I came across Carl's 1847 Oregon Trail Sourdough Starter when I googled sourdough starter. I was looking for a starter recipe that did'nt contain rye. (Rye is expensive and hard to find; and I'm cheap and lazy.)
Friends of Carl will send the starter, without cost, to anyone who requests it. People on "rec.food.sourdough" talk favorablely about the starter. Do a "find" in NG and pull up some old posts. Here's one of them: "Well, Carl has passed on to that great bakery in the sky, but his starter is still available, thanks to Carl's friends.