Historical Note

Scope and Content

Restrictions on Use

Restrictions on Access

Inventory

Subject Terms


Preliminary Guide to the Oregon Improvement Company Records
1880-1935


Creator: Oregon Improvement Company , creator
Title: Oregon Improvement Company records
Date Span: 1880-1935
Quantity: 32 cubic feet plus microfilm
Manuscript Collection No.: 0249
Languages: Collection materials are in English.



Historical Note

Business to own and operate coal mines, railroads, and steamship company in Washington and California.

Financier Henry Villard launched the Oregon Improvement Company in 1880 as a central component in his attempt to dominate the economic development of the Pacific Northwest. Villard wanted to link rail, river and ocean transport, and he was interested in developing coal both as fuel and as payload. The company had financial problems from the beginning. Elijah Smith replaced Villard in 1884, and was himself replaced by William Starbuck in 1891. The Pacific Coast Company purchased and absorbed OIC in 1896.

Scope and Content

Consult the scope and content information for each of the accessions listed below.

Restrictions on Use

Consult the restrictions governing reproduction and use for each of the accessions listed below.

Restrictions on Access

Consult the access restrictions information for each of the accessions listed below.

Inventory

   
Accession No. 0249-001
Oregon Improvement Company.
Oregon Improvement Company records, 1880-1896
32 cubic feet
copies: 37 microfilm reels. positive. 35mm.
Scope and Content
Records, 1880-1896.
Minutes, court papers, organizational materials, financial records, correspondence, and other business records of this firm, which was essentially a property holding and development wing of the Henry Villard railroad interests and was involved in coal mining, steamships, urban development, and feeder railroads, principally in Washington. Records also include miscellaneous files of several subsidiary corporations, including the Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad Co., the Olympia and Chehalis Valley Railroad Co., the Pacific Coast Railway Co., the Seattle and Northern Railway Co., the Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad Co., the Seattle Coal and Transportation Co., and the Pacific Coast Steamship Co. Correspondence from this accession also available on microfilm.
Other Finding Aids
View inventory/container list
Restrictions on Access
Access restricted: For terms of access, contact Special Collections
Records stored offsite; advance notice required for use.
Restrictions on Use
Creator's literary rights not transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.
Acquisition Info
Donated by Pacific Coast Coal and Oil Company: July 1962 and Nov. 1967, 7/1/1962.
   
Accession No. 0249-002
Oregon Improvement Company
Oregon Improvement Company records, 1884-1935
1 microfilm reel (negative)
Scope and Content
Agreements, 1884; financial records, 1889-1895, 1914-1935.
Other Finding Aids
View inventory/container list
Restrictions on Access
Access restricted: For terms of access, contact Special Collections
Restrictions on Use
Creator's literary rights not transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.
Acquisition Info
Received 10/20/1978.

Subject Terms

Personal Names:
Higginson, James, creator.
Holmes, Artemas H., creator.
McKay, Nathaniel, creator.
Mitchell, John H. (John Hipple), 1835-1905, creator.
Mohr, Paul, creator.
Muir, John, 1847-1935, creator.
Reed, Simon G., creator.
Simon, Joseph, 1851-1935, creator.
Smith, Elijah, 1840-, creator.
Starbuck, William, creator.
Villard, Henry, 1835-1900, creator.
Wilson, Nathaniel, creator.
Organizations:
Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company, creator.
Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton Corporation, creator.
City Bank Farmers Trust Company (New York, N.Y.), creator.
Colorado Manufacturing Co., creator.
Columbia & Puget Sound Railroad, creator.
Columbia Railway and Navigation, creator.
Dolph, Bellinger, Mallory & Simon, creator.
Great Northern Railway Company (U.S.), creator.
Johnson & Higgins, creator.
Northern Pacific Railroad Company, creator.
Northern Transcontinental Survey, creator.
Olympia and Chehalis Valley Railroad.
Oregon Improvement Company--Archives.
Oregon Steamship Co., creator.
Pacific Coast Railroad Company., creator.
Pacific Coast Steamship Company., creator.
Port Townsend Southern Railroad.
Puget Sound Shore Railroad Co., creator.
Seattle & Walla Walla Railroad, creator.
Seattle Coal and Transportation Company, creator.
Seattle and Northern Railway Co., creator.
Smith Brothers and Watson, creator.
Thurston County Railroad Construction Co., creator.
Union Lumber Association (San Francisco, Calif.)., creator.
Union Pacific Railway Company, creator.
Union Wharf Company, creator.
Willamette Steam Mill and Manufacturing Company (Portland, Or.), creator.
Subjects:
Transportation--Pacific States.
Last modified: March 7, 2013
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