Check out this blurb from the January, 1915 Wells Fargo Messenger. Priceless.

I wish one and all the best of Days, ever!

Posted by Charles at 03:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Found in Agriculture, Animals, First-hand Accounts, Get Involved, Holidays, Misc, Participate, Prepare, Remember, Thanksgiving, Wells Fargo Bank

It's sad to say, but sometimes I guess I have an inferiority complex. It's not because I'm short (let's just say my stature is Alice B. Toklas-esque ), but more because of the size of my native country, El Salvador.

Don't get me wrong, I'm proud to be Salvadoran. My country is beautiful , with black sand beaches, waterfalls, great weather. And we make some delicious food . But when your nickname is El Pulgarcito de America ("The Little Thumb of America"), that's got to have an effect. At only 8400 square miles – about the size of Massachusetts – El Salvador is the smallest country in America  and one of the smallest in the world.

With the arrival of Hispanic Heritage Month , I've been thinking more about my family's heritage. Thinking about my life back in El Salvador, I asked my mom, "Why do I remember coffee beans when I think of my grandpa?"

My grandparents lived in the country and earned a living by selling fireworks . Fireworks are a very important part of any type of celebration in El Salvador. But on the side, my grandpa sold coffee from trees that grew on his property. Grandpa's parents were coffee growers , and these trees were the remnants of the labor and subsistence of preceding generations. I wish I could travel back in time to experience my great-grandparents' lives, which were so very different from mine.

Though I'm disconnected from the world they lived in, I realized this month that working with Wells Fargo's history lets me make connections with this past – connections which bring a smile to face. During the 1890s, the British built rail lines in El Salvador  to transport coffee across the country. Wells Fargo used these railroads as the infrastructure for its express business in the country. By 1916, Wells Fargo offices had appeared on most of the rail lines in El Salvador. I imagine my great-grandparents beginning their lives as coffee growers right about that time. I wonder: Did Wells Fargo express their coffee at some point?

Now I believe the name Pulgarcito is quite apt for my country. Anyone familiar with the tale of Tom Thumb  understands Pulgarcito. Though tiny, he was smart, prudent, sly, and "all he did prospered." El Salvador was not overlooked by important businesses of the time such as Wells Fargo, and it produced the family I'm happy to be a part of.

El Salvador definitely has something in common with its tiny namesake.

Posted by Ileana at 06:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Found in Agriculture, Coffee, Farmers, Latin America, Misc, Railroads, Wells Fargo Bank

Last week's post on steamers prompted this elaboration by Steve Greenwood, our Curator at Wells Fargo's Portland History Exhibit. (CR)

Steamers were a vital part  of the Pacific Northwest's economy, and the discovery of gold  in Oregon, Idaho and Montana in 1860 and 1861 advanced trade on the Columbia and Willamette rivers. Portland's location at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia established it as the shipping center for the Pacific Northwest and an ideal hub for Wells Fargo's express business.

(Steamboats  were smaller steam-powered boats that traveled on lakes and rivers, while steamships  generally referred to larger steam-powered oceangoing vessels that gradually replaced sailing ships during the 19th century. By the second half of the 20th century, diesel-powered ships had replaced steamships.)

Incoming steamships delivered eagerly awaited family and friends, letters from loved ones, packages, and the latest news from "the States." "I hear the old Steamer Gun," a woman recorded with anticipation in 1863, "and I wonder if I shall get a letter in the morning. That is what I always think when I hear it." Northbound steamships called at Crescent City, Astoria, Portland, and Victoria, British Columbia. Steamships took 3½ days to sail from San Francisco to Portland, and Wells Fargo's express messengers traveled onboard and guarded packages, mail, and millions in gold. Once underway, messengers inventoried express items, checked shipping documents and waybills, and sorted letters and business documents for immediate delivery.

No one knew when the steamship would dock—except at night somewhere between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m. Wells Fargo's agent for Portland, Eugene Shelby, recalled: "The greater part of steamer night found us all waiting at the office, and generally little sleep was secured on those occasions." The Wells Fargo messenger hauled the express to the office and readied it for morning delivery.

Wells Fargo also took to the rivers. Steamboats plied the waters 13 miles south from Portland to Oregon City and then 125 miles to Eugene. Steamboat travel on the Willamette began in the 1850s with routes both above and below Willamette Falls at Oregon City . By the 1860s, early steamboat companies portaged people and goods around the waterfalls on a primitive road and wooden rail system. Built in 1873, the Willamette Falls Locks  enabled steamboats to travel between Portland and Eugene without portaging. By 1882, the Oregon Railway and Navigation Co. had 16 gleaming white steamers on the Willamette and ran steamboats to Eugene until 1916.

In 1861, the rush to Idaho improved traffic on the Columbia with the Oregon Steam Navigation Co.  carrying about 10,500 passengers in 1861, 36,000 just three years later. Steamboats carried gold from Lewiston, Idaho, down the Columbia to Portland, where ocean steamships hurried it to San Francisco. At each stage, a Wells Fargo messenger was aboard. From 1863 to 1867, Wells Fargo annually transported about 5 million dollars of gold out of Oregon and Idaho; from 1877 to 1879, Wells Fargo annually shipped 7 million dollars in gold.

By the time gold mining dwindled, wheat grown in the fertile soils of eastern Oregon became a "golden" substitute. Wheat, bran and other farm products also were transported from Willamette Valley towns to Portland for shipping to California, the East Coast, the Columbia Plateau , and even Europe. This later "gold" strike helped Portland maintain its position as the dominant shipping center in the Pacific Northwest to the end of the 19th century.

Posted by Steve at 02:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Agriculture, Bran, Farmers, Gold, Misc, Museums, Railroads, Steamers, Wells Fargo Bank, Wheat

Fresh from orchard, field and vineyard is the farmer's goal.

With migration west , and expansion of the railroads  in the 19th century, new cities, ranches and farming communities sprang up in America. Postal and express operations, such as Wells Fargo & Co., stood ready with fast services. From a handful of offices in 1852, Wells Fargo grew to become the nation's first transcontinental express company in 1888, and had 10,000 offices thereafter.

From the beginning, Wells Fargo forwarded agricultural goods of all types. When rail service began in California in the 1850s, shipments of vegetables and potted flowers were aboard. In 1862, Wells Fargo carried 200,000 specimens of Europe's best vineyard stocks to new wine regions  in Napa, Sonoma and Anaheim, Calif.

Wells Fargo contributed to agriculture by encouraging grower cooperatives , adoption of standard packing methods, and by shipping tools and seed. There are instances of Wells Fargo delivering livestock, trees and even ladybugs for pest control . In cooperation with growers and agricultural communities, local agents marketed produce through promotions such as "California Orange Day."

Wells Fargo's "Order Commission and Food Products Department" issued bulletins detailing how to order fruits and vegetables and have them delivered fresh, canned or glazed. The company's fleet of refrigerated rail cars (from the 1890s) carried fish, oysters, poultry and dairy products as well as fruits and vegetables. Fast express cut prices and increased variety and availability. Wells Fargo called attention to products among consumers through shipping specials, banners and office displays.

It was as simple as walking into the local Wells Fargo office and placing an order. Oranges, asparagus or strawberries came to your door in a very short time. The concept of fresh citrus fruit in the dead of a New England, Midwest or Rocky Mountain winter is significant: In a relatively short time, the express business helped broaden the American diet.

Posted by Charles at 04:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Agriculture, Farmers, Misc, Railroads, Remember, Wells Fargo Bank