October 2008 Archives

Casey

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Well, for the first time in 20 days I spent the night outside the RV.

No, I wasn't sleeping in the street — I was enjoying the hospitality in the beautiful and cozy home of Bill and Connie Whalen. I had met Bill briefly when we rendezvoused with him and Connie in Flagstaff, Arizona on the way to St. Louis, Missouri. He had been very helpful with figuring out how to get the RV's pilot light lit for the fridge and a few other things I was having difficulties with. After spending a few hours last night with him and Connie, I soon found him to be a great guy, and I appreciate the hospitality he and Connie showed me and the boys while in Phoenix.

I was awakened very early by my youngest pup Eddie. He was whining by the bedroom door, apparently wanting out. Not wanting an accident in Connie's house, I thought I better get up and oblige. He led me straight to the front door, then bolted outside and went straight for the RV. I opened it up for him, and he jumped in, sniffed around, and looked at me like, "Okay, let's go!"

I couldn't believe it. Apparently he had grown so accustomed to the RV and traveling that he felt more at home there than in the house. I, however, had other ideas — I picked him up, reassured him that we would be back on the road soon, and headed back for the guest bed inside the house. Although the boys and I have been on cross-country journeys of three days before, I wasn't exactly sure how they would react to this extended road trip.

But apparently Eddie is a born traveler!

The event at the Wells Fargo History Museum was to take place in the late morning, so before heading to downtown Phoenix, I dropped the RV off at Bell Ford  for advisor Joe Hough to take a look. Along with all the other before mentioned problems I'd had with the RV, over the last day and a half it had started to shake and sputter a bit when I accelerated. By the time I got to Phoenix, the problem had become very noticeable, and I knew it would not be safe to continue without it being checked out.

I hoped it would be something a good oil change and fuel line cleaning could resolve. However, not knowing anything about the mysterious workings of a motor I was wrong.

Way wrong.

Casey

After a night at the Benson KOA  and with Connie all bandaged up, I headed to Tucson. I was meeting with team members and customers in downtown Tucson.

I have to say, the trip into Tucson was a bit nerve-wracking. The city is undergoing a lot of road construction, and on top of it some of the streets around the store were very narrow. But with some newfound RV skill I made it and had a great event. The team members and customers I met seemed very interested in the journey and history. I really enjoyed my time there.

Outside Tucson is Picacho Peak State Park . Unfortunately, the park was closed by the time I arrived, but the peak never closes. In fact, it has been used as a beacon for many weary travelers on their way West. From an 18th century Jesuit priest named Father Kino  to the Mormon Battalion  to the Butterfield Overland Mail Company , Picacho Peak or pass has guided travelers' ways for centuries.

Today the road that led those early travelers west is occupied by the transcontinental railroad.

The area surrounding the peak is very beautiful and typical for this part of Arizona. The Giant Saguaro Cacti  — some reaching as high as thirty feet — dot the land around the peak. If you've never seen one of these cacti, they are amazing plants that can live as long as 200 years. Their shape is candelabra-like with arms spread welcomingly outward (but watch out for those needles!), while others reach high into the sky.

It was very hot, especially since I was still in my 19th century costume, so I stood under the shade of one of those giant green fleshed candelabras. I looked out into the distance over Interstate 10 as the cars flew by and wondered how many people in them knew they were passing beside an ancient beacon. Or was the site of the towering Dairy Queen  sign on the other side of the road too much of a distraction?

When Ormsby passed this peak he himself said very little about it. His journal only mentions that the first fresh water to be found for 40 miles outside of Tucson was to be found at the pass — although thanks to some recent rain along the way, they had apparently scooped water from puddles along the road for the horses. There is no longer a station, but luckily for the I-10 traveler there's always the DQ for refreshment.

With the mail safe and sound and the peak in the rearview mirror, I headed to Phoenix and another event. I am excited because this one is taking place tomorrow at Connie's museum, and I have never visited this one before!

Ileana

September 15th through October 15th is Hispanic Heritage Month every year. (In case you're wondering why it starts mid-September, read here).  It's a time that's special for me, being Salvadoran-American, and it's also the time of year when Wells Fargo celebrates Latino heritage. Posters and brochures at our museums, as well as our website, illustrate how Wells Fargo has served and employed Latinos since its founding.

At the Los Angeles museum last month, we had an opportunity to continue this legacy of involvement with the Latino community. We opened our doors and shared a little bit of history with "Trancazo Musical,"  a local Spanish language television show. KRCA , which carries the show, conducted a TV shoot here for a segment on "Trancazo Musical."

They used the museum as the backdrop for an interview with renowned Norteño band , Los Cadetes de Linares. Los Cadetes  sure make an impression on people. The band (or conjunto) walked into the museum in the traditional outfit. (Also called conjunto!) Clothes, hats and boots all matched. People really took notice. A small group gathered outside our front glass walls to see these modern-day cowboys meet the Wells Fargo stagecoach and delve into some Western history.

During the shoot, the host spoke to Los Cadetes about their new album — no doubt featuring many new corridos . These ballads usually tell the stories of famed criminals and heroes in the rural areas of the US-Mexico border, and they are the type of songs that have made Los Cadetes famous. The host casually incorporated bits of Wells Fargo history into the different segments. She also interviewed our Curator, Juan Colato, and encouraged the audience to visit our "beautiful museum." It was a fun experience.

But there's a question I should've asked Los Cadetes: Who makes their ornate and decorative outfits? Kudos to their tailor!

Steve

Casey Gill has been recreating the Butterfield Overland Mail Route for some four weeks now. He's following the journey of Waterman Ormsby, a correspondent from the New York Herald  who was the only through-passenger on the first westbound Butterfield stagecoach.

Ormsby departed St. Louis on September 16, 1858, and his correspondence on the overland route to San Francisco described in great detail the politics behind where to place the stagecoach line.

Ormsby's record  reveals a strong sense of regionalism prior to the Civil War. This is not too different from any 21st century public works project to improve America's transportation infrastructure  in which settlement, access, and profit are involved. Ormsby even hinted at the boosterism  that would come with the railroad: "If the overland mail succeeds, the railroad and the telegraph will soon follow its course; the settlements along the line will be built up with rapidity..."

To obtain that first overland contract with the US Mail, John Butterfield , William G. Fargo, and a group of entrepreneurs submitted three bids to deliver the semi-weekly mail:

1. A stagecoach route between St. Louis, Missouri and San Francisco, California;

2. A stagecoach route between Memphis, Tennessee and San Francisco, California; and a

3. A stagecoach route from both St. Louis and Memphis that met at the best point, then proceeded on a common line to San Francisco.

According to Ormsby, Northern interests sought to establish a vast network of railroads, and a stagecoach route would lay the groundwork for the future.

The northern papers poured hot shot into their ears [Butterfield, Fargo, et. al.] to compel the location at St. Louis, or at least further north; while the southern papers fired bombshells on behalf of the termini at New Orleans or Memphis, and the extreme southern route...commencing at San Antonio, Texas...Columns upon columns were written to show the superiority of either or both termini.

In the end, the third option of a "bifurcated route"  was selected.

The idea of a bifurcated route (which I believe, originated with Mr. John Butterfield, the president of the company) seemed to meet all the difficulty at once. It gave termini to both the North and the South, and no advantage to either.

The enormity of establishing a stagecoach route required the "superhuman energy" of the Overland Mail Company's leaders. Butterfield, Fargo and the others had the wherewithal to establish a route that took eight months to survey, traversed 2,800 miles, required 200 stations, employed 800 people, and required the purchase of 1,500 horses!

Although, perhaps planning and running the stagecoach route was probably not as hard as handling the other "difficulties" that Orsmby described:

The adoption of this route was...attended with no ordinary difficulties, comprising as they did, all the conflicting interests in the Pacific railroad. The schemes of speculating contractors and land jobbers, the jealousies of the various sections of the union, the clashing views of the railroad companies, and the machinations of politicians, all had to be met, conciliated, or overthrown....

Bob

When Wells Fargo was young, no Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation  bailed out banks. Financial crises became "panics" as depositors rushed to drain banks of ready cash. In February 1855, the St. Louis, Missouri branch of California’s largest bank made loans dependent upon the arrival of California gold. When the ship did not arrive, that bank failed, which brought down the California branch. Managers of California’s second largest bank used customer deposits for their personal speculative investments, then closed — paying out nothing.

In Auburn, California, John Q. Jackson, Wells Fargo’s 23-year-old agent, responded events the Wells Fargo way. On February 23, 1855, after a late night of dancing, a messenger woke Jackson at 8 am to report the crisis in San Francisco.

"The moment I reached the door, crowds were running towards the office," he wrote. (That office still standing in the "island" in downtown Auburn.)  Then, a competing bank failed and "the crowd were now furious."

"Paying out commenced and the work got pretty warm," Jackson continued, "when 2 or 3 of my personal friends came forward and offered their assistance. As there seemed to be no lack of funds and my giving personal assurance of their safety, all was quieted for the day."

Jackson reflected, "This is certainly the proudest time of my life," and "the manner in which I acted as agent has given me a good name in the community." Looking forward, John Q. Jackson foretold that the new week would "establish the credit of the firm to a greater degree than it has ever enjoyed before."

It did. Wells Fargo & Company stands strong.

Charles

On October 17, 1989, I left work an hour early, picked up my seven-year old kiddo from school and went home. Our plan was to cook some hot dogs on the BBQ and watch the third game of the World Series . My San Francisco Giants were playing her Oakland A's, and while things weren't going well for the Giants, the Series had moved to Candlestick Park. I was confident my guys would turn it around.

Before the game started, Kid was lounging on the sofa and lecturing me on the futility of rooting for the Giants in that Series. I was on the floor, surrounded by the remains of an Eagle  that I hoped to reclaim. We tuned in to the game at 5:00pm, and minutes later there was a loud "THUD!" from the west wall. Had someone driven into the house?

I looked up and saw the bookcase on that wall rocking dangerously, so I leapt up to hold it steady. Looking out the window to my left, I saw the peach tree shaking oddly. When trees sway in the wind, it's beautiful; this looked as if some giant fist was shaking the poor thing from underground. It was the eeriest thing I've ever seen. Truly.

Moments later, everything was still. The TV was a hissing static and showing snow. No ballgame there. My neighbor came over and the memory of his voice is still clear: "That was a bad one."

Then, military aircraft were flying overhead, and low — it looked (and sounded!) like they were right over the roof. I turned on the radio and got the full extent of what happened. The earthquake was a 7  — it had wrecked neighborhoods around the Bay and sparked several major fires. A section of the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge failed.

Worst of all, the Cypress Freeway  collapsed and trapped scores of people in their cars.

Most of us know the drama from that day  and the terrible loss of life. I am fortunate to have lived in the 'burbs, away from the fullness of the disaster. What strikes me the most after all these years — in addition to how low those planes flew! — is the different responses. My neighbor was running around helping everyone check the gas mains . And my kid was under the desk. She learned in school to respond quickly, to get to a protective place and wait out the quake. I was standing there like a knucklehead, holding up a bookcase.

They were prepared and I was not.

Recalling Loma Prieta , I remember the fear and confusion I felt. I remember that peach tree shaking weirdly and my kid's muffled reply from safety. I now remember also that I stood there not really knowing what to do.

Guided By History was begun to remember the 1906 San Francisco 'quake and fire, and we blogged for a long time about preparedness. In the Archives, I looked up Wells Fargo's news publication from that time and found the emphasis was on employee and customer safety, and getting things back to normal as soon as possible. The memory of Loma Prieta I now have, fully developed, is about being intelligent in advance..

Accepting that I did it all wrong, and that my seven-year old did it all right, is my first stop to getting prepared.

That, and getting "my kit" together!

Charles

Connie Whalen is the Curator at Wells Fargo's Phoenix History Museum. She joined up with Casey in Texas for the second part of his journey, following the Butterfield Overland Mail Route. About a week into the trip, Connie injured herself on a hike. (She's fine.) Here, she reflects on her own historical significance. (CR)

"Living in Arizona all my life, I’ve looked forward to visiting the Apache Pass Butterfield Stage stop for many years. It’s one of the few places in stagecoach history where ruins still remain. I was really looking forward to visiting Apache Pass with Casey. After about a mile hike in for photos and to examine the ruins, we were on our way out. Just 50 yards from the RV, I caught my hiking boot on a rock and fell forward. Protecting all of the camera equipment must have been my main objective, because it was the only thing I didn’t hurt!

I ended up banging up my knees and cutting the palm of my hand. After getting a closer look, and removing a few small boulders from the wound, I realized I needed some stitches. This made me wonder what would they have done on that first run of Butterfield, 150 years ago, if someone got hurt? People were often asked to get off the coach and walk in rough areas, and up steep hills. What if someone then fell and was injured? Out in "the middle of nowhere"?

In that era people were just becoming aware of what are today considered common medical practices. The idea of closing a wound with stitches was known. Sewing needles were often used to perform the task, along with small pieces of thread. Each stitch would be set in a criss-cross and tied off. They would be left for a few weeks and removed by clipping the knots off the ends of each stitch.

Additionally, pain remedies were very limited: Chloroform was used to render people unconscious, but opium and quinine were standard pain reliving drugs of the day. (I believe the former has a much stronger effect then the latter.)

The ideas of keeping wounds clean and dry was known, but the concept then of "clean" was very different from ours today. Infections would often set in. Antiseptics were not discovered until 1865 by Joseph Lister , along with proof of germ theory. Antibiotics were not yet known. In 1858 the best cure for an infected limb was amputation. This may seem extremely severe but during the Civil War the most common surgery  performed was amputation.

Knowing all this, I can honestly say that I'm pretty happy I fell while retracing the trail, as opposed to being on the first run 150 years ago. If this had happened in 1858, I might be learning how to write with my left hand.

Marianne Babal

Nowadays, bank deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation  up to $100,000, recently raised by legislation to $250,000.

A century ago, however, bank depositors' funds were kept secure only by the reputation and stability of responsible banking institutions. Like Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank, which operated under the leadership of President Isaias W. Hellman "on the most safe and conservative lines."

When war erupted in Europe in August 1914 , credit froze and banks and investors hoarded gold, causing worldwide financial panic . Banks on the East Coast began trading paper IOU's, or clearing house certificates , instead of gold.

On the Pacific Coast, Hellman led bankers in a different direction — continuing payments in gold, as usual, to restore confidence and keep interest rates in check.

The public showed its confidence in Hellman's bank by depositing more money with Wells Fargo over that summer than all the rest of the national banks in San Francisco combined.

During the war, Wells Fargo Nevada National bank helped sell Liberty Loans  and invested in U.S. Treasury Certificates. Afterward, Wells Fargo steered a course of cautiousness as the economy shifted back to peacetime.

At the meeting of the Bank's stockholders in 1920, Hellman said with typical honesty: "We cannot promise our stockholders extraordinary large earnings. Such profits cannot be made in legitimate banking, but we can count on gradual and steady growth. Our ambition is not to be the largest bank in San Francisco, but to be the soundest and the best."

Casey

Another morning, another campground. This one was the KOA Las Cruces . After a restful night I was off to historic Mesilla, New Mexico . The town of Mesilla, and the local Wells Fargo team led by Pat Lamb, really put together a great event for me to participate in.

The morning event began on the town square, where 120 local elementary students showed up to learn about the Butterfield Overland Mail Route and Wells Fargo history. While I did my presentation to one group of students, other groups were treated to a ride on the Wells Fargo stagecoach around the town square.

The students were really involved, and despite the challenge of holding the attention of 30 or so fourth and fifth graders while so much excitement was going on around them, they were great listeners and seemed to enjoy my stories.

After the great event with the students, I was invited to speak to a group of community leaders and team members at a luncheon held at La Posta de Mesilla Restaurant.  Some of the attendees included State Senator Mary Kay Papen , and Mayor Michael Cadena of Mesilla . Several Wells Fargo team members were there, as well as the owners of La Posta, Tom (a.k.a. "Hutch") and Jerean Camunez Hutchinson.

I must admit that I was a bit nervous to start, what with all the important people in attendance. However, once I began talking and they laughed at my first joke, I was completely at ease. They were all so great and responsive, and I appreciate the opportunity to have had a few minutes to talk to them about Wells Fargo history and my personal experiences retracing the Butterfield.

Although I didn't get to eat until well after my lunch was delivered, it was still really great. But while La Posta is a great restaurant, it is also an important historic landmark. It is one of the few remaining stage stops still in existence. According to Jerean and Hutch, the building is actually several old adobes that have been joined. In fact, the section of the restaurant in which the luncheon was held was the actual stage stop. The Hutchinsons gave us a tour of the building and shared with us some of its special history . This is a must stop for anyone traveling through the Mesilla/Las Cruces area....

John Stumpf

Here’s the story of Wells Fargo & Company – where we came from, who we are today, and what we stand for.

Welcome to Wells Fargo!

John Stumpf,
President and CEO, Wells Fargo

Our History: Stagecoach to Internet

Our Vision: What We Believe

Our Values: A Culture of Collaboration

Read a transcript of the Wells Fargo: our History, Values and Vision videos.

Casey

September 29:

Morning found me at the Roadrunner RV Park in El Paso, TX. After a quick bowl of grits and a walk with the boys, I headed for Hueco Tanks State Park . What a special place this is! If you are ever in this area you must make a stop here. You will not be sorry!

The 860-acre park is named for the large natural rock basins or huecos. These "tanks" have provided water in this arid region for thousands of years. From Paleo-Americans to Native Americans, from weary Butterfield passengers to their horses, these tanks were a vital source of water.

As I approached the mountains, I was amazed at how alien they seemed — unlike the surrounding land or the Franklin Mountains  in the distance. As one Native American visitor to the park said recently, "It's as if when the gods were finished with the world they had some left over rock and decided to just store it here." And that is a pretty good description. It looks like someone has just piled massive boulders of all shapes and sizes on top of one another in the desert. It is spectacular.

From 150 year-old "graffiti," to Native American pictographs , this park is filled with reminders of the people who sought shelter and liquid sustenance amid these mountains. Because it is such a special place and such a fragile environment, the park is guarded well, with limited access. There is a maximum number of people allowed into the park each day, and everyone entering must watch an orientation video describing what a special place it is and how to protect it.

So after watching the informative 15 minute video, I was off to the Interpretive Center to visit with Park Superintendent Wanda Olszewski. Not only is Wanda knowledgeable, she is also very passionate about her job and this special place.

Did I mention that this place was special?

Casey

After a day of bats and caverns, I headed for the Guadalupe Mountains  and Pinery station . Ormsby wrote, "The Guadalupe Mountains loomed before us all day in the most aggravating manner." The peak is so high and can be seen for some distance so I can imagine, if I had been traveling five miles an hour, that I too would have been aggravated by their "looming." Thankfully, it didn't take long to get to them.

And what a site they are. The peak is a massive presence that seems to be, as Ormsby rightly described, as "if any moment to fall, while huge boulders hang as if ready, with the weight of a rain drop, to be loosened from their fastening and descend with lumbering swiftness to the bottom, carrying destruction in their path."

Unfortunately, I missed the big Butterfield celebration  they were having over the weekend. However, I did run in to a ranger who shared with me the secret to finding the Butterfield trail. So after a quick visit to the Pinery Station ruins (partial stone walls and piles of stone), I headed for Guadalupe Canyon.

Through this canyon are remnants of a 1930's-era road. On this road, overgrown with foliage and cacti, I headed up the canyon toward the peak. After going through two rusted old turnstiles, I found a path that led me high above the modern Highway 62/180 , and the older road. From this vantage point I could see three generations of road — the smooth new highway, the 1930's asphalt  with all its cracks, and most exciting, traces of the Butterfield stage route.

What a spectacular sight! Behind me was the great Guadalupe peak, around me were rainwater washes that can create, I imagine, quite a torrent rushing around the peak and down the canyon.

And in front of me, the Butterfield route.

Anne

You've seen Casey's regular mentions of the mail being safe and sound. I'm going to give Casey a break (or have Charles do more work, not sure which) and give some background.

When planning began for this adventure Casey wanted to include an educational component. He devised a lesson plan for school kids that would emphasize the mail delivery aspect of the Butterfield Overland Mail Company. Kids from a school at his starting point of St. Louis would be matched with a correspondent school near his final destination of San Francisco. The St. Louis students would write letters and Casey would deliver them in "stagecoach" time — the San Francisco area kids would reply and send the letters by United States Postal Service .

What really makes this fun is that all the kids can follow along via the Guided By History blog, track what Casey is up to, and imagine how difficult it was 150 years ago for a letter (and any news at all) to make its way across the country.

As Casey was researching for the trip, he also connected with the amazing Ms. Hansen of Lowell Elementary in Arkansas. Adding letters from her students worked especially well since Arkansas was historically a major mail connection point.

So now Casey has two bags in the RV full of inquiring letters that he is carefully transporting. (I wonder how the mail bags compare in size to the dogs?)

Casey

Well, today was my first day off since I left San Diego over two weeks ago. I began with my first real breakfast of the trip: pancakes, eggs and sausage, courtesy of KOA Carlsbad, New Mexico , and hosted by Scott Bacher. He was kind enough to hook me up with a big breakfast despite my arrival 20 minutes after the kitchen closed.

After a big meal, I was really looking forward to doing something that I have wanted to do for a long time. I visited Carlsbad Caverns National Park  in New Mexico and watched the flight of the bats .

When I was first planning this journey, my intention was to stop at all sorts of sites along the route — even cool places that had nothing to do with the Butterfield. However, reality had other plans. I have found that the rigors of doing a trip like this are much more than I anticipated. I find myself running out of time everyday, so that most everything I'm doing is Butterfield related. Don't get me wrong — it's been amazing, and there are more Butterfield sites than I could have ever imagined. But with the time constraints, I really had to focus my energy. I hope I've been able to create an interesting, albeit incomplete, log of Butterfield sites from St. Louis to San Francisco . There are still many more sites out there to be discovered and I wish I could have seen them all.

But today, it was all about the caverns and the bats! The trip to the National Park is a beautiful drive up a winding mountain road. The visit began in the Visitor's Center, where I found out it was my lucky day. The tickets to the caverns were — free!

Casey

(Casey wrote this post last week and sent it to me with lots of good video. I wanted to keep it all together, as one piece, because the story is richer with words and video together. Also, Casey insists the whole story, in one place, represents our deep thanks to Garland and Lana Richards for their genuine friendship to Casey and our Butterfield Overland journey. —CR)

September 23:

Being a little behind on editing and downloading and uploading and sending video, I worked most of the morning. I finally emerged from the RV just before lunch. While I was busy working, Garland and Lana Richards' had one of their ranch hands take my flat spare tire — or as it turns out, shredded! — and replace it. Thank you again, Garland and Lana. I was truly overwhelmed by your generosity and concern for my safety.

After meeting in the Richards' office for a quick show-and-tell of the incredible research they have done on Fort Chadbourne  and the Butterfield stop that's located on the grounds, we decided lunch was necessary before we began our tour....

Casey

Next morning I was up early for a tour of Fort Concho  with Bob Bluthardt. Although Ft. Concho and San Angelo  were not stops on the Butterfield stage route , they are the closest sites to the actual route. The Butterfield route actually passed just north of San Angelo; unfortunately, there are no highways or towns on that stretch of the old route.

Fort Concho has a great interpretive program , and while I was there, I witnessed part of their school tour . The fort is complete with period furnishings and artifacts so that the visitor can really get a sense of what life was like for the average soldier on the Texas frontier .

After the tour I continued my journey westward for an overnight stay in the Fort Stockton  area—again, not on the actual route. And like in the olden days,the RV parks in this area don't seem to have the amenities that this kind of modern operation need, i.e. reliable wi fi. I'm right there with Ormsby!

On the way however, I was able to find Horsehead Crossing . This was the spot where the stagecoach passed over the Pecos River  and it was not easy to get to. My path led me about 6 miles down a dusty dirt road where few except a handful of locals probably ever go. Judging from the shell casings littering the area it must be a pretty popular spot for target practice. The river is not as large as the legend that preceded it, but it's still quite beautiful. The old marker is still there—minus a few chinks missing from said target practice.

On my way out, I ran into (almost quite literally!) a rattlesnake , my first live one. (The couple I've seen before were on the losing end of a run-in with the modern highway). This one was in the middle of the road and deploying one of his defense tactics—playing dead or acting like a stick. Not wanting to run him over, I got out and tried throwing things at him to get him to move along. Nothing seemed to work. He was determined to remain a stick and to be quite honest I was starting to get the hee-bee gee-bees from being so close to such an intimidating and dangerous creature. So I proceeded to move the RV around him.

Once the RV advanced toward him, he curled back raising the front half of his body off the ground then headed in the direction from whence he came. It was a very cool run in with Mother Nature, but good riddance all the same.

P.S.: Don't worry Ms. Decker's class and Lowell Elementary! The mail is safe from rattlesnakes and is proceeding on track to San Francisco !

John Stumpf

October 1, 2008 marks an exciting time for our company. Today, Wells Fargo announced the national availability of the Wells Fargo vSafe^SM service, a personal online safe for Wells Fargo customers and the first storage solution of its kind from a major financial institution.

"Firsts" are not new to Wells Fargo. Thirteen years ago we were the first financial institution to introduce access to banking accounts on the Internet. Ever since then, we’ve been listening to our customers and developing innovative, online ways to meet and exceed their needs.

Innovation is one of Wells Fargo’s great strengths — going back 157 years to our founding as a banking and express company with stagecoaches that went five miles an hour and carried customers’ valuables in our legendary strong boxes (which were also referred to as treasure boxes). From the moment we opened our doors in 1852, we were in the business of safekeeping our customers’ money and information. In those early days in the West, money was in the form of gold. So money along with family documents such as birth and marriage certificates, deeds, passports, and financial records, were transported by stagecoach in the oak treasure boxes sealed with iron locks. These treasure boxes were then safeguarded inside Wells Fargo’s safes and vaults, often made of steel several inches thick and weighing tons, all across the western United States.

The new Wells Fargo vSafe service extends our rich heritage of safety and security into the electronic world of the 21st century—as we protect and secure customers’ assets and information. While grandmother’s diamond ring can’t be physically placed inside Wells Fargo vSafe, a photograph of it can be uploaded for insurance purposes—along with 1000s of electronic copies of other important information.

Customers told us that they wanted to be able to organize and store copies of their most important information from a secure location that’s available around-the-clock. Through the Wells Fargo vSafe service, customers can remotely access, reproduce and review their records if the originals become inaccessible or lost. Our vision is to satisfy all our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially. We also want to serve them anytime, anywhere to satisfy those needs with innovation solutions. We believe this service helps provide even more peace-of-mind for our customers in today’s light-speed electronic world.