For the past few years, the Oregon Historical Society 
has collaborated with the Wells Fargo History Museum in Oregon to promote our education programs. The Historical Society will host a teacher workshop in November, where teachers can receive professional development units.
More recently, the Oregon Historical Society's research library has developed finding aids to assist research. Within the finding aids, I found a short, type-written biography of Cornelius Beekman, Wells Fargo's express agent in Jacksonville, Oregon .
Cornelius Beekman grew up in New York, and moved to California in 1850 at the age of 22. He found work as a carpenter in San Francisco, but was lured to the gold mines – first at Scott's Bar and then at Sawyer's Bar .
Within a few years, Beekman was in the express business in Jacksonville, as agent for Cram, Rogers & Co. Express. By 1856, however. that company had failed, and Beekman started his own express messenger service. For seven years, he made semi-weekly runs between Yreka and Jacksonville, and to Crescent City along California's northwest coast. A sole proprietor, Beekman was also the only rider. He charged one dollar for letters and newspapers, and five percent for the transportation of gold.
Alone, he delivered more than fifteen million dollars in gold!
In 1863, Wells Fargo appointed Beekman as agent in Jacksonville. From that office, he shipped millions of dollars in gold to San Francisco for minting. He dealt in foreign exchanges and sold tickets for the California Stage Company . He established a bank in Jacksonville that charged depositors one percent monthly for the safe-keeping of gold and five percent monthly for loans. Beekman Bank survived the financial panics of 1873, 1893, and 1907.
He retired in 1912, but his customers refused to withdraw their balances! Beekman's estate paid off all the bank's depositors when he died three years later.
Cornelius Beekman served Wells Fargo as agent for forty-two years, a record of loyalty that we remember and celebrate. But as gold rush argonaut, lone rider, Wells Fargo agent and solid financial man, Beekman's life epitomizes American entrepreneurship in the 19th century.
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