The Reno Oil And Land Company, Incorporated Under The Laws Of Pennsylvania, Nov., 1865

GROW, GALUSHA A. [PRESIDENT]

Publication: E S Dodge & Co, Steam Printers, 1866, New York

First edition. 8vo. Original 8 1/2" x 5 3/8" printed, sewn wrappers, 32 pp. map on rear cover titled "Oil Region of Pennsylvania." The Reno Oil and Land Company, Incorporated Under the Laws of Pennsylvania, Nov. 1865: Capital Stock, $10,000,000. Shares, One Hundred Dollars Each. Working Capital, $500,000. Stockholders Not Individually Liable. Stock Guaranteed by a Deposit of One Hundred Dollars for Each Share of Stock Sold. Charles Vernon Culver (1830-1909) is listed as one of the twelve directors and also as Vice President of this stock venture. The booklet opens with this paragraph, "The Reno property was selected by Hon. Charles Vernon Culver, the present representative in Congress from the Venango District, Pennsylvania. Mr. Culver has for years been a resident of that district and intimately identified with all its interests. He purchased the land some years since, being convinced of its value as oil territory, and as the site best adapted for building the Great Central Commercial Town Of The Oil Regions." However Wikipedia says "Culver was born in Logan, Ohio. He received a liberal preparatory schooling and attended the Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio. He moved to Pennsylvania and settled in Reno, Pennsylvania and engaged in mercantile pursuits. He also became interested in the development of oil in Venango County, Pennsylvania, and the establishment of national banks in thirteen cities throughout the East." Culver had made a small profit in Logan, Ohio by investing some bank money in oil. He took that money and began buying up banks throughout the oil region. He bought land two miles below Oil City, Pennsylvania where he established the town of Reno and The Reno Oil and Land Company and starting selling stock in what appears to have been a basic pyramid scheme. Culver also attempted to establish the Reno-Pithole railroad, to run between Reno and Pithole, Pennsylvania, the leading oil boom town at the time. Culver was not one for half measures—to run the railroad he hired Ambrose Burnside, and to hook investors, he brought deep-pocketed men of wealth from all over the country to tour his as-yet-non-existent oil fields. Ultimately Culver's plan collapsed and he was pursued by creditors and courts up and down the oil region. The collapse of his banks triggered a financial panic throughout the oil region that drove many oilmen out of the business and created chaos that set the stage for men like John D. Rockefeller to move in. A more complete and colorful account of Culver's career can be found in the book The Great Oildorado by Hildegarde Dolson. Light wear to the spine else a near fine copy of a rare Pennsylvania oil venture item.