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Free Traveling Guides » States » California » Gold Country
Wells Fargo Express Office
Located in downtown Columbia, California, and part of the rich tradition of the Columbia State Historic Park, the Wells Fargo Express Office is another of the well preserved relics in this authentic gold rush town.
The structure which houses the Wells Fargo Office was built in 1858 by William Daegener. Daegener had previously rented out space in the American Hotel on the same lot for the purposes of the office, but purchased the building in 1856. Fire destroyed it, but he rebuilt, first in wood and then in brick. The offices themselves were located in the downstairs of the two story structure, while Daegener and his family used the upstairs as their residence. A second single story structure occupied the property, and this was occupied by a store.
Willam Daegener sold the property to H. Sevening in 1872. Sevening turned around and sold the property to Tom Conlin, who ran the Office, the store, and a separate telegraph office on the property. When Conlin died in the 1930s, Wells Fargo took full possession of the structure and property and in 1946 the State of California purchased it for the state historic park.
Today the Wells Fargo building is open to tourists and allows them to see how business was run in the late 1800s. Particularly interesting among the artifacts is the original balance scale used by the agents at Wells Fargo to weigh gold, which was the primary currency of the town in those days. A sign claims the scale was so precise it could measure the weight of a signature on paper.
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