 During the American Civil War, coal and transportation grew scarce.“The cost of making gas increased one hundred and twenty-five percent, and another problem appeared when Congress reduced the gas rate seventeen percent.” The company sought help from the Secretary of War and from President Abraham Lincoln, who he wrote to John W. Garrett, president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, asking him to “bring coal to the city and afford the continuation of the necessary gas lighting.” Production levels for gas went down during the Civil War, they soon returned to normal.In the 1870s, several large holding tanks (gasometers) were erected at the Foggy Bottom site.