Stagecoach: Wells Fargo and the American West

Sweeping in scope as revealing of an era as it is of a company Stagecoach is the epic story of Wells Fargo and the American West. The trail of Wells Fargo runs through nearly every imaginable landscape and icon of frontier folklore: the California Gold Rush the Pony Express the transcontinental railroad the Civil War and the Indian wars. From the Great Plains to the Rockies to the Pacific Ocean the companys operations embraced almost all social cultural and economic activities west of the Mississippi. As its reputation for speed and dependability grew after the Gold Rush the sight of a red-and-yellow Wells Fargo stagecoach racing across the prairie came to symbolize faith in a nations progress. For a time Wells Fargo was the most powerful and widespread institution in the American West even surpassing the presence of the federal government. Stagecoach is a fascinating and rare combination of Western and business history. Along with its rich association with the frontier readers will discover that swiftness security and connectivity have been constants in Wells Fargos 150 years.