It feels like every time I turn around, its time to commemorate another milestone.

Arizona celebrated our Centennial on February 14th, and Wells Fargo marked its 160th anniversary on March 18th.

April 6th was the 147th anniversary of a lesser-known event, when a young Pennsylvanian earned a soldier's highest award. Since May is National Military Appreciation Month, this is a good time to tell that story.

The young man was Trustrim Connell, who courageously captured a Confederate flag at the end of the Civil War. Corporal Connell was with the 138th Pennsylvania Volunteers at the Battle of Sayler's (Sailer's) Creek, Virginia.

On April 6, 1865, Connell captured the battle flag of the 10th Virginia Infantry. For this action he was awarded the Medal of Honor May 10, 1865.

In 1862 Congress authorized the fabrication of a large number of identical bronze medals, to allow quick recognition of heroes throughout the wide-ranging conflict. (Over 1,000 Medals of Honor were awarded in the Civil War.) By the end of his military career Connell had attained the rank of Captain, and in 1907, received a new gold medal inscribed with the words, "For Valor."

Trustrim Connell's medals are currently on display at the Wells Fargo History Museum in Phoenix.

This is appropriate because, at the time Arizona became a state in 1912, Trustrim Connell was Wells Fargo & Co's Express Agent in Phoenix. His career with Wells Fargo began in 1881 when he was named Agent in the Indian Territory, now within the State of Oklahoma. In 1898, Connell and his family transferred to Phoenix.

One of my earlier posts covered Pacific Coast trade between California and Canada. While Pacific Coast trade may seem intuitive given that seagoing transportation was the easiest and fastest mode of transportation the California Gold Rush era, the strong links San Francisco maintained with the capital markets of Great Britain and continental Europe are not as obvious.

One example is the Anglo California Bank, Ltd., organized under British law in 1873. Anglo California used its capital to become one of the largest banks in San Francisco by the end of the nineteenth century, with primary focus on international transactions with Asia and Europe.

Around the same time, the trading house of Lazard Freres opened a San Francisco office with a specialization in financing international trade. By 1884 this office was renamed the London, Paris, and American Bank, Ltd., with a British bank charter. After having offices at different locations on California and Sansome Streets, London, Paris, and American secured the prominent corner at 1 Sansome Street. This prime spot suited an expanding business.

I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial mother's day. There are many days for men, but none for mothers.

—Anna Jarvis, Sunday school teacher

Mother's Day celebrations date back as far as the Ancient Greeks and Romans, and in some form or another it was also celebrated among Christians and Europeans. But, it wasn't until 150 years ago that Mother's Day was celebrated regularly in the United States.

It was originally called "Women's Work Day." That sounds like the opposite of Mother's Day as we know it, but homemaker Anna Jarvis organized a day to raise awareness of poor health conditions in her community. She believed this was best advocated by mothers.

During the Civil War, Julia Ward Howe organized a day encouraging mothers to rally for peace, since she believed they bore the loss of human life more harshly than anyone else. Howe worked for years for Women's suffrage and human rights, and was instrumental in creating Mother's Day. She recognized the need for women from all over the world to come together to discuss world peace, and the importance of protecting children.

The first Mother's Days were celebrated by attending church, writing letters to mom, maybe bringing her some flowers. But this eventually grew into gift-giving, which enraged Jarvis. She realized that the day's sentiment was being lost to greed and profit. She actually filed a lawsuit to stop one Mothers Day festival in 1923! She was also arrested for disturbing the peace at a war mother's group convention, because she didn't agree with what they were doing.

Before she died in 1948, Jarvis is said to have confessed that she regretted ever starting the mother's day tradition.

This is funny to me because this is exactly a mother's story. As a mother of two young children I don't want gifts, what I want is time away from motherhood! This may sound harsh but it's the truth. I usually like to spend the day getting my hair done, or taking a day trip with my husband.

And then having dinner ALONE!

No offense to my kids—I love them both dearly. But everyone needs a break once in a while. (I wonder what Anna would think of how I wish to spend my day?!)

We've been clueing you in on this all week. "Where's the Stagecoach?" is your ticket to excitement and fabulous gifts. That is, if, like me, you consider churros fabulous. (They're definitely a gift!)

Tomorrow, May 12, the Wells Fargo Stagecoach is somewhere in San Francisco as part of the Golden Gate Bridge 75th Anniversary. This you already know.

When you find it, Arby matey!—you're in for a treat. And maybe some other nice gifts for dropping by.

Don't forget to share your snapshots and stories. It's how you tell the whole world how cool the Bridge is, and how great a time you're having in the City by the Bay. It's a site where we hope everyone shares their Golden Gate Bridge story, wherever they are.

So drop anchor with us and hang around a while! We look forward to seeing you—just as you're looking forward to those churros.

As I described Monday, the Wells Fargo Stagecoach will appear at a San Francisco location—as yet undisclosed—on Saturday. This is part of the Golden Gate Bridge 75th anniversary celebration.

"Where's the Stagecoach?" is a simple premise. We have a coach in a location, you find it, you enjoy food and prizes, you take some pictures and share 'em on our 75th anniversary pages.

That's pretty much it, so have fun! We'd offer more clues, but that would make it too easy. Let's just say with a little wind in your sails, you'll find it easy. That's yar!

So where is the Stagecoach? See you Saturday, May 12, that's where!

Today—just a few hours ago, in fact!—in Bordentown, N.J., lucky Joseph H. was announced as winner of our Golden Gate Bridge 75th Anniversary sweepstakes. He is stationed at McGuire AFB, and entered our sweepstakes at an ATM. Congratulations, Airman!

On May 25th, Joseph and his family fly into SFO, and they’ll stay at the Galleria Park Hotel. A San Francisco CityPASS tour is first on the agenda. They will attend festivities on Saturday and Sunday at Marina Green, as Wells Fargo celebrates the huge anniversary event.

They also have a full schedule of activities that gets them to restaurants, shows, landmarks—when they fly home after an action-filled vacation in the City, I'm guessing they'll need a couple days off!

It's entirely fitting that the stagecoach greeted Joseph today. It's our living icon, and there's few things more interesting than a ride in the coach. We have stagecoaches at events all year 'round, all across the country. You never really know where one will be. (Unless you look here. Pretty sensible, eh?)

Later this week, FYI, the stagecoach will be somewhere in San Francisco as part of the ongoing Golden Gate Bridge Anniversary celebration. If you find us, you'll enjoy food, history, information, pictures ... and don't forget to share the experience!

But you gotta find the stagecoach.

See you there!

Here's an image from our Archives. I admit I have no idea what the backstory is. This—a lovely young woman sitting in an Old West-style chair—is one of those unexplained, curious images we have in the collection. We find them on occasion, and want to share.

Wells Fargo & Co's Express moved customers' business on the iron horse after the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. GBH happily features some of the more "interesting" shipments, like a circus elephant, Indy cars, or a gila monster. We have the stories about those.

But as for why our mystery woman is sitting in this rail car, we just don't know! A picture is worth a thousand words, but I've got only one: "Huh?"

GBH readers, do you have a theory on what her story may be?

Just saw this—Jake Balestreri passed away at 95. Mr. Baelestreri is believed the last person alive who had been part of building the Golden Gate Bridge.

Mr. Baelestreri started working on the bridge when he was 17 years old, one of the youngest according to the article. After the Bridge was finished, Mr. Baelestreri had a career in building trades. He played pro baseball.

Wells Fargo is a "Tower Partner" in marking the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge. We remember that it was completed through the efforts of hundreds of people. Mr. Baelestreri as the last known surviving builder gets a bit more recognition, but he also represents the many people who led many different lives.

And all their efforts and their roles, great and small, will live a long time as that bridge.

Over the past decade international trade has been viewed as a growing opportunity. However, international trade has been part of commerce since before we even had notions of political boundaries and borders. An interesting example of trade is the Pacific Coast of North America in the nineteenth century.

Was the Gold Rush really only a western, North American rush? Not really—America's first gold discoveries were in North Carolina and Georgia, in 1799 and 1828 respectively. The discovery of gold in California in 1848 came at a time when California had little legal structure, and wasn't even afforded Territory status. The hundreds of thousands of Argonauts who came to California were a restless, adventurous lot; quite naturally, when the best claims were taken and production dwindled, they explored elsewhere. This exploration knew no boundaries.

While most history focuses on the succession of discoveries from California to the Comstock Lode to Pikes Peak, we should add to the list of strikes Australia in 1851, Fraser River in New Caledonia (British Columbia) in 1858, and the Klondike in Canada's Yukon Territory in 1897.

Each successive strike benefited from the ones before: Veteran miners of prior strikes knew where and how to look for gold, mining equipment was improved, and capital formation for corporate mines was more widely available. Improvements were also made on civil and criminal law enforcement. Seeing thousands of Americans arrive at the Fraser River strike, British administrators at Vancouver Island in 1858 prepared for more robust legal systems to avoid the lawlessness of California's mining camps a decade earlier.

Baseball season has begun, so I'm busy following my favorite teams. (There are 30 teams in MLB—I have about 22 favorites. It's hard.)

But I am reminded that there's historical value so far this new season. The White Sox' Philip Humber tossed a perfect game Saturday, only the 21st since 1880. Fenway Park in Boston is a century old this year. Tony La Russa is not managing this year, the first time in about 30 years.

I also read that Tiger Stadium opened in 1912, too. Tiger Stadium was torn down after the 1999 season, but its 88 seasons hosted Walter Johnson, Babe Ruth, Carl Yastrzemski ... countless greats and not-so-greats. Great Tigers Ty Cobb, Hank Greenberg, Al Kaline, Jack Morris, and their teammates won the World Series in '35, '45, '68, and '84.

I saw my first big league game there, against the Texas Rangers. Billy Martin was the manager, and Al Kaline homered into the upper deck. Right over me. I've seen about half a dozen games there since, and a few at the Tigers' current home, Comerica Park.

Comerica is really nice and greatly honors the heritage of baseball in the Motor City. But Tiger Stadium, as a dear memory, has that little extra something.

OK, I've mused enough. Back to your history books and your scores!