Wells Fargo Center - Salt Lake City, UT - Carriages and Coaches on Permanent Display on Waymarking.com

Located within lobby of the Wells Fargo Center in downtown Salt City is this stagecoach, that appears to have been fully restored to museum quality. On each side, along the top of the coach it reads: WELLS, FARGO & COMPANY.

An informational sign near the stagecoach summarizes the history of the stagecoach in the West. It reads:

WELLS FARGO: STAGING ON THE FRONTIER

IN 1852, HENRY WELLS AND WILLIAM FARGO FOUNDED
Wells, Fargo & Co. to provide banking and express service
to pioneer miners, merchants, and settlers of the West.
trustworthy agents helped miners exchange their gold dust
for coin and send funds to families back east using checks
and convenient paper bills of exchange. Wells Fargo
shipped gold, mail, and express packages by the fastest
transportation available: steamship, railroad, Pony Express
or stagecoach.

In 1858, WELLS FARGO HELPED FINANCE THE NATION’S FIRST
cross-country stage line. Coaches of John Butterfield’s
overland Mail Company carried passengers and mail
between St. Louis and San Francisco, via Fort Belknap and
El Paso, Santa Fe and Los Angeles. The journey took only
three weeks. In 1861, the Civil War forced the Overland
Stages to a more northerly route through Nevada, Utah,
Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska.

IN 1866, WELLS FARGO COMBINED ALL OF THE MAJOR
overland sage lines west of the Missouri River; a grand
consolidation that created a 2,500-mile staging network
throughout the West. Stagecoaches raced across the vast
Western plains between Nebraska and California, and
climbed mountain roads north from Salt Lake City into
Montana and Idaho. Routes stretched south across the
mountains of Colorado and on the coast from the Pacific
Northwest to Southern California.

WELLS FARGO STAGECOACHES BROUGHT THE LATEST NEWS
mail, and fast express service to miners in isolated
California camps; to lonely settlements in the deserts of the
Southwest; in the Rocky Mountains and on the Great
Plains. Coaches carried gold from the Mother Lode, silver
from the Comstock Lode and transcontinental passengers
between railheads. In areas where the railroad did not run,
Wells Fargo contracted with local stage lines to cover the
territory.

WELLS FARGO USED RUGGED STAGECOACHES CRAFTED OF THE
finest materials by the Abbot Downing Company of
Concord, New Hampshire. Concord coaches were models
of Yankee ingenuity. Nine travelers could be seated inside,
plus another nine on the top. The rounded wooden coach
body rested on sturdy leather straps called thoroughbraces.
this suspension system provided a rocking ride and
prompted Mark Twain to describe the Concord coach as “a
cradle on wheels.” Skilled stage drivers guided their four- or
six-horse teams over rough roads at an average speed of five
miles per hour, stopping only to change horses every twelve
miles and every forty-five miles for meals.

SINCE 1852, COMMUNITIES HAVE COUNTED ON WELLS FARGO
for dependable service. Today, the Wells Fargo stagecoach
still comes through.

Additional information can be found on the Wells Fargo Overland Stagecoach Company Here, Here, Here and Here.

"Wells Fargo Center is a skyscraper located in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was built in 1998 and is the tallest skyscraper in Utah, standing 24 stories above street level and 121.9 m (400 ft) at roof level, 128.7 m (422 ft) at its highest point excluding the antenna.

The American Stores Tower was originally built as the corporate headquarters for American Stores (owners of Sav-on, Osco, Jewel grocery/pharmacy stores.) Shortly after completion, the company was acquired by Albertsons on August 3, 1998, and the building became known as the Delta Tower shortly thereafter. When Albertsons decided to move operations to the Hardware Building on 400 West near North Temple, the building was purchased by Wasatch Property Management, and renamed the building Wells Fargo Center. Wells Fargo currently occupies numerous floors within the building, as do many of Salt Lake's premiere law firms." SOURCE

Type and Quantity: The site has one Concord Coach Stagecoach. Opening Hours: 8:00 to 5:00 Admission Fee: No On-line Documentation: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log   09/05/2014 merlot visited it