This Date in Wells Fargo History

May 13, 2008

May 13, 1860. The clickity-clack of the telegraph brought Wells Fargo one of its most unusual express consignments. On May 12, Indians out-generalled and defeated volunteer troops at Pyramid Lake, Nevada. As the panic spread, on May 13, Wells Fargo's General Agent Louis McLane told the Sacramento office to "make a contract with the Sacrement as early as 8 A.M. tomorrow." Very early on the 15th, Wells Fargo put a company of artillery from Fort Alcatraz and a company of infantry from Benicia Barracks--plus ten tons of baggage--on the train to Folsom There, "We had to furnish them with meals even," a Wells Fargo employee wrote. Soon the blue coats were off for Placerville, where Wells Fargoan Theodore Tracy mounted them on mules and sent them over the Sierra.