Stagecoach: Wells Fargo and the American West [Book One] - Wells Fargo and the Rise of the American Financial Services Industry [Book Two]

by Philip L. Fradkin

Fine Hardcover New Simon & Schuster, 2002. First edition, first printing. In Two Wells Fargo and the American West; and Wells Fargo and the Rise of the American Financial Services Industry. Off-white hardcover with light gold spine, illustrated dustjacket. The book is in fine condition, firm binding, no names or other markings, the dustjacket is also fine, unclipped and in a mylar protector.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

Genres: History, Business, Nonfiction, Westerns, American

461 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Philip L. Fradkin is an American environmentalist historian, journalist and author. Fradkin has authored books ranging from Alaska, California and Nevada, with topics ranging from water conservation, earthquakes, and nuclear weapons.

In 2005, Fradkin was given the Californiana Award by the Commonwealth Club of California.

Reviews

[Socraticgadfly · Rating 5 out of 5]

It may be less than 250 pages, but this is a great "just the facts, ma'am" history of Wells Fargo from a great historian of California.

Fradkin notes its founding, its intertwining with early American Express, its struggle to develop its West-based identity, and its intertwining with Western development.

At that point, he looks at people like early special agent John Hume, just exactly what Wyatt Earp's association was (and, in less than 10 pages, clears away most OK Corral myth) and from there goes into the 20th century.

Not as detailed as John Boessenecker's "Shotguns and Stagecoaches," and not a biographic history, unlike that book, but in places where the two directly overlap, this is a better read. It's certainly better than him in the brief overlap with "Ride the Devil's Herd," Boessenecker's Earp book.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wonder if the author got any discount off of his mortgage with Norwest and Wells Fargo for writing this book.  I found it interesting that before this work of corporate history that the author had to write about the mundane relationship he had with the company beforehand, because although the corporate history is a generally positive one, it is not a flattering or servile sort of account.  The author is really trying to write a compelling corporate history here and he generally succeeds.  To be sure, this book felt like the historical equivalent of an electronic press kit, but all the same the history of Wells Fargo as a company (or at least as a family of companies) is compelling and interesting and the author does a god job at demonstrating the importance of the West to Wells Fargo and the importance of the company to the growth of the trans-Mississippi West from the middle of the 19th century to contemporary times.  Not everyone will be interested in reading a corporate history of Wells Fargo, but for those who are, the book contains some very interesting cameo appearances from the founder of Bank of America as well as the colorful Wyatt Earp and his associates.

The large print version of this book (which I happened to read, since that is the version that my local library system had) runs to over 400 pages and is divided into three parts after a foreword, acknowledgments, and preface, where the author (as noted above) states his minimal relationship with the company except as a historian of them in this particular project.  The first part of the book examines the beginnings of Wells Fargo as a stagecoach company and as a bank within  family of companies that includes American Express (with which it was a sometime rival in one of its lines of business until the period of World War I when the express portion of Wells Fargo's business was forcibly merged into American Express), which ends with the rise of Western leaders of the company in the wake of the failed attempt by Wells Fargo to fight against the corrupt thieves of the Central Pacific (led by Leland Stanford and his associates).  The second part of the book then looks at the new regime these robber barons established over Wells Fargo, before the third part of the book examines Wells Fargo in its attempts to re-brand itself as a financial services company in the 20th century and its efforts to help feed the nation.

To be sure, this book is an entertaining account and it demonstrates the moral flexibility of companies and their employers and executives over the course of America's history.  Wells Fargo has shown itself to be a resilient company in the face of changing legal regimes as well as technologies, and always willing to expand its geographical scope as well as its lines of business, all while maintaining a commitment to brand itself according to the express line of business (whether its stagecoach or its railroad interests).  And as the author of the foreword states, the story of Wells Fargo could only have happened in the American West, where the need for capitalization and the combination of various lines of business has marked the behavior of companies from the beginning, and not always for the better.  The author spends a lot of time talking about thieves, both internal and external, without noting that some of the biggest thieves were in fact the directors of the company at the time, which is perhaps an uncharitable thing to say in an officially sanctioned history, I imagine.

[John Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

The history of Wells Fargo from its in 1852 til 2002. Mister Fradkin writes a short (224 pgs.) interesting story of this well known company. Not only a business book but more of the early days of wells, pony express, railroads, outlaws (Black Bart, of course) heroes (Wyatt Earp and his gang, dubious about the hero status here) banking in he 19th not the 20th and the 21st centuries are told here along the rough and tumble business world of the days.
This is the smaller volume and not book two, which I sadly just noticed so here is the information of the book I read, which is Book One:
Stagecoach by Philip L. Fradkin
ten digit ISBN of 0743213602 copyright of 2002
published by Simon & Schuster

[M Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Fradkin half is 4.5 stars on the Western heritage of WF and its transportation roots. The Anderson hald is 3 stars on the Midwestern banking heritage.

Even though the phony account scandal that has engulfed the bank for the last dozen years was either underway or about to begin at the time of publication, there is no hint of overly aggressive sales management techniques suggested.

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found most of this book to be rather tedious. It seems to have a specialized banking audience as it describes numerous marketing and banking tactics in detail. I admit, though, that some of it was interesting in describing the history.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. Great topic and clearly thoroughly researched, but it suffers from poor organization (a weird mix of topical and chronological), a lack of summary or context and a general dryness that's odd given the compelling period he's covering.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful frontier history

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only read the first half of this book because I was researching stagecoaches rather than banking. I found it interesting, entertaining, and informative.

[Joshua Black · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring.

[Scott Klemm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Philip L. Fradkin’s Stagecoach: Wells Fargo and the American West is a well written and detailed account of the 150 year history of an institution that began primarily as an express company, but today is known for being that bank with the stagecoach logo. The book combines western history along with business history. On a personal level, I was much more interested in tales of the gold rush, pony express, stagecoaches, Wyatt Earp and Black Bart than talk of stockholders, capital and mergers. Both can be found in this book.

Here are a few interesting facts about the company. Wells Fargo outperformed the U.S. postal service in California and the West in the early years. Postal service was a government monopoly, but a compromise was reached whereby double payment was accepted. One could purchase a prepaid government envelope with an additional Wells Fargo stamp. Thus, the government got its cut and the customer got quicker delivery.

For its time Wells Fargo was quite progressive. At a time when prejudice against the Chinese was rampant and the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) was the law of the land, Wells Fargo provided service to the Chinese community. The company even issued a bilingual directory of Chinese merchants. Furthermore, when many businesses banned women employees, Wells Fargo accepted female workers. Fradkin wrote: “More than 160 women worked for Wells Fargo during the nineteenth century, not counting those who were identified only by their first initial. Most were in California, some were in the Midwest and Texas…the distribution being representative of the geographic spread of offices.” Surprisingly, it was the Progressive movement of the early 20th century that brought an end to Wells Fargo’s express business. Wells Fargo and other express companies came under increased scrutiny for rate fixing and collusion with the railroads.

Although Fradkin’s book is very well researched, it does not have footnotes or a bibliography. Instead there is a section at the end of the book entitled “Sources” in which his research is listed for each of his unnumbered chapters. One must wade through the documents and books and make a guess where the particular information being sought might be located.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the title indicates, Stagecoach is primarily a history of Wells-Fargo’s rise to fame in the 19th century. It was an unusual company, doing its best to fill a vacuum of infrastructure and service in the still-being-settled west. Principally, the firm provided banking and express services. Its commercial network provided both communication and transportation, at a dearer rate than the Postal routes but far more efficiently. It became most famous for the mail and treasure that traveled on stagecoach lines, and one chapter sheds a little light on the workings of stages in particular. After nearly dropping the ball on the transition to railroads, Wells-Fargo rebounded and became such a productive company that it drew the attention of trust-busters, who found the collusion of banking and railroads worrisome. The bank that exists today has only a tangential connection to the former behemoth of California, but retains the imagery of a stage coach -- which proved a useful brand image even in the late 19th century, reminding prospective customers of how the west was won.

[Nina · Rating 3 out of 5]

History of Wells Fargo, both its glory days and its not so glorious days. The founders, Wells and Fargo, were never even particularly interested in it and kept their more prominent roles in American Express. The most interesting part was about Wyatt Earp's employment with the company while he was in Tombstone, which I don't recall seeing in the movies about him. The ending chapters about the banking end of the business and all the mergers and acquisitions were the least interesting.

[David R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is in two parts which differ considerably. Part One is a fine account of the beginnings and history of the Wells Fargo express operation. Part Two, however, is a dryball recitation of the history of Wells Fargo's banking side, which is really that of the Norwest Bank of Minnesota etc. from the perspective of the company historian. It is predictably upbeat about the bank. I'd recommend reading part one and stopping right there!

[Mariana · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first portion of the book felt as if it jumps between events with no linear chronology. Personally, I have no problem with that, but it might be an annoyance to someone who would much prefer to have a straightforward view on Wells Fargo as a company, from its beginnings, it's success, and perseverance. It serves as a great introduction however, and provides some insight on life during the Gold Rush and much of the 1800s.

[Heather(Gibby) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very thorough history of Wells Fargo. The first half of the book is very interesting, the 2nd half started to lag as it got bogged down in a lot of names and dates.