13.8.08

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Wells Fargo Stagecoach, Montgomery Street
Henry Wells and William Fargo opened a banking and express company on Montgomery Street in 1852. By 1866 they owned every stagecoach line west of the Mississippi. A nonstop trip from St. Joseph, Missouri to San Francisco by coach was a brutal 30 days long.

The trip was made somewhat easier by the company's famous high-gloss red Concord Coaches, shown above. They were handmade in New Hampshire and shipped to San Francisco. The coaches were made out of extremely hard wood and came with leather curtains to keep the dust out. Passengers sat on soft leather cushions overstuffed with hair.

For those who found the stagecoach too slow for their correspondence, Wells Fargo established the Pony Express in 1860. The first Pony Express delivery made the same trip in ten days. Wells Fargo was a huge boon to everyone in Gold Rush San Francisco including the gentleman bandit, Black Bart who robbed the company, but never its passengers, at least 28 times.
[ MAP G-15 ]


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