In 1899, Chattanooga earned a prominent place in soft drink history, when local attorneys Benjamin F. Thomas and Joseph B. Whitehead signed an agreement with Coca-Cola president Asa Candler for exclusive bottling rights in most of the United States. Double Cola is still headquartered in its native Chattanooga, and dates to 1922, when founders Charles D. Little and Joseph S. Foster introduced Good Grape to thirsty consumers. For a time in its history, Double Cola was a more serious rival to Coca-Cola than Pepsi.

There were other local soft drink “lesser lights,” as my Economics professor, Dr. Fred C. Armstrong, used to describe the smaller entities of the business world. One of them was Hi-Peak Cola, which existed locally for only a few years.

The Chattanooga entrepreneur connected to Hi-Peak was Washington County, Georgia native, Marcus S. Woods. He apparently loved sweet business deals, for his entire career was centered on sugar. In 1923, he was tapped as president of the aforementioned Good Grape Company.

In 1927, Marcus Woods left Seminole Flavoring (the new name of the Good Grape company), and established a confectionery manufacturing firm bearing his name. The business was located at 1009 Chestnut Street. With rail lines nearby, the Marcus S. Woods Company was able to have easy access to raw materials for production.

Hi-Peak Corporation was first listed the following year, 1928, but the company was described as “chili manufacturers.” The business address was the same as the Marcus S. Woods Company, which was still shown as being a confectioner.

Mr. Woods apparently consolidated his ventures in 1929, when Hi-Peak Confectioners was listed in the directory. This was followed by listings for the next few years for the Hi-Peak Cola Company. Hi-Peak’s logo showed a 1920’s-style flapper girl with a mountain peak backdrop, and the slogan, “Tops ‘Em All.”

Hi-Peak was bottled at 1212-14 Fort Street, a manufacturing community on the city’s south side. Hi-Peak’s next-door neighbor, according to the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Library’s photo database, was the Coca-Cola bottling plant.

Whether Hi-Peak was a soft drink flavor developed by Marcus Woods, or whether he was only a franchised bottler of a national brand, is unclear. Bill Lockhart, sociology professor at New Mexico State University, mentions in his Web site on New Mexico soft drink bottlers, that Thomas J. O’Conor was offering Hi-Peak Cola through his Crystal Bottling Company. Lockhart notes, “O'Conor ran a sales campaign from May to August of 1931. He offered "A New Soft Drink . . . "Hi-Peak Cola". A seven ounce bottle of "Hi-Peak Cola" sells for only 5 cents and besides every bottle cap counts toward winning valuable premiums" (Alamogordo Advertiser May 28, 1931).” When I contacted Professor Lockhart, he said that he had no additional information on Hi-Peak.

Hi-Peak Cola may have been one of many victims of the Great Depression, for it was not mentioned in the 1933 directory. Marcus Woods switched to manufacturing brooms at his 1212 Fort Street business, and by 1936, Hamilton National Bank was listed as having a warehouse there.

In 1934, Marcus Woods joined the Braser Company, a syrup distributor located at 1115 Carter Street. Woods remained with Braser as a traveling salesman for the last seventeen years of his life. The economic downturn in the 1930’s, followed by sugar rationing during World War II, caused many of Hi-Peak’s competitors to fold as well.

If you have information on the Hi-Peak Cola Company, or Marcus S. Woods, please send me an e-mail at jolleyh@bellsouth.net.

Advertising print plate for Hi-Peak Cola worked again in a new century, thanks to a stamp pad from an office supply company. Click to enlarge.