Clarence Jesse Berry (1867–1930), known as C.J., was an American businessman and successful gold miner in the Klondike Gold Rush. He and his wife, Ethel Berry, made a further fortune in Ester, Alaska, in 1902, and founded several oil companies over the years, which eventually became Berry Corporation.

In Ester, Berry pioneered the use of the cold water point and the steam point, used to thaw frozen soil and permafrost in a safer manner for drift mining than boring shafts using hot rocks or underground fires, which rendered the excavations and tunnels far more susceptible to collapse. The Berrys operated No. 8 Below Discovery Claim.

Early life

Berry Park in Selma, California, is named for Berry, who was a struggling fruit farmer in that San Joaquin Valley town before he traveled to the Klondike. He was a son of a forty-niner. Clarence went to Yukon, Alaska in 1894 in search of gold after his fruit farming venture failed in California. The honeymooners settled in at the Forty Mile Creek outpost on the Yukon River. To make ends meet as looked for gold, CJ got a job as the local bartender.

The Klondike Gold Rush

In the summer of 1896, George Carmack walked into the Bill McPhee's Saloon and informed CJ that he discovered gold in the Klondike and paid for his drink with gold nuggets. CJ felt Carmack's story was credible and left immediately with his brother Fred to stake claims. CJ and Fred, staying very close to shore in their small boat, pushed themselves upriver with "poles" slowly but surely against the mighty Yukon River current. It was hard work, but the Berry brothers made the journey upstream to the claims within a few days.

They both staked claims on Rabbit Creek, which quickly became known as Bonanza Creek and later traded a half interest in that claim for half of Anton Stander's claim on Eldorado Creek. CJ's story and picture was on the front page of the Seattle and San Francisco newspapers. A worldwide gold rush ensued. In later years, CJ and his three brothers (Fred, Henry and Frank) worked as a team, alternating six month shifts at the northern mining camps.

CJ went on to acquiring prolific mining claims in Ester, Alaska, near Fairbanks, and a mine in the Circle District called "Berry Camp".

Oil and later life

In 1909, CJ purchased several sections of land in Maricopa near Taft, California, which became known as Berry Holding Company. In 1926, CJ's oil producing properties in Mexico were expropriated and Algur H. Meadows, Henry W. Peters and Ralph G. Trippett took over. Berry Corporation was formed, and eventually went public on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BRY in 1985. Berry produced its 100 millionth barrel of oil in 1996.

Clarence's brother Henry later owned two professional baseball teams in the Pacific Coast League, including the San Francisco Seals, for many years.

In 1996, CJ Berry was inducted into the Mining Hall of Fame located in Leadville, Colorado.

References

  • Berry Petroleum Company