Martha, I was at the Survey yesterday and got the book references plus their indexes of names on Pennnsylvania OIL FIELD events. One book published by the firm who issued the 'Derrick" lists daily events in the oil industry from 1859 to 1898 and then indexes the people noted as dying in a Mortuary Index. I copied this index plus the biograpghy indexes of the other books. My family name, the Greens, comes up rarely so either they were lower level workers or just didn't "make any news" which is to say the idexes have some relation to "stature" . Most of the iron industry references in the USGS library I've seen to date are not overly informative and say pretty much what the published material already says, but then again there are always little gems to be found. On the company ledgers you mention here is related idea. We should all be on the look out for "railroad station freight journals". They are antique collectible items, but also very informative. I purchased a 1913 jounal at auction this year for a station on the Virginia "Washington & Old Dominion Railway. It is for the Whiele Station which is now Reston, Virginia. It lists almost all local residents 1913 since the railroad was the "butter and eggs" delivery service to rural residents. I would greatly enjoy a jounal from the Rimerton Station, Armstrong County on the old Allegheny Valley Railroad. If anybody knows the location of one for the period 1880 I would say I am blessed with incredible luck. Here are the oil books, I can easily look up a name in the indexes i have. The detail comes later. "Early & Later History of Petroleum with Authentic Facts in Regard to Its Development in Western, Pennyslvania, The Parkers' and Butler County Oil Field, also life sketches of Pioneer and Prominent Operatiors". By J.T. Henry 1873. "The Derrick's Hand-Book of Petroleum, A Complete Chronological and Statistical Review of Petroleum Developments from 1859 to 1898, Daily Market Quatations, Oil Exports, Field Operations and Other Subjects of Interest and Importance to the Oil Trade". By Derrick Publishing Company 1898. [I have the mortuary (500 names) index and biographical (150 names) index for this book] "Romance of American Petroleum and Gas, Vol I & II, By A.R. Crum and A.S. Dungan. Romance of American Petroleum and Gas Co". Date=? [If any relatives got "rich on oil" they are probably in this publication. It has great portrait photos and decent write-ups]. "Sketches in Crude-Oil, Some Accidents and Incidents of the Petroleum Development in All Parts of the Globe with Portraits and Illustrations". By John J. McLaurin 1898. This one is good and is in reprint. [Protraits in this book number 200] "Second Geological Survey of Pennyslvania 1876-7, Report of Progress II, Oil Well Records and Levels" (elevations above sea level). By John Fl Carll, published by the Board of Commissioners for the Second Geological Survey 1877. This is just one book of very many with others on coal, rocks, water, and ones for other years, both back and forward.