It Happened Here--The Expressmen

Part 1

 

One of the enduring images of the American “Old West’ is the image of a nine passenger stagecoach speeding across the prairie or racing through the desert southwest in a cloud of alkali dust, pulled by a team of six horses, guided by a driver perched high on the drivers’ box. He is accompanied by a Wells Fargo “messenger”, “riding shotgun” with a sawed off double barreled weapon, thoughtfully provided by the Wells Fargo Company. Beneath them sits the green iron clad “strong box”, likely filled with bundles of banknotes, bullion or even bags of gold dust, direct from the mining camps of the California Gold Fields. Who would guess that a trio of entrepreneurs that created the companies behind this image started as farm boys from small towns in upstate New York State?

 

Up until the 1830’s there was no organized way to ship parcels in the United States. Though the postal service began early in colonial times to handle letters, and commercial carriers of merchandise and raw materials came into being almost as soon as roads were cut through the wilderness or docking facilities were built along riverside and coastal towns and cities, there was no easy way for an individual or a business to ship a package. One was faced with the choice of finding a friend who was going to the desired destination, sending an employee, or relative, or putting one’s package in the care of a stranger. A ship captain or a business associate might be able to vouch for, and connect one up with, a passenger who would be willing to make sure a package arrived where it was intended. A stagecoach driver might look after a package if given a sufficient tip. Rather large financial transactions were sometimes made by giving a top-hated coachman a bundle of bank notes, admonishing him to “keep this under your hat.” Though thefts and losses under these sorts of arrangements appear to have been remarkably infrequent, it was inconvenient for everyone and a cumbersome and haphazard way of doing business. And it became increasingly risky as the needs of business grew. By the end of the 1830’s the odd keg of nails, the imported bolt of cloth, the gunsmith’s firelock mechanism and the wealth landowner’s custom cast brass hinges for his front door were regularly joined by bundles of banknotes, promissory notes, stock and bond certificates, and even specie and bullion. The situation was aggravated by the closing of the Bank of the United States, in 1836, which, while it operated, had transported currency and financial instruments between itself and regional banks and customers.

In 1839 William Harnden open the first successful “express” business running between New York and Boston. (Perhaps a half dozen others had begun businesses before him, but he was the only one to succeed for any length of time.) Harnden was the first to use the term “expressman” to refer to himself, conveying the idea of rapid personalized delivery service. Having negotiated a special rate for himself with a railroad and a steam ship company between these two cities he began to offer a regular service of delivering packages to their destinations. But beyond this he advertised additional services. “Particular attention will be paid by W.H. to purchasing goods, paying and collecting (bank) drafts, notes and bills. He will promptly transact any and all business which may be entrusted to his charge.” (Loomis, 6)   Harnden was anticipating the banking functions that many express companies would soon find themselves drawn into.

Cor. NY 31 and Canal St (38), Port Byron

Other companies were soon formed to enter the express business while Harnden expanded his area of operations into upstate New York and began hiring employees, “messengers” who would accompany packages entrusted to them. Henry Wells was working as a freight agent on the Erie Canal when William Harnden hired him. Henry had been born in Thetford Vermont and moved to Fayette, New York as a boy, with his family where he balanced helping out on his family’s farm with receiving a basic one-room school education. At sixteen he had been apprenticed to a tanner/shoemaker in Palmyra. Harnden hired him as a messenger from his Albany office. Before long Wells was urging his boss to expand into the regions to the west. The man who had pioneered the express business was unwilling to risk his business in such an undeveloped area and untested market. Harnden suggested Wells strike out on his own to develop his own company to the west. It is unclear whether this was a supportive suggestion, or a sarcastic challenge intended to redirect an over enthusiastic employee, but in any event the ambitious Wells had soon lined up a group of partners and in 1841, under the name Pomeroy and Co. (with partners George Pomeroy, and Crawford Livingston) Henry Wells was going into business for himself. Within a year the partnership was realigned and became Livingston, Wells and Pomeroy and then, Livingston, Wells and Co when George Pomeroy retired from the business¹. The Albany to Buffalo run was an arduous trip that involved taking three train from Albany to Auburn, a stage coach from Auburn twenty five miles to Geneva, the Auburn to Rochester Railroad to Rochester, a stage sixty miles to Lockport, and private transport (wagon, or horseback) to Buffalo. The business grew rapidly, however. Starting with a single carpet bag, on weekly trips he soon had to use a trunk, which was replaced by a larger trunk and then an even larger trunk, prompting a railway superintendent to quip ‘of all the wonderful growths he had seen in the west, none equaled the growth of Wells’ trunk!’ 

In 1842 Wells hired William George Fargo who had been employed as a freight agent, and sometime conductor, on the Auburn and Syracuse Railway. Like Wells, Fargo had grown up on a family farm, in Pompey New York, fitting in schooling between seasons of farm labor. But unlike Wells he had been the oldest in a family of twelve children, and had been supporting himself since he was thirteen years old—mostly working as a clerk in a several grocery stores, but also delivering mail on a thirty mile circuit for a local mail contractor working out of Pompey. Hired as an express messenger, by 1843 Fargo became the resident agent in Buffalo, for Livingston, Wells and Company. 

 

WM. G. FARGO

MAY 20, 1818-AUG. 3, 1881

ORGANIZER OF WELLS-FARGO
EXPRESS

COMPANY
SERVED HERE AS
FIRST FREIGHT AGENT

Location: ON 2ND STORY FACE SCHRECK BROS. STORE, 16 E. GENESEE ST., AUBURN

(This sign appears to have disappeared with the Schreck Bros. Store, The lot is now 

occupied by a Dunkin Donut shop)

 In 1844-5 Wells with another pair of partners, Daniel Dunning and William Fargo, opened “Wells and Company’s Western Express”, the first express company operating west of Buffalo. Service was extended to Cleveland and Detroit, and later, Chicago, Cincinnati, and St. Louis.

About this time Henry Wells decided to take on the United States Post Office. (It would not be the last time.) Wells began to offer to deliver a letter for $.06. At this time The Post Office was charging $0.18 to $0.25, depending on the distance. A local newspaper noted that while it cost $0.18 to ship a letter from New York City to Troy, a whole barrel of flour could be shipped the same distance, via the same route for only $0.12! Wells’ service was immensely popular, and soon letters could travel from Detroit Michigan to Bangor Maine for this low rate. But then the Post Office struck back. The Constitution gave the federal government the right to operate a post office and Postal officials believed that it was their exclusive right. Wells messengers were regularly arrested at Utica and other places. There were public rallies in support of Wells. Bail was raised for the messengers and became immediately available in cases of future arrests so that the messengers could continue on their way without delay. In several places the Government brought suites, but in every case juries rejected them. Backed by a group of investors, Wells presented a proposal to the Postmaster General. Wells offered to take over the entire delivery of the mails for $ 0.05 a letter! Postmaster General Hobbie was aghast and rejected it out of hand, as it would mean the end of 16,000 postmaster patronage jobs! Finally Congress stepped in². The six cent postal rate was adopted and the law concerning the federal government’s exclusive right to maintain a postal service was strengthened. Wells companies and their competitors left (for the time being) the delivery of mail.

In 1846 the restless Wells sold his interest in Wells and Company to the other partners and moved to New York City to pursue, full time, the transatlantic express trade through his other company, Livingston, Wells, and Company. He would open express services in England, France and Germany. As America approached the mid century, in the turbulent express business, Livingston, Wells and Co. controlled a large share of the market in eastern New York, New England and the mid-Atlantic states; the Wells and Company’s successor, Livingston, Fargo and Co. continued preeminent in the western New York, the Great Lakes and Ohio valley to St. Louis. But a strong competitor was emerging in New York. Many small railroads had merged into the New York Central Rail Road by 1850, and the new competitor, Butterfield, Wasson and Co. had secured an exclusive contract with the N.Y.C. to carry their express business

                                 Perhaps the only NYSHM 
                                          reference to John Butterfield
                                          NY Rt. 22 Essex

 John Butterfield was born in the Helderberg “hilltown” of Berne, New York in 1801. By age 19 he was a professional coachman driving stagecoaches from Albany for Thorpe and Sprague Express Co. Three years later he moved to Utica to help manage an Albany to Buffalo stagecoach line. Like Fargo and Wells he was an aggressive entrepreneur and he was soon an owner in nearly all the stagecoach lines in western New York. In Utica, Butterfield built a street railway, a grand hotel, and a commercial block. In the mid 1840’s he was the driving force behind the New York, Albany and Buffalo Telegraph System. Butterfield also became part owner of a line of steamboats operating on Lake Champlain, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River.

Early in 1850 Henry Wells bought into Butterfield’s express company, succeeding James Wasson. Later that year, in what would be known as “the great consolidation” Butterfield proposed a merger. Though a fierce competitor, Butterfield realized cutthroat competition benefited no one and he hoped that a merger of his express company, Livingston, Wells and Co., and Livingston, Fargo and Co. could dominate the industry. A new company, American Express, was formed with Wells, president, Fargo, secretary and John Butterfield, line superintendent.

 

1In the early 19^th century a convenient way to delineate a new relationship between partners, recruit new investor-partners or engage in a new enterprise and protect one’s other interests in the event the enterprise did not thrive was to simply form a new partnership, under a different name. Both Henry Wells and William Fargo would form many such partnerships, both together and separately throughout their careers. These partnerships were joint stock associations, not corporations which meant that the shareholders, often called “directors” were personally involved in running the business and could operate secretly without reporting to the government or a body of stockholders.

2Congressman Zadock Pratt, the subject of the previous post (11/2/14) had successfully presented a bill a half dozen years before that rolled back postal rates, but they had risen since. 

Sources: 

               Fradkin, Philip L. Stagecoach, Wells Fargo and the American West, New York. 2002 
               Loomis, Noel M.  Wells Fargo.  1968.

Marker of the Week -- Big Crime in a Small Town

NY Rt. 20, West of Buell Ave, Lima

One hundred and one years ago a masked man wearing blue glasses and a long black beard walked into the Lima, NY bank with two revolvers and a coil of telephone wire. He forced the bookkeeper to tie up the cashier with the wire and then he tied up the bookkeeper. He then proceeded to steal nearly $10,000 in bills and gold coins from the bank. A 20 year old seminary student, Cezlaw Gaczdnski was arrested, having bought telephone wire not long before.

Despite several days of "sensational" court hearings the Grand Jury refused to indict him, on the circumstantial evidence presented them. Witnesses said the young man presented a very sympathetic appearance and his jailer even bought him a couple bottles beer when he was in custody.  Upon his release Gaczdnski "sued everyone in sight" for $25,000.

Despite a $ 500 reward posted by the bank and its insurance company, no one was ever brought to trial, so the mystery of who robbed the Lima Bank remains. For me, another mystery is, How did they fit nearly $10,000 into that tiny vault?

Source: Mendon, Honeoye Falls, Lima Sentinel. April 30, 2009. Letter to the editor by Joyce Rapp, former Lima Historian.