Good Example Of Essay On The History Of Wells Fargo

The gold boom in California in 1848 proved the need for express services to the territories. Henry Wells and William Fargo started Wells Fargo Bank to provide financial services for the western United States in 1852 (Wells Fargo, 2015). Along with their partners, they signed the articles of agreement for a joint stock company in New York City on the other side of the country from their base of operations. The bank provided services for pioneers like miners, ranchers, pioneers, and tradesmen in the quickest ways possible for the time: the Pony Express, steamships, railroads, and stagecoach. A key to the early success of the company was the decision to subcontract its express services (Beebe & Clegg, 1955). With the invention of the telegraph, banking was performed electronically and the process improved with the development of the radio, telephone, and eventually the internet. By 1918, Wells Fargo offices numbered more than 10,000.
In 1850, Wells Fargo merged with Butterfield, Wasson and Company to create the corporation of American Express. However, in 1855, speculative investments caused the major banking systems in California to close (Loomis, 1968). The next week, Wells Fargo re-opened after losing one-third of its net worth. The reason this was possible was due to the company keeping adequate assets in the banks to continue to conduct business rather than moving them to New York City. By surviving the crisis, Wells Fargo had virtually no competition and established a reputation for dependability.
It was during this period of time that the symbol for Wells Fargo was created; the red-and-gold stagecoach drawn by six horses. In this expansion, the company’s original route overland ran to the Pacific from 1858 to 1869, servicing 2500 miles of terrain. Traveling approximately five miles per hour, horses were changed every 12 miles and drivers rested every 45 miles. In 1866, Wells Fargo owned the entire mail route from the Pacific Ocean to the Missouri River. With the completion of the railroad lines into the West in 1969, the stagecoach business dwindled (Beebe & Clegg, 1955). This change in the transportation business caused the stock prices for Wells Fargo to fall.
The company became involved in the railroad business and became an international corporation by the mid 1880’s with expansion into Europe, china, Japan, Mexico, Australia, and South America (Loomis, 1968). The number of Wells Fargo offices increased to 3500 by the year 1900. It was during this time that the company opted to break the banking portion of the business away from the transport aspect of operations. During World War I, the government forced the Wells Fargo to combine with the other transport companies to facilitate wartime efforts (Loomis, 1968). The Wells Fargo Corporation now included banking operations, the American Railway Express/American Express, and Loomis armored security.
The Great San Francisco Earthquake in 1906 destroyed the Wells Fargo National Bank Building, but the vaults were not damaged. The company committed funds to the restoration of the city and the resulting goodwill increased deposits from $16 million to $35 million in just 18 months. The following year, the financial panic of 1907 threatened the future of many of the banking industry’s leaders, and Wells Fargo lost $1 million every seven days for six weeks. The recovery was slow, but by the 1920’s, the corporation allowed the banking operations to remain strong during the Great Depression of in the 1930’s.
Through consist mergers and acquisitions, Wells Fargo survived financial recessions to emerge as one of America’s most successful and stable companies.

References

Beebe, L., & Clegg, C. (1955). The American West. New York: Dutton.
Loomis, N. (1968). Wells Fargo. New York: C.N. Potter; distributed by Crown Publishers.
Wells Fargo. (2015). Retrieved 7 March 2015, from History, W. (2015). History - Wells Fargo
History. Wells Fargo History. Retrieved 7 March 2015, from
http://www.wellsfargohistory.com/history/