In my Monday post about Kate Buick, I related a story from her niece, Veva Buick Poorman regarding Kate's use of Morse code.
Here's another one about Kate from Ms. Poorman that describes how her aunt safeguarded Wells Fargo gold.
In Roseburg, Oregon 
, gold sometimes arrived on the evening train after the local bank was closed. Armed with a small pistol in her handbag, Kate Buick carried Wells Fargo gold home in a satchel. If it was too heavy for the satchel, Kate lugged the gold in Veva's lunchbox. The next morning, Buick would deposit the gold in the bank.
In December 1912, George Sewell replaced Kate Buick as Agent. Roseburg's newspaper, the Daily Review, declared:
In relieving Miss Buick as its local agent, the company was merely following out its newly adopted policy of placing all of its branch agencies in the hands of men. Many of its offices besides the one in this city are affected. Miss Buick, on account of her long experience and thorough efficiency, will be retained by the company as an assistant to Mr. Sewell.
Kate Buick had the last word when she married George Sewell seven months later.
In 1918, the federal government consolidated all express businesses, including Wells Fargo's, under a government-run corporation called American Railway Express . Mrs. Sewell continued work as an agent for Railway Express until 1939, and sporadically thereafter into the 1950s.
Today, nearly two-thirds of Wells Fargo employees are women.
As a tribute to women in the workforce, the Wells Fargo History Museum is collaborating with the Portland Police Museum and Portland State University's Friends of History to showcase a free presentation entitled Lola Baldwin, America's First Policewoman.
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