An unusually early inked manuscript ledger for a little know Pennsylvania oil company known as the Rock Valley Oil Company. This 6.5 x 15.5 inch ledger is bound with brown calf spine and marbled board and has circa 90 inked manuscript pages detailing the election of company officers, daily and monthly expenses for the operation of the company, list of shareholders, disbursement of profits and more. This was the very beginning of the oil boom in the United States, which began in this region in 1859. This ledger makes frequent reference to ‘Oil Creek,’ which was in the Titusville/Franklin, Crawford Co. & Venango Co. area. The ledger dates from 1860-63 and such an early document on Pennsylvania’s oil boom is quite rare. A list of the shareholders of the company in the front of the ledger includes: Robert W. Jones; Michael Hovis; John Fritts; Thomas Martin; G.W. Hovis; John McFadden; John Craig; F.M. Smith; Henry Latshaw; John McFadden; Ghost McFadden; Simon Bigler; Jacob McFadden; Jacob Woodling; William Smith; John Hovis; James McMurdy; David Fritts; Michael McFadden; Samuel Ghost; Daniel J. Huffman; Daniel McFadden; William Martin; & Ernest Hovis. The ledger lists candidates and number of votes each received in several elections for company officers in 1860-62. Ledger includes lists of expenses for such mundane items as plates, knives, forks, cups, jug, stove pipe, butter, tea, ticks (bedding), paper, buckwheat flour, potatoes, beef, bacon, pork, coffee, and for items more related to the operation of the business such as coal, iron hooks, nails, lumber, labor, hauling of items to work site, sheet iron, teams of horses, many named tools, 5 days pumping at well, rods, sets of screws and more. Other expenses, such as Doctor bills. One typical entry headed ‘Provisions Furnished’ reads: ‘2 Bushels Potatoes 75;51 lbs Flour by S. Smith 90; 2 Gallon Apple butter 100’. The majority of expenses were for labor and the individual paid is often named. Many of the stockholders also were receiving pay from the company for work or supplies. There are also a few inked manuscript contracts in this ledger, signed by those involved. Several of the teams were hauling supplies from Franklin to Oil Creek. Pay for labor at the well site was quite inexpensive with 12 day’s work paid at $7.50 in July of 1861. The above is only a small part of the information contained in this fascinating ledger.

Minor wear to boards, else Fine.