1860's
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1861
The Civil War affected stagecoach route operations. Fearing attacks from Confederates, the OMC moved their operations north. Eventually, Wells Fargo assumed effective control of the OMC and later created the Stagecoach Empire from the pacific coast to New England, Montana and Idaho.
Oct. 25, 1861
Inauguration of the transcontinental telegraph. The telegraph transferred bank funds across the country almost instantaneously. At Wells Fargo express offices, agents often served as both the railway agent and telegraph operator.
1864
Frederick Law Olmstead writes, "Their (Wells Fargo) express offices is the central object in every mining camp."(4) Wells Fargo was viewed as a link to a civilized world by the countless mining towns.
1866
The company changes its official form of the name from Wells, Fargo & Company to Wells, Fargo and Company, with a tendency to omit the comma. Also this year, Wells Fargo combined large western overland stage lines into Wells Fargo's Great Overland Mail stretching over the Sierra Mountains and the Rockies across the Great Plains and up to Idaho and Montana. Wells Fargo & Company brought together all the major stagecoach companies and was formally incorporated. The company had 173 offices and their stagecoach empire stretched across 4000 miles of territory. Previously it had operated since 1852 under a joint stock agreement. William G. Fargo, president of Wells Fargo & Company, made sure that his company was not only a leader in banking, communications and customer service, but also a supporter of forward-thinking businesses, like the Northern Pacific Railroad. Though we live in a more modern world than William Fargo did, Wells Fargo holds the same values today. Journalist Samuel Bowles on Wells, Fargo & Company: "Wells and Fargo's express is the omnipresent universal business agent of the entire region. It is the ready companion of civilization, universal friend and agent of the miner; his errand man, his banker, his post office. It's much more than an ordinary express company. It has grown very much into the heart and habit of the people."(5) The west had developed over night as a place where people could make their fortune. The people looked to Wells Fargo to protect their assets and to "deliver" on their promises. Today, team members of Wells Fargo can celebrate the fact that they work for one of the oldest companies of America. Some of the early agents and employees of Wells, Fargo & Company have left behind journals, and also a glimpse of the company's early days.
Names and Faces of the Past:
John Q. Jackson was a twenty-year-old bank agent of the Auburn office in the early days of business. He would sent out approximately 800 pounds of gold each month, which was worth about $200,000 at the time. The agents also acted as community leaders, such as Julia Jones on the California - Nevada border. Ms. Jones had helped a former Chinese railroad worker and Basque sheepherder open their own bakery, by helping them schedule the arrival of yeast via stagecoach. Probably, more popular than the agents were the actual stagecoach drivers. As a matter of fact, author Mark Twain wrote: "A stage driver was a hero, a great and shining dignitary, the world's favorite son, and the envy of the people. When they spoke to him they received his insolent silence meekly. And when he opened his lips, they all hung on his words with admiration."(6)		John Q. Jackson
Shotgun Taylor	These drivers have left behind a legend and even broke records in their time. In the 1860s, driver Shotgun Taylor drove the fastest fifty-mile stretch ever made with a six-horse coach in California at three and half-hours and it was at night. Another driver who was legendary was former slave, George Monroe, from Georgia. He was donned the greatest reins men of the west. The sight of the red and gold Concord coach rolling into town inspired confidence in the migration west. As the frontier grew, every mining town wanted their own Wells Fargo office with agents they could count on.
April 15, 1868
The Abbot-Downing Company was the sole producer of the Concord Stagecoach. An Express Freight carried a shipment of thirty stagecoaches, destined for Omaha, NE. This was the largest order that the Abbot-Downing factory, out of Concord, New Hampshire, ever had to fill. Facts on the stagecoach: It traveled five miles an hour; the drivers changed horses every twelve miles and stopped for meals about every forty-five minutes. It bared the colors of red and gold		click on image for larger version
May 10, 1869
The continent was joined from coast to coast by rail with the golden spike being driven at Promontory Point, north of the Great Salt Lake. This marks a point where Wells Fargo & Company let go of its beloved stagecoach in favor of moving its business to the railroad. The railroad provided an efficient transport of people, capital and product. In seeing the need of the railroad in the northern prairie, William Fargo invested in the Northern Pacific Railroad. He also teamed up with Minneapolis mayor Doralis Morrison to start the North Western Bank of Minneapolis, which was a direct predecessor of the Norwest Corporation seen in the 20th century. As the business grew the Wells Fargo agents often used the telegraph and local railroads to transport goods back east. The railroad and the telegraph successfully linked people across the nation.
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