Wells, Fargo & Company Express Office
The discovery of gold in California in 1849 started one of the greatest migrations in American history.
After moving west to seek their fortune in California, people living in mining camps had to travel long distances to a large city to send or receive mail and go to a bank. Sometimes the road to town was treacherous with robbers trying to steal gold from traveling miners.
Henry Wells and William Fargo founded a banking and express company in 1852 to provide services closer to these booming camps. Wells, Fargo & Company transported gold, mail and freight from offices in small mining camps and towns to larger centers of commerce across the country.
This exhibit displays artifacts utilized in a Wells Fargo office in the 1870s. The first Wells, Fargo & Company office in Kern County was established in the early county seat of Havilah in 1867.
In 1959, Stella Zumwalt donated two small ranch houses from Old River to construct this re-creation of a Wells, Fargo and Company express office.
Marker can be reached from Chester Avenue.
Courtesy hmdb.org
