In September of 1858, stagecoaches left St. Louis and San Francisco on their way to San Francisco and St. Louis, respectively. The Overland Mail Company  was on the road.

Here's the story of the OMC in a nutshell.

John Butterfield wanted to land the government contract to carry the US Mail to the untamed West. The government was offering 600,000 bucks to whoever could get mail from the Missouri frontier to California, across all the deserts and mountains and lack of facilities, and guarantee its safety and efficiency. Butterfield figured the best method was to carry passengers as well, whose fares would help offset costs.

Anybody who was intelligent in those days knew that the undertaking was crazy. The route took a southerly arc to avoid mountains, but got deserts in exchange. The route had unpredictable weather and geographic hazards, was unpaved and even uncharted in some places. All this meant that the person who wanted to try to get that fat contract had to be a little crazy themselves. In other words, an entrepreneur.

And that was Butterfield , to be sure.

Entrepreneurs  with big vision and willing to risk everything need the sort of backers who are intelligent and willing to risk some. Butterfield was able to gather several Directors for his Company, including Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, whose Express Company in the West was growing fast. The two operations would complement each other, on paper at least, as long as things went smoothly.

Things did go smoothly, albeit at great expense, for about three years. But that's another story...

So the Stagecoaches rolled and regular overland business commenced. The three-week (or so) journey shortened the time it had formerly taken between Missouri and California terminals. By ship , or the lumbering routes by wagon train , it had taken as long as six months. Of course, it cost a lot to ride: $300 in those days is equivalent to thousands  now.

But what a view!

Posted by Charles at 04:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Found in Branding, Gold, Misc, Remember, Ride sharing, Stagecoach, Transportation, Travel, Wells Fargo Bank

In Stagecoach days, drivers carried Wells Fargo treasure shipments and passengers across the frontier. It took skill to drive a coach and Wells Fargo added rigorous standards of its own: superior reinsmanship, self-reliance and upstanding character.

(FYI, it still takes driving talent and good character to drive Wells Fargo stagecoaches today.)

In 1855, 11-year old George Monroe came west from Georgia. When Monroe had grown, he came to exemplify the greatness of fact and legend of the best stagecoach drivers. He was described by his employers as "the best all-round reinsman in the West."

Early on, George Monroe exhibited a knack for training and driving horses. At age 22, he took a job driving for the A.H. Washburn and Company stage line into Yosemite . That stage line carried passengers and Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Express into Yosemite Valley. Monroe expertly navigated the treacherous cliff-side roads into the Valley and became the best driver around.

One time, the brakes of Monroe's coach failed between Mariposa  and Merced  while full of passengers. Monroe stayed cool, and at an opportune moment drove his team into a clump of brush, bringing the stage to a safe halt. Grateful passengers passed the hat and presented Monroe with $70.

In 1879, the celebrated Monroe was asked to carry a fellow celebrity into Yosemite — Ulysses S. Grant , 18th President of the United States. Grant's schedule took him and Mrs. Grant down the dangerous, 26-mile route into Yosemite Valley, with hairpin turns and fallen rocks and chuckholes. There was a stretch so narrow, the stagecoach's wheels brushed against the granite walls of the cliff. Inches from the other wheels was a thousand-foot gorge.

The crusty General chose to sit next to the driver, a place of honor in those days. An expert horseman in his own right, Grant's assessment of Monroe's skills would make or break his reputation as a stagecoach driver. Monroe did his magic and Grant was duly impressed: "He would throw those six animals from one side to the other," the President marveled, "to avoid a stone or a chuckhole as if they were a single horse."

By 1885, Monroe had driven two more Presidents to Yosemite: James A. Garfield and Rutherford B. Hayes, as well as General William T. Sherman. George Monroe died in 1886 when a stage overturned and mortally injured him. Ironically, Monroe was not the driver, but a passenger — it's a good bet he'd have avoided the accident entirely if he had been "in the box" as driver.

Posted by Charles at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in African American History, Animals, At Work, Branding, Events, Experts, Misc, Remember, 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

Wells Fargo is running a contest  through December 22 that celebrates the Wells Fargo Wagon. (NOT the Stagecoach, folks — that's different!) Just submit your own music video of the song, "The Wells Fargo Wagon" from The Music Man  and you can win fabulous prizes! ("Johnny, tell 'em what they've won!") To help our Guided By History community understand the background of this contest from a historical perspective — and to encourage the submission of excellent videos! — Portland Curator Steve Greenwood concludes his history of the Wells Fargo Wagon. (CR)

 

THE HORSES

The horses that pulled the Wells Fargo wagon were cared for in stables like the one illustrated in these original floor plans and elevation drawings. Recently purchased by Wells Fargo at an auction, these drawings by architect Jas. H. Humphreys show the Company's stable and garage plans in Portland, Oregon (c. 1917-1926).

In Portland, "Fargo" was the favored horse who normally pulled the money wagon driven by messenger Edward F. Bontty. The money wagon carried cash transactions to businesses around town. If robbers tried to make off with the money wagon, they would be easily overtaken — loyal "Fargo" did not move for outlaws. Other stories about horses abound in Wells Fargo's Archives and historical collection:

The Educated Horse

"'Mutt,' the educated horse employed in our Englewood, Illinois service has been so well trained by Driver A.B. Corrigan that the animal knows every pickup on his route. In fact, between the hours of 5 and 6 in the afternoon 'Mutt' picks up about thirty houses, and seems to realize just when he can take things easy and when he has to get busy on his job."

Green Onions Galore

And then there is the story of "Paddy Fargo," who was arrested for eating green onions off a vegetable peddler's cart. The September, 1912 Wells Fargo Messenger recounted the details:

"Paddy's arrest for following a peddler's cart and eating therefrom his fill of green onion shoots until the vendor caused his arrest, declaring his day's profits were gone...

"It seems that like other 'good fellows,' Paddy has been led astray by his many friends. Policemen have enticed him with sugar. Saloonkeepers have lured him with pails of beer. He became accustomed to following temptation in spite of weights and brakes. Now comes his theft of onion shoots and his arrest."

"Incidentally, it is said Paddy's stall mate resented his plebian tastes and odorous breath when he returned to the stable."

Posted by Steve at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Found in Animals, At Work, Branding, First-hand Accounts, Misc, Museums, Perspective, The Music Man, Transportation, Wells Fargo Bank, Wells Fargo Wagon

Through December 22, Wells Fargo is running a contest  where you can submit your own music video of the song, "The Wells Fargo Wagon" from The Music Man  and you can win excellent prizes. To help our Guided By History community understand the background of this contest from a historical perspective — and to encourage the submission of excellent videos! — Steve Greenwood in Portland continues the history of the Wells Fargo Wagon. (CR)

 

Commerce and Industries of the Pacific Coast of North America (1882) is a revealing book that describes the state of carriage and wagon   manufacturing at the end of the 19th century. The author, John S. Hittell , notes that residents of the Pacific Coast "...use an exceptionally large number of wagons and buggies. It is doubtful whether so many are to be found in proportion to the people in any other part of the world."

According to Hittell, the actual number of vehicles produced was few because oak and hickory for light wagons was not available, and so the wood had to be shipped from the East. He also claims that "A great part of the value of a wagon is in the wheels, most of which are made for us beyond the Rocky Mountains." Hittell estimates that the Pacific Coast purchased 7,000 farm wagons annually worth $100 each, but there was not one shop that specialized solely in their production. However, in the production of "spring wagons," which delivery businesses used — including Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Express — San Francisco manufacturers produced about 500 spring wagons  annually. They were worth about $200 each.

The author lists eleven wagon companies in San Francisco, including C. A. Hawley & Co., Marcus C. Hawley & Co. and David N. Hawley, whose business inter-relationships are not detailed. Studebaker Brothers  at 31 California Street were a pioneer "Forty-Niner" business along with Levi Strauss and Co.  and Wells Fargo.

The arrival of the railroads sped communication and transportation, and gave Eastern businesses a competitive edge in supplying horse-drawn vehicles in the West. As cities grew , problems related to horse-drawn vehicles such as accidents, traffic jams, and pollution also grew. Businesses delivered more goods more rapidly, and the need arose to ensure that accidents did not result from speeders. In an effort to reduce accidents, cities regulated the speed of horse-drawn vehicles—Chicago 6 mph, Boston 7 mph, and Detroit 6 mph. San Francisco applied a broader regulation that horses had to maintain a speed that was not faster than a person crossing the street.

Excess emissions  could also be a problem, but it was not the carbon monoxide of today — it was manure, a by-product that is put to good use   for the environment, then and now!

Posted by Steve at 02:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Found in Animals, Branding, Environment, Gold, Misc, Museums, Perspective, Railroads, The Music Man, Transportation, Wells Fargo Bank, Wells Fargo Wagon

Through December 22, Wells Fargo is running a contest  where you can submit your own music video of the song, "The Wells Fargo Wagon" from The Music Man  and you can win excellent prizes. In support of this contest — and in support of our Guided By History community — we got Steve Greenwood, curator of the Wells Fargo Museum in Portland, to write the definitive history of the Wells Fargo Wagon. OK, maybe not definitive. But a darn good one, anyway! (CR)

 

100 years ago, Americans depended on horse-drawn vehicles  to move a variety of goods around town, including ice  and ice cream , beer  and of course, Express packages.

With Wells Fargo & Co.'s Express, shipments arrived in communities by stagecoach, steamship, or railroad. Express messengers delivered items to their final destination aboard wagons pulled by one or two horses. The famed Wells Fargo Wagon delivered goods of all sorts, from a grey mackinaw to some grapefruit from Tampa, as the song goes . The Wells Fargo wagon even delivered when a snow storm blanketed Salem, Oregon — the crew simply replaced the wagon wheels with sled runners.

Drivers were also alert for outgoing express. Instructions to drivers stated, "Wagonmen should never drive by call cards, but should stop and secure the shipment." The red and blue diamond-shaped signs were familiar across the U.S. and became a Wells Fargo logo.

Wells Fargo has been a financial services company from the very beginning. But the lore of the Company and its central role in the growth of the nation is tied to transportation—stagecoach, railroad, Pony Express. The Wells Fargo wagon was a common sight on American streets as communities grew. It meant excitement, as the song demonstrates, because it brought goods from faraway places, helped businesses get the tools and money they needed, and tied local neighborhoods to world markets.

Posted by Steve at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Artifacts, Branding, Misc, Music, Photographs, Remember, Stagecoach, The Music Man, Transportation, Wells Fargo Bank

Wells Fargo has been musically inclined since the Gold Rush. In 1855, we advanced money for an Italian opera troupe. However they defaulted, so we seized their trunk of costumes and musical instruments as security.

Actually, we are really kind hearted. In 1869, Madame Camilla Urso   proposed a music festival to benefit the Mercantile Library, featuring school children and musicians from around California and Nevada. Wells Fargo offered to carry sheet music, letters, and other equipment far and wide throughout its lines on the Pacific Coast for free. The successful San Francisco festival ran for five days in February 1870.

If it could be sent by express, Wells Fargo carried it. In May of 1860, a future jazz musician in Columbia asked Wells Fargo to supply copies of Schatzman's Sax Horn Instructor. Up they came from San Francisco.

On occasion, Wells Fargo contributed to the Big Bang Theory  . Mariposa agent Julia Jones delivered a bass drum to complete a brass band at Whitlock's Gold Mine . In the spring of 1897, this band, splendid in their white uniforms, serenaded Mariposans with "Old Folks at Home," "The Man in the Moon," and the "Young Bandsman."

In the summer of 1917, Wells Fargo also carried "several valuable violin bows from Colorado Springs to Chicago. Accompanying these bows in a handsome, sturdy, brass-bound packing case were also a few violins – one made by Nicola Amati   in 1662, another by Carlo Bergonzi   in 1723, and a third, modern one produced by Joseph Guarnerius   in 1731.

Wells Fargo starred in the performance of express service. Meredith Willson drew on his boyhood memories in Iowa to write The Music Man  . That story revolves around the arrival of band instruments on the "Wells Fargo Wagon." The whole town turns out to sing: "O-ho the Wells Fargo Wagon is-a comin' down the street, Oh, Please let it be for me!"

Our relations with opera singers improved through the years — we even starred in an opera. In 1910, when Puccini's Gold Rush opera The Girl of the Golden West   appeared, Wells Fargo's agent was heroic.

Posted by Bob at 09:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Found in Artifacts, Branding, Broadway, Gold, Hollywood, Misc, Movies, Music, Opera, Perspective, Remember, San Francisco, The Music Man, Wells Fargo Bank, Westerns

Once upon the '90s, SPY magazine  had a section called "Logrolling in Our Time"  that described how authors would hail each other's works in turn. The upshot was a certain lack of objectivity. Well, Logrolling is an art, I guess, and I have a regular Stradivarius  in this blog.

First off, there's a new feature in here, "Ask the Expert." Have a question and want a personalized, somewhat smart-alecky answer? Welcome aboard, matey—hit the button, and your response is only hours away (maybe months—it's up to me.) But The Expert is IN.

Seriously, though, we get questions in the comments box, and we want to answer reasonable questions with reasonable answers. (And the opposite, too.) So ask us those tough questions you expect on exam day. We're here to help.

Now to Logrolling. The bloggers at our companion site, The Student LoanDown, are about to celebrate their one-year anniversary in the 'sphere, and it's my duty to not only wish them a Happy Birthday, but to send you, dear reader, to The LoanDown. You see, the blogosphere was developed in anticipation of The LoanDown—it combines all the best of knowledge, service, help, wit and flat-out graphical beauty.

It's the promise of the Internet, fulfilled.

And I'm not just saying that. Earlier this week we all met and discussed stuff that affects us as bloggers—and, yes, as artists—and it was all those bloggers at LoanDown who are driving the Wells Fargo presence on the blogosphere. What you see here was built there.

Happy Birthday, LoanDown! Keep it going! But slow down a little, will ya? It's hard for an old fogey like me to keep up.

Posted by Charles at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Found in At Work, Branding, Experts, Holidays, Misc, Perspective, Remember, Wells Fargo Bank

June 14th is Flag Day. It also happens to be the 49th anniversary of Wells Fargo's stagecoach appearance program. Around here if somebody asks me what I do for a living, I will often reply "I guard a Stagecoach for a living." The stagecoach is Wells Fargo's brand and represents our history in a way not too far off from the way our flag represents our country. I wrote my Master's thesis on Betsy Ross—you'll excuse me if these connections jump immediately to my mind.

There are a lot of folks who don't know about Betsy Ross  and a lot of folks who think that she did or didn't make the first star-spangled banner. Without recapitulating my thesis, let me just say that whether or not she made the first flag isn't really that interesting to historians of the flag, like Cecilia O'Leary  or Scot M. Guenter.  They'd rather focus on why the flag is paradoxical or problematic symbolism. It's a Historian's job to complicate things.

Most folks think that the Ross story is just a pleasant American myth a la George Washington's "I cannot tell a lie." In 2005 a rather substantial historian, David Brion Davis  wrote a book about the evolution of American symbols of freedom. He took up the Ross story and, much to my pleasant surprise, cited most of the points I cited in my thesis about the possibility of the former Elizabeth Griscom   actually making a flag for our fledgling nation. Hooray, I guess.

As for our stagecoach program, the truth of its existence and providence is much clearer. The first stagecoach "event" occurred on June 14th, 1958 in Hayward, Cal. when "Sport" Fellingham was asked to drive a coach pulled by a team of horses to commemorate the opening of the branch. In 2007 we expect the stagecoach appearance program to encompass something like 900 events which will be seen by literally millions of people. 2007 also marks the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the transcontinental stagecoach express business. And 2008 will be the 150th anniversary of the famed Butterfield Overland Mail  which Wells Fargo eventually made nearly synonymous with our own Express business.

Now if somebody out there could just send me a picture of a Betsy Ross carrying a flag on a stagecoach...

Posted by Allan at 02:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Found in Artifacts, Branding, Museums, Remember, Stagecoach, Wells Fargo Bank

Portland, Ore.celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Rose Festival   this past weekend. The idea of a Rose Festival or "carnival," as it was initially called, came from the Chamber of Commerce.  Later records reveal the extent to which the Chamber of Commerce went to promote the city of Portland. In the Second Annual Rose Festival Pamphlet from1908, the Chamber provided a litany of facts to persuade the visitor that Portland was the best place to live. It sums up this idea by stating:

"The approaching Rose Festival will .. convince tens of thousands of visitors that Portland and vicinity rests on beds of flowers... "

After the first Rose Festival in 1907, the event became extensive. Advertisers played off the event, and the Oregonian  included at least two cartoons hailing the event. One cartoon conveys the idea that the Portland Rose Festival was a signature event with "Old Man Portland" blowing away the competition. Another cartoon shows Western cities "joining hands" to celebrate Portland’s Festival. The Rose Festival received delegations from several cities, including Los Angeles, Pasadena, Oakland, Seattle, Spokane, and Tacoma. Naval vessels dropped anchor at Portland’s waterfront: the USS Stethem and others docked this year. 

Wells Fargo participated early on. As the Rose Festival got popular, the Company provided the Concord Coach from San Francisco  for the 1913 parade, and the “modern” Wells Fargo delivery wagon followed behind the stagecoach. It was as important, in1913, for Wells Fargo to showcase people from its history. The Oregonian described the esteemed personage riding in Wells Fargo’s contingent:

The Wells-Fargo stage coach filled with veterans of the stage coach days. On the front seat sat C. M. Kellogg, who drove a Wells-Fargo stage out of Salt Lake City in 1864 and 1865. . . Thomas H. Reynolds, who has been in the employ of Wells, Fargo & Co. for 40 years, acted as “shotgun messenger.” He rode on top of the coach, with a shotgun leveled across his knees. The regulation strong box stood beside him...

From an historical viewpoint, what is intriguing about Portland’s Rose Festival is how an idea took off, a “Rose Festival” culture developed, then gradually changed over time. After 1910, Portland’s economic status as the hub of the Pacific Northwest faced challenges from other cities—Tacoma, Spokane, and, most notably, Seattle. Was the creation of a Rose Festival one way for the city’s leaders to retain Portland’s economic hegemony in the Pacific Northwest? 

Posted by Steve at 03:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Found in Branding, Events, First-hand Accounts, Museums, Remember, Stagecoach, Wells Fargo Bank

You know all about Halley's Comet , right? Comes around every 76 years, makes a big splash , and becomes legend again till it returns. Sort of like Wells Fargo—without the going away part, I mean. Wells Fargo flies around cyber space, meets up with rockets, and makes a big splash. Wells and Fargo themselves were innovative businessmen who seized opportunities to bring services to customers (the stagecoach) and provide the means necessary to satisfy customer demands (fast transfer of money by telegraph).

There's an old tale out there that Wells Fargo changed its name after a printing error. But like the belt buckle problem and the shotgun fiasco, it's only a tale. Bob Chandler uncovered the real truth back in 1980 for an article in the Wells Fargo Banker, the company's internal magazine at that time. Pity—the myth is better than the facts. Isn't that always the case? (We regularly scold Bob for replacing exciting myth with boring facts.)

When Henry Wells and William Fargo opened for business in San Francisco in 1852, the name was easy—Wells, Fargo & Co. Makes sense, right? Seventeen years later, Wells Fargo consolidated all the major stagecoach lines in the West and made the name grander—Wells, Fargo and Company. An ampersand came later, but the comma remained: Wells, Fargo & Company.

Until 1905, Wells Fargo was both bank and express company. That year, the two became separate entities for a constellation of complicated reasons. Let's just say it was easier for the top guys to run things better, because that's what the company has always tried to do. Anyway, the bank part of Wells Fargo changed its name in 1875 to Wells Fargo Bank and merged the two founders' identities. It was Branding History—with the swipe of an eraser, the company fused two last names into one, single entity. The bank had a singular presence in the mind. The express part of the company followed suit in 1889, and the name was as it is today.

(I have a hunch that it made it easier to write the name because everyone probably forgot the comma anyway. But that's just me ...)

The myth  is that a huge stationery order arrived that accidentally left out the comma. Wells Fargo had to choose between sending back the whole thing or going forward. They chose the latter and somehow decided that the comma-less name was better. Or everyone got used to it. Or they got the huge order for free (my vote!).

The trouble is, it just isn't so. The branding was Wells Fargo's conscious choice to tighten the name and its effect. While history is most fun with triumph being traced to clumsy mistakes, it's just the opposite here. Wells Fargo got better through naming innovations, as well as through technical or service innovation.

Posted by Charles at 01:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Found in Artifacts, Branding, Halley's Comet, Museums, Remember, San Francisco, Wells Fargo Bank