The Behemoth of the West

One potential rival to Benjamin Holladay was too big and powerful for even him to swallow.  Wells, Fargo and Company was founded by two easterners, Henry Wells and William G, Fargo.  Both had years of experience in the express freight business.  Opening their doors  in San Francisco in 1852 to the express and banking needs of the mining industry, they built the most powerful private institution west of the Missouri.

Fargo never bothered to inspect his empire and Wells only did once.  They were more concerned with future policy, leaving the day to day operation to the managers.  Concentrating on banking and shipping gold eastward by sea, their services soon expanded to private mail service and shipment of valuables.  By 1859 they had 126 branches on the West Coast and were expanding into Nevada.  Wells Fargo had become the primary link between the isolated Far West and the rest of the nation.

Oddly the company owned few carriers.  Overland transport was contracted with local or regional stagecoach lines.  In 1861 Wells Fargo took over the western portico of the central stage route from the Butterfield line and in 1866 bought out Ben Holladay for $1.8 million.  Holladay thought he got the last victory, thinking the stage was doomed to the railroad.  It suited Wells Fargo who then dominated every phrase of the business from Missouri to the Pacific.

Wells Fargo began to restrict operations in the stage, instead providing security cars on railroad lines.  The decline of the stagecoach was a sign that the pioneer era was coming to an end.  Wells Fargo survived of course, but stage did not.

Side Note:  One of Wells Fargo's most famous drivers was "Old Charley" Parkhurst.  When he died in 1879, Charley was found to be a woman...(smile)

Next time:  Make Way for the "White Man"
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On September 18,  1793, George Washington lays the cornerstone to the United States Capitol building, the home of the legislative branch of American government. The building would take nearly a century to complete, as architects came and went, the British set fire to it and it was called into use during the Civil War.