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John Wight Papers, 1894-1984

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Wight, John, 1889-1986
Title
John Wight Papers
Dates
1894-1984 (inclusive)
Quantity
80.0 linear feet, (133 boxes, 25 volumes, and 1 oversize box)
Collection Number
Mss 220
Summary
John Wight was a land speculator and oil/natural gas developer, primarily in Montana and Wyoming. This collection contains records relating to his land and natural resource development companies throughout the American west and central Canada.
Repository
University of Montana, Mansfield Library, Archives and Special Collections
Archives and Special Collections
Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library
University of Montana
32 Campus Dr. #9936
59812-9936
Missoula, MT
Telephone: 406-243-2053
library.archives@umontana.edu
Access Restrictions

Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of Archives and Special Collections, the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, and the University of Montana-Missoula.

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for creating this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Historic Publications and Records Commission. Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Biographical Note

John Wight was born in Dover, Arkansas, on December 13, 1889, to Eugenia (Arnold) and John Fitch Wight. His father emigrated from the Isle of Wight and was part of the California gold rush. He then moved on to South Dakota's Black Hills, but settled into ranching and farming instead of mining. Eugenia, widowed from her first marriage with a son, Frank, married him in 1888.

Wight's father died when he was six, and the family moved to Rapid City, where his mother married Marshall Coons. He attended school in Rapid City, South Dakota, but quit at age eleven to work in a sawmill. When he was fifteen, he began to work in construction and began to mine with his brother, Edwin. At age seventeen, he started a real estate and insurance office in Rapid City with his half-brother Frank, which was quite successful; the completion of the Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Seattle Railroad to Rapid City had started a land rush. Wight read law to become a land attorney and was appointed U.S. Commissioner for the U.S. Land Office. He spent time in St. George, British Columbia, and Alaska looking at land suitable for speculation, but returned to Oregon. He speculated on land near Medford, Oregon; Spokane, Washington; and near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. He closed his Rapid City office and moved to Spokane, where he owned a number of buildings. He also bought the opera house in Oakdale, Washington, a sawmill at Mica Peak, Washington, and a drug store in Cheney, Washington. He maintained some interests in South Dakota and Montana. After losing most of his assets, he homesteaded in the Miles City, Montana, area in 1909 and in Powder River Country, Montana, in 1917. He moved to Miles City in 1921.

In 1919 he and his brother Edwin entered the oil exploration and production business in eastern Montana with the Capital Gas Corporation. He drafted and promoted the Oil and Gas Leasing and Right-of-Way Act, which Congress passed in 1920 and made oil pipes that crossed federal land common carriers. He formed the Atlantic Pacific Oil Company, then the Capital Gas Corporation, which bought most of the Atlantic Pacific's assets. The Capital Gas Corporation went bankrupt in 1943. He was president of the Mondakota Gas Company of Billings, which he organized in 1942, and in 1927 organized the Midwest Holding Company, which performed petroleum exploration and drilling in Montana and Wyoming. Wight also held interest in the Atlantic-Pacific Oil Company, the Cedar Creek Field, and owned the Soap Creek Refinery of Soap Creek, Montana, and the Shelby Oil Refinery of Shelby, Montana. He later reorganized the Shelby Refinery as the Sun Oil Company. In 1949 Oil Reporter named him Oilman of the Year. His daughter Marvel Lowrance joined him in the business.

Wight forced the federal government to enforce the Common Carrier Right of Way Act of 1920, in which pipeline companies must carry gas from the fields of independent producers. He filed suit in 1929 for Mondakota to use the interstate gas transmission lines of the Montana-Dakota Utilities Company (MDUC). The Federal Power Commission made its final ruling in favor of Mondakota in 1949. He was, in general, very involved with federal legislation concerning the oil and gas industry, and with numerous lawsuits in defense of his assets.

He married Susan Goeres in 1909; they divorced in the early 1940s, and he married Theora Hoffman in 1949. He and Susan had four daughters: Patricia (Kane), Mildred (Beadle), Aileen (Baxter) and Marvel (Lowrance). From 1962 on, he and his wife lived in Billings, Montana, where he maintained his offices. He died September 2, 1986, in Billings.

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Content Description

This collection contains John Wight's personal correspondence, financial and legal papers, promotional clippings, as well as correspondence, financial, legal, and organizational papers from many of the land and natural resource development companies he wholly owned or was a major investor. The collection presents a detailed record of the struggles and successes for an individual speculator within the larger oil, natural gas, land development, and public utility industries spanning most of the twentieth century.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Researchers are responsible for using in accordance with 17 U.S.C. and any other applicable statutes. Copyright not transferred to the University of Montana.

Preferred Citation

[Name of document], John Wight Papers, Archives and Special Collections, The University of Montana-Missoula.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The collection is divided into two subgroups and thirty-eight series:

Sub-Group 1: Personal, 1894-1984, 13.0 linear feet

Series I: Biographical, 1920-1983, 0.75 linear feet

Series II: General Correspondence, 1928-1984, 7.25 linear feet

Series III: Financial, 1934-1980, 0.25 linear feet

Series IV: Legal and Court Papers, 1894-1979, 4.0 linear feet

Series V: Organization, 1935-1950, 2 folders

Series VI: Reports, 1929-1944, 0.25 linear feet

Series VII: Speeches and Writings, 1961-1984, 0.25 linear feet

Series VIII: Clippings, 1929-1958, 3 folders

Sub-Group 2: Business Interests, 1920-1983, 64.0 linear feet, 1 oversize box, 10 oversize volumes, and two artifacts

Series IX: Capital Gas Corporation, 1920-1975, 6.0 linear feet and 3 oversize volumes

Subseries 1: Financial, 1929-1959, 0.25 linear feet and 1 oversize volume

Subseries 2: Correspondence, 1920-1975, 1.25 linear feet

Subseries 3: Legal, 1921-1966, 3.0 linear feet and 2 oversize volumes

Subseries 4: Maps, undated, 1 folder

Subseries 5: Minutes, 1928-1951, 4 folders

Subseries 6: Organization, 1928-1951, 0.25 linear feet

Subseries 7: Reports, 1920-1938, 1.25 linear feet

Series X: Desert Cove Properties, Incorporated, 1957-1970, 3 folders

Series XI: Exco, Incorporated, 1941-1974, 0.25 linear feet

Series XII: Industrial Gas Company, Incorporated, 1941-1978, 0.75 linear feet

Subseries 1: Correspondence, 1953-1978, 0.25 linear feet

Subseries 2: Financial and Legal, 1941-1957, 0.5 linear feet

Subseries 3: Organization, 1953-1966, 2 folders

Series XIII: Interior Royalty Corporation, 1949-1970, 4 folders

Series XIV: Interstate Natural Gas Company, 1936-1964, 0.75 linear feet and 1 oversize volume

Series XV: John Wight, Incorporated, 1920-1983, 12.0 linear feet

Subseries 1: Correspondence, 1929-1983, 5.5 linear feet

Subseries 2: Financial, 1920-1983, 1.5 linear feet

Subseries 3: Legal, 1920-1982, 4.0 linear feet

Subseries 4: Organization, 1929-1980, 1.0 linear feet

Series XVI: Marvel Petroleum Corporation, 1933-1965, 5 folders

Series XVII: Midwest Holding Company, 1924-1976, 6.0 linear feet and 3 oversize volumes

Subseries 1: Clippings, undated, 1 folder

Subseries 2: Correspondence, 1928-1973, 2.0 linear feet

Subseries 3: Financial, 1929-1976, 1.0 linear feet and 3 oversize volumes

Subseries 4: Legal, 1924-1970, 1.75 linear feet

Subseries 5: Organization, 1929-1968, 0.5 linear feet

Subseries 6: Reports, 1928-1967, 0.75 linear feet

Series XVIII: Modern Oil Company of Montana, Incorporated, 1945-1962, 1.5 linear feet

Subseries 1: Correspondence, 1953-1958, 0.25 linear feet

Subseries 2: Financial, 1945-1962, 0.5 linear feet

Subseries 3: Legal, 1947-1960, 0.5 linear feet

Subseries 4: Organization, 1952-1957, 0.25 linear feet

Series XIX: Mondakota Development Company/Mondakota Gas Company, 1920-1982, 16.5 linear feet and 1 oversize volume

Subseries 1: Correspondence, 1926-1982, 5.25 linear feet

Subseries 2: Financial, 1934-1969, 1.0 linear feet and 1 oversize volume

Subseries 3: Legal, 1920-1982, 9.0 linear feet

Subseries 4: Organization, 1923-1981, 1.25 linear feet

Series XX: Montana Coin and Gem Company, 1957, 3 folders

Series XXI: Montana Consolidated Gas Companies, 1928, 2 folders

Series XXII: Montana Eastern Pipeline Company, Incorporated, 1926-1973, 1.5 linear feet

Subseries 1: Correspondence, 1926-1968, 0.5 linear feet

Subseries 2: Financial, 1931-1937, 3 folders

Subseries 3: Legal, 1926-1970, 1.0 linear feet

Subseries 4: Organization, 1931-1973, 4 folders

Series XXIII: New Cornelia Extension Copper Corporation, 1957-1976, 4 folders

Series XXIV: Northern Gas Producers Association, 1931, 1 folder

Series XXV: North Star Refining Company, 1947-1959, 2 folders

Series XXVI: Rocky Mountain Pacific Oil Company, 1925-1928, 2 folders

Series XXVII: Rocky Mountain Royalty Company, 1927-1937, 1.0 linear feet

Series XXVIII: Solar Oil and Refining Company, 1939-1983, 2.0 linear feet

Subseries 1: Correspondence, 1939-1983, 0.75 linear feet

Subseries 2: Financial, 1939-1963, 0.25 linear feet

Subseries 3: Legal, 1941-1983, 0.25 linear feet

Subseries 4: Organization, 1939-1969 , 0.75 linear feet

Series XXIX: S-W Company, 1934-1980, 0.25 linear feet

Series XXX: Sunray Oil Company, 1939-1945, 2 folders

Series XXXI: Thousand Palms Oasis Development Corporation, 1947-1982, 2.0 linear feet

Subseries 1: Correspondence, 1947-1981, 0.75 linear feet

Subseries 2: Financial, 1957-1975, 0.25 linear feet

Subseries 3: Legal, 1952-1982, 0.5 linear feet

Subseries 4: Organization, 1955, 0.5 linear feet

Series XXXII: Utah Natural Gas Company, 1949-1952, 2 folders

Series XXXIII: Wight Investment and Holding Company, 1981, 2 folders

Series XXXIV: W-L Land and Livestock Company, 1940, 1 folder

Series XXXV: Wight Oil and Refining Company, 1978-1980, 2 folders

Series XXXVI: Lewistown Natural Gas Company, Central Montana Pipe Line Company, Central Montana Production Company, 1930, 1 bound volume

Series XXXVII: Plat Books, undated, 3 oversize volumes

Series XXXVIII: Artifacts, undated, 2 items

Custodial History

Most of the materals in the collection were in the possession of Wight or his daughter, Marvel Lowrance, until time of donation to the Archives. The family discarded a large quantity of corporate records in the late 1960s; this collection represents what remained. A portion of family correspondence that was originally donated to the Montana Historical Society was transferred to the University of Montana at Wight's request.

Acquisition Information

Gift, in part, of John Wight, 1971-1986; gift, in part, of Marvel Lowrance, 1990, 1991; transferred, in part, from Montana Historical Society, 1983.

Processing Note

The actions of the original processers are unknown. In 2004, the collection was re-described; the arrangement of the collection was not changed.

Related Materials

The American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming holds a collection of Wight's papers.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Gas companies -- Montana
  • Petroleum industry and trade--Montana
  • Petroleum pipelines--Law and legislation--United States
  • Petroleum--Prospecting -- Montana
  • Petroleum--Prospecting -- Wyoming
  • Real estate development -- Montana

Form or Genre Terms

  • Business records -- Montana
  • Personal papers -- Montana

Occupations

  • Businessmen--Montana --Billings

Other Creators

  • Corporate Names

    • Capital Gas Corporation
    • Central Montana Pipe Line Company
    • Central Montana Production Company
    • Desert Cove Properties, Inc.
    • Exco, Inc.
    • Industrial Gas Company
    • Interior Royalty Corporation
    • Interstate Natural Gas Company
    • John Wight, Incorporated
    • Lewistown Natural Gas Company
    • Marvel Petroleum Corporation
    • Midwest Holding Company
    • Modern Oil Company of Montana
    • Mondakota Development Company
    • Mondakota Gas Company
    • Montana Coin and Gem Company
    • Montana Consolidated Gas Companies
    • Montana Eastern Pipe Line Company
    • New Cornelia Extension Copper Corporation
    • North Star Refining Company
    • Northern Gas Producers Association
    • Rocky Mountain Pacific Oil Company
    • Rocky Mountain Royalty Company
    • S-W Company
    • Solar Oil and Refining Company
    • Sunray Oil Company
    • Thousand Palms Oasis Development Corporation
    • Utah Natural Gas Company
    • W-L Land and Livestock Company
    • Wight Investment & Holding Company

Finding aid prepared by Jack Rowan
2004

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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