Fargo & Company Wells

Wells, Fargo & Company, U.S. banking company. Founded in 1852 by Henry Wells and William G. Fargo as a bank and a delivery company servicing the route from San Francisco to New York, the company expanded with the purchase of the Pony Express (1861) and the Holladay Overland Stage Company (1866), in time servicing the entire West Coast as well as parts of Canada, Mexico, and Central America. Wells Fargo transported passengers, mail, money, and cargo, including gold. In 1905 Wells Fargo gave up its banking operations to the Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank. In 1918 the remainder of the company merged with other companies to form the American Railway Express Company.

See also: Fargo, William George.