Wells Fargo & Company Pony Express, $1.00 Red (143L3). Position L3 (shows white flaw in scroll line above "CO."), full even margins, bright shade, tied by mostly clear strike of blue "Wells, Fargo & Co., Stockton, Sep. 3" double-oval datestamp on 10¢ Green on Buff Star Die entire (U33) with Wells Fargo & Company printed red frank, addressed to Mrs. Caroline Taylor, care of Mrs. Mary R. Stow, Geneva, New York, red "T. Robinson Bours & Co., Bankers, Stockton" red oval handstamp, carried on the Pony trip that departed San Francisco on Wednesday, September 4, 1861, and arrived in St. Joseph on September 17, entered the mails with perfect bold strike of "St. Joseph Mo. Sep. 17" circular datestamp, accompanying certificate notes $1.00 has diagonal tear at bottom right, entire with corner repair at top left and a sealed 6mm horizontal cut at the center of the Stockton oval--none of these are apparent

EXTREMELY FINE APPEARANCE. THE ONLY RECORDED PONY EXPRESS COVER WITH A STOCKTON OFFICE MARKING. A COLORFUL USE OF THE $1.00 RED HORSE & RIDER STAMP.

After Wells Fargo & Company became involved in the operation of the Pony Express in April 1861, their offices began acting as feeder lines to the Pony Express. Examples of Pony covers with markings of Wells Fargo offices that were not actually located on the route are rare. The FKW census lists covers from Marysville, Nevada City (California), Mt. Ophir and Yreka, and this Stockton cover was added as E154A soon after it first came to light in 2009. Other covers are known with Wells Fargo markings from offices on the Pony route, such as Sacramento, Placerville, Folsom and others in Nevada Territory.

Stockton is located on the San Joaquin River east of San Francisco--the trip by riverboat in 1861 took about eight hours. At this time the Wells Fargo riverboat messenger in Stockton was Pilsbury "Chips" Hodgkins (1825-1892). Mail for the Pony Express left Stockton at 6:00 a.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays, in order to reach San Francisco in time for the eastbound departures. This cover was datestamped on Tuesday, September 3, and presumably was carried by Hodgkins on that day or the next morning. The $1.00 Red stamp paid the Pony Express rate, and the entire with the red frank paid the Wells Fargo charge for service to San Francisco.

On the day this cover was datestamped at Stockton--September 3--an incident occured 2,000 miles away that would have a significant consequence for the Pony Express. Confederate bushwackers, who had been destroying rail lines and bridges on the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad since June, attempted to burn the support columns of the bridge over the Platte River. The sabotage caused a westbound train to derail and plunge 30 feet into the shallow river, killing 20 and injuring 100 more. As a result of this attack, the eastern terminus of the mail route was moved from St. Joseph to Atchison, Kansas. The September 11 eastbound Pony mail from San Francisco was the first to be postmarked at Atchison.

FKW Census E154A. With 2009 P.F. certificate.

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