My posts on Wells Fargo and the environment continue ...
Wells Fargo's response to environmental affairs began in
1970 
, the year Earth Day was officially begun. Yet Wells Fargo had been involved with helping the environment and environmental agencies for much longer.
Forty years after Wells Fargo was established, the Sierra Club was co-founded in 1892 by John Muir, who was also its first president. During Muir's presidency, the Sierra Club
corresponded with John J. Valentine, Wells Fargo's president. John Muir the environmentalist was a Wells Fargo customer who depended on his local agency to assist with his banking and express needs.
In 1908, Muir sent Wells Fargo money orders to his daughter Helen in the Southern California town of Daggett . He also shipped the bounties of his beloved Martinez, Calif. , ranch via Wells Fargo & Co. Express: "I sent you today by (Wells Fargo) Express the jasmine you wanted," he wrote in 1908.
Later that year, he sent Helen some wine: "I sent by express today a crate of Muscat ... gleaned from the young vines on the Rodgers place. I paid a dollar Express [to] Mr. Shaw (Muir's local Wells Fargo agent). ... " And: "I have just sent you by Express a box of cherries Royal Anns , good raw or cooked. [We] picked them this morning and delivered them to the Ex Agent at Muir Station about 9 A.M."
Click here to learn more about Wells Fargo's commitment to improving the environment.
(My thanks to Historian John Keibel for his research assistance on this post!)
Very cool. It's amazing what names and connections are filed away in the Wells Fargo archives.