3 Linear Feet, Summary: 3 reels of microfilm (3 ft.)
Creator
Clarke, John P. (1825-1900)
Location
West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown,
WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / Fax: 304-293-3981 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/
Language
English
Abstract
Correspondence, business and legal papers, surveys, account books, and a diary of a Burning Springs surveyor, oil developer,
rural entrepreneur, horticulturalist, and captain of the Little Kanawha River steamer GENERAL JACKSON. Collection includes
a brief journal of a trip from Des Moines, Iowa, to the Forks of the Platte in 1860; papers of Clarke's venture in quartz
mining and milling in the Colorado Territory, 1861-1863; surveys of the Burning Springs oil region; letters from James C.
Clarke, president of the Wirt Oil and Mining Company of which Clarke was superintendent; papers on the National Grange, the
West Virginia Grange (Patrons of Husbandry), cooperatives, and the Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia Wool Growers Association;
a diary of farming operations at Burning Springs; letters from Clarke's brother, James C., while a member of the Pennsylvania
senate, 1875-1880; letterheads from Little Kanawha and Ohio Valley mercantile firms and steamboat companies; and family letters.
Other subjects covered include: the Allegheny Valley Railroad; early history of Bethalto, Illinois; the speculative spirit
and western expansion, 1860; freighting on the Great Plains during the Civil War; construction of the Chicago, Rock Island,
and Pacific Railroad near Council Bluffs in 1868; and the effect of the German crisis of 1866 on American oil prices.
Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.
Conditions Governing Access
No special access restriction applies.
Preferred Citation
[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], John P. Clarke (1825-1900) Papers, A&M 1511, West Virginia and Regional
History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.
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