A SURE THING! A BIG THING!
[Wyoming]. [Oil]. A Sure Thing! A Big Thing! [caption title]. Chicago: 1902. Folded broadsheet, 28 x 18.75 inches, with several photographic reproductions. A couple of small separations along folds. Very good.
A very scarce promotional from the early Wyoming oil boom. The Chicago firm of Charles O. Richardson here urges potential investors to "Get in at Bed Rock," and in particular promotes Richardson's interests in the Spring Valley, Wyoming, oil fields. Both sides of the large broadsheet reproduce numerous newspaper articles reporting new oil strikes across the state, most in the area of
Evanston, with the dates and locations of the articles added in manuscript. Serious efforts to find oil began in Wyoming after statehood in 1890, with the first major oil boom not hitting until 1908; the present broadsheet therefore represents a rare and fascinating advertisement for the early industry in the state. OCLC locates only three copies, at Yale, the University of Oklahoma, and SMU