September 2009 Archives

Charles

Send a comment to Charles

Arturo Garcia was a 20th century pioneer, the first Hispanic bank branch manager for Wells Fargo Bank.

Born into a family of farm laborers in Brawley, California  and raised in the state's Central Valley , Garcia knew and understood his customers in the agricultural communities where he managed Wells Fargo's banking business. Garcia became manager of the San Joaquin banking store in 1967. He also managed Wells Fargo's banking stores in Clovis and Fresno, and hosted a local Spanish-language radio show promoting financial literacy.

Throughout his 34-year career with Wells Fargo, Garcia received numerous internal sales awards as a store manager. A business leader in his community as well as a banker, Garcia was also a founding member of the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce  and National  Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Charles

It’s a long career path from bank teller to Treasurer of the United States .

Katherine Davalos Ortega was Treasurer of the United States during the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, (1983-1989) As Treasurer, Davalos Ortega’s signature appeared on millions of dollars of U.S. currency. But her first job in finance was as a teller at the community bank in her rural hometown of Tularosa, New Mexico .

While in high school, Davalos Ortega worked at Otero County State Bank to earn money for college. This bank, where the future Treasurer of the United States began her career, became a part of Wells Fargo in 1999. While in school, Davalos Ortega aspired to become a teacher, but she learned she likely would not be hired for a teaching position. In those years, prior to the huge movement for Civil Rights , routine discrimination plauged women and minorities. Davalos Ortega entered the accounting field instead, climbing steadily in accounting and financial services firms. In 1975 she became chief executive of Santa Ana State Bank, and the first woman bank president in California.

As her influence expanded, Davalos Ortega had become active in politics. She served on several federal commissions and advisory councils, and in 1983, was nominated as Treasurer by President Reagan. Davalos Ortega was the tenth woman and second Latina to hold the post. As Treasurer of the United States, Ortega oversaw production of coins and currency and the United States Savings Bond program. She also raised $40 million, through commemorative coin sales, to restore the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Davalos Ortega gave the keynote speech at the 1984 Republican National Convention, the first woman of Hispanic descent to deliver a keynote at a national political convention.

Treasurer Davalos Ortega left her post, and Washington, in 1989. She returned to her family’s financial business in New Mexico, where she served on several corporate boards. In recognition of her lifetime achievements and rise from humble beginnings to the highest levels of public service, she received the Horatio Alger Award  in 2002.

Treasurer Davalos Ortega acknowledged her heritage at her swearing-in  in 1983. "And so," she said, "it is with a deep sense of honor and pride that I shall serve as our country's 38th Treasurer. And following the Hispanic tradition, I have chosen to have my name appear on our currency as Katherine Davalos Ortega. For in doing so, I will be honoring my father as well as my mother. Thank you."

Charles

It's that time of year again! We haul out the decorations, start addressing cards to loved ones, plan get-togethers...Yes, it's Hispanic Heritage Month , one of my favorite times of the year.

These past couple years here at GBH, we've reflected on Salvadoran heritage, famous customers and a memorable team member. We got a well-timed visit from a norteño band. Hispanic business has certainly a part of Wells Fargo's success. Latino customers transact business, and Latino team members provide customer service.

Wells Fargo's Express network moved from east to Golden West via Panama.  Wells Fargo had agents in Panama to assist pioneers in their journey to the Gold Rush. In January 1853, Henry Wells traveled by sea to San Francisco, to assess the business.

From Panama, he wrote, "I am alive & kicking but awful sore & some tired. I have found our Agents the very best men on the entire route — men of the highest standards & great energy."

In North America, Overland stagecoaches rolled through territories that had been northernmost Mexico only a few years earlier. Colorado House was opened in Old Town San Diego in 1852 and housed the Wells Fargo Express office. Jose Guadalupe Estudillo, scion of an old Californio  family, became Wells Fargo Agent in 1870.

In Wells Fargo's early years, gold and other important business were carried by side-wheel steamships from the Columbia River basin to points in Latin America. The steamers called at Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Acapulco, where Wells Fargo agents served the growing Pacific Coast communities.

Wells Fargo established a Mexican subsidiary in 1860, Wells Fargo y Compañía Express, S.A. (Sociedad Mexicana). Offices were opened in grocery and department stores, hotels, drug stores and real estate offices.

Wells Fargo's business in Mexico (pdf) grew with the expansion of railroads in the last half of the 19th century. Wells Fargo provided rapid delivery and was the only U.S. express company offering direct service. By the turn of the century, la Compañía had over 300 offices, and fully ninety-eight percent of employees were Mexican.

Wells Fargo's first General Agent in El Salvador was J.C. Ybarra (pdf) in 1913. He oversaw thirteen agents and their offices, five messengers and seven other workers. Ybarra was an eyewitness to Wells Fargo's role in the economic stability of that era. He wrote that he and his staff had the "honor of being employees of a Company which has enlarged, in the commercial history of the New World, the era of progress and prosperity." In Cuba, (pdf) Wells Fargo had regularly scheduled business via steamships since the late 1800s. Wells Fargo handled money orders and traveler's checks for Cubans and tourists, and expanded steamship services to various destinations from the island.

We all personally celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month because we Historians are keenly aware that Hispanics have been a critical part of Wells Fargo's presence since the very beginning.

Ryan

Here's an interesting question: What State had the first national bank charter on the Pacific Coast, and what city was it in?

While most people may think the first national bank was in California — and may guess San Francisco as the city — the first national bank on the Pacific Coast was actually chartered in Portland, Oregon. It preceded any California national bank by five years.

On July 4, 1865, a group of merchants and civic-minded Portlanders banded together and applied for a national bank charter under the name "First National Bank of Oregon." After months of waiting, the group found out that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency  (OCC) had modified their application with a name of "First National Bank of Portland."  The OCC believed the "Oregon" name too general and that it might confuse creditors as to the bank's physical location. Within months, the bank had national bank notes with its name and 1553 charter number on-hand to circulate in the local community. (Remember that the first charter granted to a California institution was #1741 in 1870.)

First National Bank of Portland was the only national bank in Oregon until another was chartered in 1882. Even after competition blossomed, First National grew to be the largest bank in Oregon. It was known as a conservatively run bank, with regional correspondents in nearly all communities throughout the State.

In 1930, First National Bank of Portland became the cornerstone holding of A.P. Giannini's  start at building an interstate banking network — Transamerica  — long before others saw the need. With Giannini's support, First National Bank of Portland continued an amazing growth trend, through acquisitions and new branch openings, even during the depth of the Great Depression. 

In 1981, the old "First National" freshened up its name as First Interstate Bank of Oregon, N.A., part of a uniform banking franchise that spanned eleven western states. Fifteen years later, First Interstate Bank of Oregon would cede its banking charter as part of FIB's merger with Wells Fargo.

Consequently, Wells Fargo has roots not only to the first national bank in California, but also the first national bank on the West Coast!

Charles

This past week, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi unveiled a plaque  at the US Capitol. It commemorates the heroism of passengers aboard Flight 93 , who turned back a hijack attempt on September 11, 2001, at the cost of their own lives. There is a September 11 memorial at the Pentagon , and the site in New York  will be a national monument.

It's good to commemorate that day because it's important to remember. Historically, it changed so much of our collective consciousness, as a nation and maybe as a world. History is slow, so we can only conjecture at what the "result" is of all that happened that morning.

I myself still mourn the loss of all those people. They were ordinary people . They just went to work. Their lives ended abruptly. I still miss them and I always will.

Especially today.

Charles

Amanda Hopper is an interpreter at the Old Sacramento History Museum, where she presents Wells Fargo's history to visitors. This is her second post for Guided by History. (CR)

A few days ago I was looking in a box on our desk that is filled with index cards   that explain all the items in our museum. One card refers to a photograph of a man leaning against a pile of silver bars in our "safe room.". The caption to the image reads: "In 1877, Madison Larkin guarded silver from Arizona's Tip Top  Mine."

The index card for the image reads, "Larkin's tenure as Wells Fargo Agent was fairly short but dramatic. He is the bold, alert fellow with the double-barrel shotgun cradled in his left arm; often pictured guarding a Wells Fargo treasure box and a huge pile of silver bullion." The information comes from the book Wells Fargo in Arizona Territory  by John and Lillian Theobald. (Tempe, Ariz. 1978)

This card really sparked my interest. I wanted to know what happened to Madison Larkin. Was he killed? What was so dramatic about his time with Wells Fargo?

I began looking through all the books in our "cave" (our nickname for the backroom) and searched the blog to see if anyone had written about him. I asked Martha, who works with me here, if she knew anything about him. (Martha is the one who made all the index cards in the first place — plus, she knows EVERYTHING.)

After a little searching, she was able to answer all my questions about Mr. Larkin....

Charles

This came in from Dave, commenting on my Lewis & Clark piece:

Charles, I have noticed in your writing that you often seem a little "down" on America's westward expansion (which would seem to make sense considering the frequently left leaning tone of this blog). Although I agree that we did some awful things to the indians and probably could have gone about some things differently, but the creation of a great nation in the modern sense does require a certain amount of Lebensraum.... Thanks! Dave.

Dave reads and leaves comments regularly. His comments are clearly intelligent and reflect a grasp of history's intellectual use, history's value in helping us measure the world we live in. Dave's a smart guy, and "gets it," so his comments mean a lot.

Of course, before I put my thoughts together to discuss this, Senator Edward Kennedy passed away and my colleague wrote a reflection on his work with the Senator. So Dave, let me tell you the Kennedy piece, right after you suggest we're "left leaning," is totally a coincidence.

Honest!

The "left leaning" startled me a bit, because I blog about Wells Fargo history, and history in general — not about politics. And the mission of this blog is to share our history and collection. In all frankness, it's a little hard to do politics when you're discussing the history of ATMs. My writing style is nicely marbled with my personality, but my historical point of view is studiously apolitical. I blogged about elections in 2006 and 2008, for instance, but it was strictly historical. Hey, I have colleagues who proof my stuff and they tell me when I've transgressed ( even when I haven't. It's a daily struggle!).

History can seem political because as a social science, it is committed to looking at the evidence without any preconceptions. As a result, findings may go counter to accepted beliefs, may challenge myths we hold dear. If we feel someone is revealing something just to attack our position, well yeah — that's political all right. But then again, it's not.

See, it's true that people ( as I mentioned in the Lewis and Clark piece) moved West and knocked aside everything in their path. That action did indeed nearly exterminate millions of human beings — acts of total war under the guise of peaceful negotiation. It extinguished the bison, and introduced new plant and animal species that dramatically altered the landscape.

But that action also gave us irrigation that feeds the world, expanded democratic institutions, introduced rule by law and respect for law, and coalesced a strength of national character that secured the continent and established one of history's great civilizations.

A civilization, I might add, that allows historians and other intellectuals to challenge everything.

I have taken classes from radicals in conservative universities, and read traditionalist history texts assigned by them. The discussions were always freewheeling and the opinions were usually prompted by a personal point of view. Nobody ever won the argument, which was the point, I think. We were supposed to take away the info and the emotions, ponder it all and come out of it with an historical conclusion, not just another personal opinion.

Most important, we were supposed to come out of it with a conclusion we knew would be argued about, by everyone, forever.

That's kind of political, but not the political that Dave is concerned about. Historians are trained to argue because we're all right. (Sorta like Congress, but the difference is we're likeable!) The process is about furthering intelligence. Does our experience since one historical moment modify what came of that moment? Or — were Nixon and Reagan good Presidents, let's say, irrespective of their immediate legacies?

So Dave, I'm glad you read my blog and I'm glad you contribute, and I hope you stick around. And if I come off left-leaning, it's only because I'm ornery, as a Historian is trained to be.