ALBERT J. Yoke, known as one of the most prominent and successful oil and gas operators in the United States, was born at Grantville, West Virginia, June 1, 1858. His father was killed during the last year of the Civil war. His widow and her children then moved to Lewis county, West Virginia. At an early age Albert found it necessary to do something toward the support of his mother and his brothers and sisters. He worked on his grandfather's farm in Lewis county in the farming seasons and in winter attended school, eventually educating himself to undertake the duties of a teacher. At twenty-one years of age he entered Adrian College, Adrian, Michigan, and in due time he worked his way through the regular educational course of that institution.

For two years after his graduation Mr. Yoke worked as tutor and agent for his alma mater. Then, going to Detroit, he raised funds for the erection of a Young Men's Christian Association building. He later organized a Young Men's Christian Association at Louisville, Kentucky, and there founded and edited the Railroad Argosy, now known as the Southern Railway Age. He then became a minister of the Methodist Protestant church, and was assigned to the pastorate of a church of that denomination at Whitehouse, Lucas county, Ohio. In the fall of 1887 he joined the West Virginia conference of that denomination and accepted a call to the pastoral charge of the church at Grafton. He was so successful there that he not only greatly increased the membership of the church and congregation, but raised $7,000 with which to pay off an indebtedness that was on the organization. From Grafton he was called to Mount Morris, Greene county, Pennsylvania, where he built for his congregation a fine church structure, contributing to the building fund $3,000 of his own money. He remained there three years and was then elected president of the Young People's Society Christian Endeavor for the state of West Virginia. A little later he was made secretary of the Laymen's Bureau of the World of the Methodist Protestant church. While ably filling those positions he bought and presented to the West Virginia conference of his church a home for aged ministers of that state which is still in use.

In 1891 Mr. Yoke engaged in the real estate business at Grafton, West Virginia, and founded and became editor of the West Virginia Journal of Commerce, which he published there, and which he still owns. He later began operations in the oil and gas fields of West Virginia and has been active in a large way in that industry ever since. He put through several extensive gas and oil enterprises in that state and broadened his field of operations to include other industries, organizing the Parkersburg and Marietta Traction Company and the first independent telephone system in West Virginia. His restless energy impelled him to begin the development of the east extension of the Elk Fork Pool, near Sisterville, West Virginia. He drilled forty-five wells in that district and secured property back of St. Marys, where he drilled wells and obtained a large production. He then went into the Ohio field and was successful in producing oil at Scio, Uniontown and Reiner's Mills. In the spring of 1902, in association with Governor Odell of New York, he went to Detroit and secured control of Grosse Isle, which is three miles wide and nine miles long. There they failed to get either oil or gas, but struck a flow of excellent mineral water producing a hundred and forty-four thousand barrels a day.

Down to this time Mr. Yoke had made and lost several fortunes, but he had schooled himself never to admit discouragement. On the first day of February, 1893, he arrived at Independence, Kansas, in the southeast Kansas oil and gas field, with only ten dollars left. On the following morning he leased a sixty-acre farm and by night had machinery on the ground, ready for drilling. On this farm he struck a heavy gas producer, and he soon got a lease on another farm, on which he developed two more producers and then sold out his holdings for twenty-five thousand dollars. In association with Frank Brown, he drilled forty-five wells between Coffeyville and Independence, forty-three of which were good producers. He organized, at Coffeyville, the Yoke Vitrified Brick Company, of which he was president, and which he later sold. This brick manufacturing plant is one of the largest and most successful in the west. Its product has been used for paving purposes in numerous cities and has been a means of bringing much fame to Coffeyville. Mr. Yoke retains large holdings in oil and gas and other important industries in West Virginia.

Mr. Yoke had been one of the largest producers of gas on Mazzard Prairie, a short distance east of Fort Smith, and in April, 1909, he located his main office in that city. He organized and is the general manager of the Little Rock and Fort Smith Gas and Oil Company, which operates successfully in this field, and built the pipe line by which that company’s gas is brought to Fort Smith. In August, 1910, he organized an additional company, known as the Western Arkansas Gas and Oil Company, which operates gas wells in the eastern edge of the Fort Smith field. Since he came to Fort Smith he has organized the Fort Smith Vitrified Brick Company and built its plant, which makes brick on a large scale. He organized also the railroad company which is constructing a line of road through a rich district between Fort Smith and Wilburton, Oklahoma, on which it is proposed to locate some extensive industries. In the summer of 1910 he organized the North Fort Smith Improvement Company, which owns land in the northern part of the city, on which are being located various large manufacturing industries, in all of which he is financially interested and in the promotion of which he is the leading spirit. He is a member of a company which owns a large body of rich land in Cuba and has property interests in North Carolina, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; Wyoming and British Columbia. He organized the Van Buren Oil and Gas Company in 1910 and laid the pipe line to the Burk brick plant, which is situated near Fort Smith.

Mr. Yoke is widely known as an expert in oil and gas, and as such he has been sent by the United States Government on secret missions to India and to British Columbia. He has never allowed obstacles to stand in his way. He is resourceful in times of stress and has a talent for grasping the details of large enterprises. He was married at Adrian Michigan, June 8, 1886, to Miss Nellie B. Carpenter of that city, and they have three children--Elmore A., Helen V. and Albert D. He maintains his residence in Adrian. In Scottish Rite Masonry Mr. Yoke has attained to the thirty-second degree. He is secretary for Arkansas of the National Conservation Congress.