rural property. Propane is also a more efficient means of producing heat than electricity, some of which is lost during generation and transmission.

Portable tanks from five to 100 pounds may be filled right at the office, where they also sell and service tanks of many sizes and offer a variety of propane appliances such as ovens, refrigerators, heaters and more.

Todd Benoit manages the Escanaba office. This location has holding tanks for fueling the trucks and semis that then deliver propane across the U.P.

If the average homeowner with a 330-gallon or 500-gallon bulk tank in his yard thinks the 1,000-gallon one at the restaurant in his hypothetical town looks big, he would stagger to see the lot at U.P. Propane in Escanaba.

Two 30,000-gallon tanks nearest the building each hold the volume of a rail car. Resembling dirigibles at the western end of the lot are tanks that hold 60,000 and 90,000 gallons. These closely-monitored modern installments, which Benoit said shut down the highway when they were delivered, are connected to mechanisms with automated safety shutoffs in addition to manual emergency shutoff valves.

Behind the enormous white and gray tanks is a rail terminal that was built in 2020. That project was a sort of insurance policy for U.P. Propane and its customers in response to the discussion around the pipeline that stretches through over 600 miles of the Great Lakes region and has had numerous spills since its 1953 construction.

“With all the talk about Line 5 and shutting down Line 5 – which supplies, you know, a majority of propane for the U.P. – we decided that we didn’t want to put our customers at risk of not having propane,” said Dan.

The rail line had been in operation decades ago but was defunct and overgrown until four years ago. Now, trains carry propane from Canada to Escanaba several times a month. Canadian National brings the rail cars to the north end of town, where Escanaba & Lake Superior picks them up and delivers them down the spur to U.P. Propane.

Being able to control their intake this way, in addition to receiving off Line 5, means that U.P. Propane is subject to less cost variability than other providers, “and the customers benefit, too, because you’re able to keep the price down,” said Benoit.

The company offers flexible payment plans and fixed rates. There are options for service, as well; tanks may be monitored and refilled by U.P. Propane with scheduled deliveries or upon call from the customer.