Because of cash flow problems in 1855, Clark, together with his partners W.H. McCrillis and Thomas Howe, transferred all their Canadian properties and licences to City Bank and the Bank of Montreal in trust. When the Panic of 1857 resulted in an oversupply in the US timber market, the banks auctioned off their debt, which John Henry Pope bought for $30,000. Clark would later buy back the properties and licences from Pope in 1869, and Pope remained as the chief spokesman for the company afterwards.
