Chicago-Ferndale Oil Company stock certificate 1902 (Arizona, Illinois, California)

Oil company accused of fraud. Nice  oil field with wells as the vignette. Gold underprint at bottom with oil fields, oil storage, and steam trains. Issued and not cancelled. Dated 1902. Vertical folds from mailing. Measures approximately 10.5 x 8 inches.  

Incorporated In Arizona in 1901, the company owned and operated a number of wells in Ventura and Los Angeles counties. Maybe associated with the Ferndale Oil Company of Oakland, CA.

The company was based in Chicago (seal and text references) while it was common to have AZ incorporation due to lax laws at the time for company formation. This often gave way to mining and oil fraud companies in this era.

Fraud Charges:
In June 1905, a lawsuit or formal charge filed by a lawyer named Harper accused corporate officials of holding overlapping executive offices across multiple struggling or fraudulent energy enterprises, which explicitly included the Chicago Ferndale Oil Company alongside the Ohio Consolidated Oil Company and the Ohio Southern Oil Company.

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