Wells Fargo Coach

The Wells Fargo Overland Express coaches figured prominently in America's western expansion. The company provided express and banking services for the growing population by establishing a network of offices throughout the west. During the mining boom, their coaches transported countless millions in raw gold bullion, exchanging the gold for money at their banking offices. They were one of 400 western express companies that carried the country's mail from 1849 until 1895, when the Federal government assumed the task. Passengers traveled from the mid-west to cities in the west on the various overland trails; the twenty-three day trip from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacremento, California along the Central Overland Stage Trail cost a traveler $225, including meals.

This vehicle is thought to be one of the shipment of thirty overland coaches made by Abbot-Downing for Wells Fargo and Co. in 1868. The shipment went from the carriage company's site in Concord, New Hampshire to Salt Lake City, Utah on flat cars of a single train. Designed to fill the specific needs of staying in the west, the coach was hand-made from the finest material, hung from thick leather thorobraces over a heavy undercarriage, and weighed approximately 2,250 pounds. Bereft of the decorative painting seen on their hotel coaches, the stage body was standardly painted red, the undercarriage yellow. The interior and curtains are made of heavy canvas. Seating capacity was for nine inside and between six to ten on top.
Metalplate on side body panel reads: "Presented by the Railway Express Co. Agency to the Museums at Stony Brook, May 1951."