A couple of months ago (October 21, 2007), Wells Fargo helped celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Sacramento Public Library . A Wells Fargo Stagecoach made an appearance and the Old Sacramento Museum staff presented a gold panning exhibition. The festivities attracted many visitors, young and old, who enjoyed gold panning   and the other activities. The most important part, however, was the celebration of the 150th anniversary  of the Public Library.

Five years after the creation of Wells Fargo in 1852, the Sacramento Public Library was created. By 1857, Sacramento was developing rapidly . The city had a railroad, city hall, newspaper, steamboat service, ten churches, brothels, theaters and a Wells Fargo Express Office. The citizenry felt it necessary to fulfill their intellectual requirements as well – so in October, prominent residents formed the Capital Library Association.

The Association sold stock at 25 dollars per share and raised $25,000 to buy books, furnish the library and purchase land for the building. The Library opened in November 1857 to subscribing members who paid five dollars initially, then two dollars and fifty cents quarterly. The first building was located at 5th and J Streets and housed a collection of 800 books.

The following year, another 800 books sailed from New York , around Cape Horn , and through the Delta  to Sacramento. By September 1873, the library had 260 subscribing members and an annual circulation of 4,234 books. Unfortunately, membership started to decline after that.

The Association offered the property to the City of Sacramento to be used as a free public library. In June 1879, the Sacramento Free Library opened with over 6,000 books. Within six months, the number of daily visitors had grown to over 100. Since then library service has continued to expand, with the opening of branch sites throughout the city's communities.

The main branch  of Sacramento's modern Public Library opened in 1992 on 9th and I Streets in a beautiful six-story building. The Library today offers so much more with exhibits, programs, book readings and events. But the 150-year history of the Library is not forgotten: those 800 books that sailed 'round the Horn  in 1858 are still a part of the Library's rare book collection.

Posted by Martha at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Get Involved, Gold, Misc, Museums, Perspective, Remember, Sacramento, Transportation, Wells Fargo Bank

Whenever visitors enter a Wells Fargo History Museum, they are inevitably drawn the Concord Stagecoach. Most are disbelieving when they hear that 18 passengers were packed in and on top of the coach, and their curiosity only grows when they hear about the dangers of the untamed West: no paved roads and the closest thing to a fast food restaurant being a pot of slumgullion  boiling over a smoky fire...

In today's society, travel is all about speed and comfort. Nine times out of ten, you will see travelers in an airport wearing ensembles more closely resembling pajamas than day wear. Although this seems like quite a leap from the attire donned by travelers 150 years ago , taking a look back reveals that there were a few brave souls who attempted to make the arduous journey westward a bit more comfortable.

There were many ways to travel across the western territories and all of them were uncomfortable. They were even more difficult for women, who were hampered by layers of petticoats and full-length dresses. Most travelers were poor enough that walking was their only option. Imagine arriving in California wearing the same clothes in which you left home a year before. Even if you were part of a wagon train and had room for clothes in your luggage, you would have spent most of your time walking alongside the wagons. Fording streams, hiking muddy trails, and climbing through mountain passes in a full skirt would be frustrating and slow.

In response, Elizabeth Smith Miller  invented the "Bloomer Costume"  in 1850, as an alternative to the unwieldy traditional dress of the day. The costume consisted of a short skirt that was paired with "Turkish Trousers" . It was named after Amelia Bloomer , a well known women's rights leader at the time. Bloomer also made the new costume famous in her paper, "The Lily."  Besides being advertised in Bloomer's paper, the costume was the subject of much attention, both positive and negative, in many newspapers, as well as journal, and diary entries of the period.

The Oregon Statesman  observed the stir caused by this new fashion in their September 2, 1852 edition:

The "Bloomers" in Oregon
A couple of our down town ladies appeared in the Bloomer costume (short dress and trousers) one day last week. We was not "there to see," but we understand the demonstration created an intense excitement in that quarter.

Francis Sawyer, on her overland journey to California in 1852, observed a family in which "The daughter is dressed in a bloomer-costume—pants, short skirt and red-top boots. I think it is a very appropriate dress for a trip like this. So many ladies wear it, that I almost wish that I was so attired myself."

Although they were sometimes greeted with scoffs and unmannerly comments, the women  who chose to wear the bloomers touted their practicality. Mariett Foster Cummings wrote in her diary, "In passing one house the women came out and laughed at me and my dress, I did not ask which, but find it much more convenient for traveling than a long one."

Although the practicality of the suit made it popular among a few women, pants of any kind were not really acceptable socially (excepting athletics like bicycling) until the 1930s. In fact, the term "Bloomer" not only described the costume, but also came to be used to describe the daring women who wore it.

Posted by Melissa at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Found in Misc, Perspective, Remember, Stagecoach, Transportation, Wells Fargo Bank

Robberies of treasure carried by Wells Fargo Express aboard stagecoaches, unfortunately did take place. But Wells Fargo's crack detective force pursued the bandits with cold calculation and didn't stop pursuing till they netted the bad guys and locked them away. The legend "Wells Fargo Never Forgets" is the single best artifact from those years.

The town of Umatilla, Oregon  is nestled on the Columbia River  about three hours east of Portland. On October 21st, 1875, six miles outside of Umatilla, two men robbed the stagecoach from Boise City  and made off with gold from the Idaho mines .

Wells Fargo's detective force immediately sprang into action. Portland's Special Agent H. C. Paige sent a telegram to John J. Valentine, General Superintendent of Wells Fargo, to inform him that the extent of loss was unknown — but agents were in pursuit of the robbers. On October 29th, Paige wrote a letter to Valentine from Baker City , reporting a loss of up to $4,000, based upon the value of the gold listed on the manifest. Once the loss was known, Paige distributed a reward poster .

At first, Paige went after a red-headed fellow he had been suspicious of, based on a comb with red hairs found at the crime scene. A nearby hotel keeper confirmed the comb belonged to the suspect. On November 5th, Paige wrote Valentine from Pendleton . Two other suspects had confessed to the robbery and were in custody.

Paige had solved the case.

There is more about Wells Fargo's detective force at the Portland Museum. Our new exhibit, "Crime Scene Investigation: Officers in Pursuit," officially opened on January 16th. Check it out!

Posted by Steve at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Found in Artifacts, At Work, Crime, Experts, First-hand Accounts, Misc, Museums, Perspective, Remember, Stagecoach, Wells Fargo Bank

Thinking about Wells Fargo's beginnings, a few pivotal events come to mind: Henry Wells hiring William Fargo as an express messenger for the Pomeroy Company in 1842 , and the resistance other Directors of the American Express Company had to venturing into California, pushing fellow Directors Wells and Fargo to create their own company. These events are crucial enough that Wells Fargo & Company might not ever have been created without them.

Another key event was the discovery of gold in Coloma, California  by James Marshall. His discovery led to the Gold Rush  — the migration of thousands of people to California in a short time. These events sparked the interests of express pioneers Wells and Fargo to found the Company. Again, it's feasible to say that this may not have happened if Marshall  had not discovered gold that cold morning in 1848.

Marshall was a carpenter and sawmill operator by trade who came to California in 1845. He started working at Sutter's Fort , putting into motion the events that led to the discovery of gold. In 1848, John Sutter  and Marshall started construction of a sawmill on the American River in Coloma.

On the morning of January 24, 1848 , Marshall discovered a small nugget of gold in the millrace. Henry Bigler was working for Marshall that day and left an account of the discovery: "This day some kind of mettle was found in the trail race that looks like gold."

For a short time the discovery remained a secret. Laborers on the project were the first to prospect after the completion of the sawmill. The secret was soon leaked, and word of gold in California began to get out. News of the strike on the American River  was doubted for months, however, until May 12, when merchant Sam Brannan  raced around the streets of San Francisco shouting, "Gold! Gold from the American River!"

Local excitement brought the first influx of prospectors, and the news quickly spread to the East and then around the globe. Christopher "Kit" Carson  brought the first news of gold to Washington D.C., and on December 5th, President James K. Polk  reported to Congress about the discovery of Gold in California. The finding was official and the Gold Rush was on.

Henry Wells and William Fargo established Wells Fargo in San Francisco in 1852. Over the 156 years since, Wells Fargo has continued a tradition of dependable financial service. We at Wells Fargo are proud of our history and our Company, but we also marvel at how James Marshall's tiny piece of gold at a construction site changed the course of U.S. and California history, and also began Wells Fargo's own history.

Posted by Greg at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in At Work, Gold, Misc, Museums, Perspective, Psychology, Remember, Sacramento, Wells Fargo Bank

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  was born on January 15, 1929. A national holiday   to honor his memory and accomplishments happens every year near this date. It's this weekend.

I'm an admirer of Dr. King . I remember hearing him on the evening news and the palpable change in consciousness he brought about. Before King, you see, Civil Rights for African Americans  were hard to get, and small gains were so often reversed. Americans were either oblivious or opposed to justice for Blacks. After King began  his work, though, people were suddenly aware of African Americans' struggles, and many who were oblivious became sympathetic.

I remember his murder in 1968, too. School was cancelled, and our neighborhood was absolutely silent. Most people were watching TV, but even birds and dogs were quiet that day. I was a little kid, but I felt the enormity of it. More than war, or Nixon, music, or any other factors that shaped that era, those last couple years of Dr. King's life affected me and the person I have become.

It's those words. And that voice.

King was a magical speaker . Certain arias in opera bring tears to my eyes — some sort of reaction to the emotion in music, I guess. (No wisecracks!) It doesn't happen with any other music. Whenever I listen to Dr. King's speeches, the same darn thing happens — I get all misty and sniffly. I can't watch documentaries on Dr. King or the Movement without becoming a wreck I credit the power of conviction in King's words, as well as the royalty of his voice. He's truly larger than life.

So I was picking through some old LPs in a 2nd hand store last year, and came upon this record. It is the speech Dr. King gave in Detroit in June, 1963 , as he moved toward the historic rally at the Lincoln Memorial   that summer. The speech  he delivered was the first time he used the "I Have a Dream" piece — perhaps the greatest speech of the century.

The record, by the way, was captured and distributed by Gordy Records, a division of Barry Gordy's Motown  label. Gordy Records was the label Motown developed for spoken word albums , a standard genre of the time. "The Great March To Freedom: Rev. Martin Luther King Speaks" was the inaugural disc from Gordy.

So there you have it — my personal MLK Day. It means a lot to me because he means a lot to me. Also, Guided By History will blog about Black History Month  most of February.

Let this be the first post that celebrates Black History! 

Posted by Charles at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Found in Artifacts, Assassinations, Events, First-hand Accounts, Holidays, Misc, Music, Opera, Perspective, Protests, Remember, Wells Fargo Bank

Henry Wells is famous for the banking and express companies he founded: American Express  (1850) and Wells, Fargo and Company (1852). But neither of these institutions was his proudest accomplishment.

At age 59, Wells began work on "the dream of my life" — establishing a college for the education of young women on the shores of Cayuga Lake in upstate New York .

In September 1868, Wells College  for women opened its doors, and became one of the first educational institutions in the nation dedicated solely to the education of women. Wells donated $200,000 in land, buildings and furnishings to the college, which he hoped (in true 19th century chauvinistic  fashion) "would make wives and mothers who would be companions for sensible men, and properly train their children for the higher walks of life."

Today, of course, ambitious Wells graduates aim even higher than that.

One early Wells College graduate exceeded Henry Wells' expectations: Frances Folsom Cleveland , the first First Lady to hold a college degree (Wells College class of 1885). She was also the first to be married in the White House. Two of the Cleveland's five children were born at the Executive Mansion during Grover Cleveland's   second term as President (he was the only President elected to two non-consecutive terms in office 1885-1889 and 1893-1897).

And their eldest daughter, "baby Ruth" ," reportedly served as the inspiration for a famous candy bar .

Posted by Marianne at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Found in Babe Ruth, Misc, Perspective, Remember, Wells Fargo Bank

One of my closest friends lives in Rancho Bernardo . Four houses down from his place is a home nearing completion. The original house burned down in the Witch Creek fire  less than three months ago. The new one is bigger and better, like the linebacker whose construction company  built it.

Shawne Merriman  is known for — and maybe infamous for! — his "Lights Out" victory dance , which he executes after many of his behind-the-line-of-scrimmage sacks. Some sports fans out there may remember when New England Patriots players mimicked the dance on the Chargers home field after knocking Marty Schottenheimer's  14-2 San Diego team out of last year's playoffs.

Say what you will about Merriman, but even though he was unable to complete the house by his self-imposed deadline of December 25th, 2007, he has built a nice house for this family in lightning-quick time. It may not make it to "Extreme Home Makeover"  level, but it's not a bad effort.

There's a lesson behind Mr. Merriman's efforts. The "What's in it for him?" question can be asked, sans  the arch cynicism of our particular public moment. What's in it for him is the same thing that's in it for any company, who — when faced with disaster — decides that there is an opportunity to do the right thing. In Rancho Bernardo, a lot of folks will remember Mr. Merriman  more for this trick than his sack dance.

Communities are built one decent act at time. I like to think this is what Wells Fargo stands for as a company. Every time I go see a game and I see that logo, I am reminded that I am part of the Wells Fargo community.

Posted by Allan at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Christmas, Fires, First-hand Accounts, Misc, San Diego, Wells Fargo Bank

As I wrote last week, and as you see here, I got a new banker's uniform. Here at the Wells Fargo Museum in Old Sacramento, we give tours and dress in the style of the era. My pocket watch gave my get-up a classic finish. It also got me thinking about watches Wells Fargo presented in recognition of heroic work. I told the story of Aaron Y. Ross, but another man comes to mind.

James Wales Miller was a stagecoach driver. While on his route one day he outran would-be stagecoach robbers and saved the Wells Fargo treasure box. Miller was asked what he wanted for his valor and he responded;

"A dame big bullion watch."

And that’s what Miller got. Wells Fargo presented Miller a silver watch and chain that together weighed approximately two and one-half pounds. The watch alone was approximately three inches in circumference, and one inch wide.

Although such watches as Ross's and Miller's were presented for valor, heroism was not the only reason to Wells Fargo bestowed watches. Non-employees who helped the company were presented with these exclusive watches on occasion. Thomas W. Davies was one such man. A treasure box was dropped from a stagecoach near San Diego, "carrying 10,000 worth in gold from the Golden Chariot Mine ." Davies found and returned the treasure box to Wells Fargo—intact. Superintendent John J. Valentine sent Davies a presentation watch with an inscription that read:

"As recognition of his integrity in protecting and restoring the Treasure Box, with valuable contents, lost from the Julian City Stage , near San Diego, October 1, 1873."

The loyalty, courage and honesty these men showed paid off for them in the end. Wells Fargo appreciated their integrity, and presented them with some of the finest watches of the time.

Posted by Greg at 03:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Found in Artifacts, At Work, Crime, Gold, Misc, Museums, Perspective, Photographs, Remember, Sacramento, Stagecoach, Wells Fargo Bank

I just got a new period costume for my work here at the Old Sacramento History Museum. I added a pocket watch to finish off the the banker's uniform and give it a classic feel. It is a nice but humble watch, and goes well with the 1860s garb, but it is positively shabby compared to the watches some people received in recognition for valor while working for Wells Fargo.

The first person that comes to my mind when I think about these presentation watches is an agent named Aaron Y. Ross. Ross received the watch for defending an express rail car January 23, 1883 in Montello, Nevada . It was a winter night when bandits accosted the train on the Central Pacific Railroad  line. Ross was holed up in the Wells Fargo express car as the thieves attempted to rob the train. The men ordered Ross out of the car but he refused

The badmen opened fire on Ross. He was wounded three times in the crossfire, but he remained defending the car. Ross returned fire and killed one of the bandits. The others attempted to burn Ross out of the car but were unable to set the car ablaze. The gang eventually gave up and Ross was victorious in defending Wells Fargo's treasure.

Ross defended a Wells Fargo shipment of only 600 dollars, "but next door in the postal car was $500,000 in currency," which was also saved thanks to Ross's valor. The gang escaped but was arrested five days later in Utah.

For his courage, Wells Fargo presented Ross a gold watch and chain valued at 650 dollars, along with 1000 dollars in cash. All his medical bills were paid, too. The presentation watch read:

"From Wells, Fargo & Company to MESSENGER Aaron Y. Ross. In token of his courageous and successful defence of the EXPRESS CAR against Highway Robbers at Montello, Nev. JANUARY 23, 1883."

Next week, I'll tell you about another fine watch or two, presented by Wells Fargo to its bravest defenders. Happy New Year!

Posted by Greg at 01:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Artifacts, At Work, Crime, Misc, Museums, New Year's Day, Perspective, Prepare, Railroads, Remember, Sacramento, Transportation, Wells Fargo Bank

Posted by Charles at 09:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Found in Artifacts, At Home, Branding, Holidays, Misc, New Year's Day, Perspective, Wells Fargo Bank