In the 19th century, we are apt to think travel difficult, yet across the country and back never deterred Wells Fargo from aiding a customer. It happened like this:

In February 1895, two Johnson boys borrowed $275 from Sarah W. Swanton, a hotel keeper in Pescadero, Calif.  When they could not pay, they fingered Uncle R. Augustus Johnson in New York City, and Mrs. Swanton asked Wells Fargo to collect.

Wells Fargo sent the note across country to New York, where its banker Hosmer B. Parsons added his endorsement. Meantime, Uncle Augie thought his brother, Lorenzo M. Johnson, had deeper pockets, leading Wells Fargo to hurry the note to Chicago. General Agent Bernette Wygant quickly sent it to Johnson in Winnetka , a wealthy suburb 20 miles from downtown. But Winnetka was an American Express town—rather than cash, it accepted Johnson’s check for $275.

Without a national check-clearing system  as we have today, Wells Fargo could neither cash the check nor dispatch the money. By then, Johnson had left for Piedras Negras, Mexico , across the Rio Grande from Eagle Pass, Texas , where he ran ranches, railroads, telegraphs and, especially, coal companies.

In this quandary, Wells Fargo's Chicago Agent Wygant quickly provided a solution. "In consideration for you," Wygant wrote Johnson on September 21, 1895, "we accepted the check and forwarded it to Eagle Pass for collection, and in turn forwarded the money from there to California without extra charge."

Wells Fargo's service, from California to New York to Chicago to Eagle Pass to California, made Mrs. Swanton a satisfied customer.