Filatelic Fact and Fallacies, Page 66, Typed Notes
DEPARTMENT OF WESTERN FRANKS AND LOCALS. by H. B. Phillips.
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At Marysville, in the early days, the lines of the larger express companies, such as Adams’, Wells Fargo & Co.’s, Gregory’s, Freeman’s and the Pacific, ended. A swarm of smaller concerns were concentrated there, and, connecting with these larger companies, reached out in all directions over this gold producing territory, like the arms of an octopus. Each one of these also acted as a feeder to the main lines.
Their names are seldom heard of nowadays, and specimens of their franks are equally uncommon. Embraced in the list are:
absorbed in 1854
1) Freeman & Co which ran to the Northern Mines
2)Newell & Co which had routes to the South mines
Haskell established routes to Sacramento & Stockton
Where the Co. connected at 1 with F. and
at 2 (??) N.
Adams Co. cloased Oct. 25, 1855
ATLANTIC & PAC. EXPR. est. June 18, 1849
Conn. with Adams & Co. of the East.
Anthony’s.
Becker & Co.
Chace’s.
Cram, Rogers & Co.
Downieville and Howland Flat.
Dearing & Co.
Evarts, Snell & Co.
Greathouse & Slicer.
Hogan & Co.
Hopkinson’s.
Langton.
La Porte.
Mann & Co.
McBean & Co.
Oroville & Quincy.
Pauley, N. O.
Phillips, Jack and Henry.
Panley & Nohrman’s.
Rhodes & Lusk.
Rhodes & Whitney.
Rollins.
Rumrill & Co.
Taggart’s.
Tinnen & Owen’s.
Tracy & Co.
Wells & Co.
Whiting’s.
and many others.
Marysville in those days was a thriving, bustling town, ranking fourth in size in the State of California, and was pre-eminently and express center.
To indicate the prominence attained by its numerous express enterprises, it boasted of and “Express Hotel,” used as headquarters by many of the express lines and a newspaper called the “California Express,” a tri-weekly, published by J. McElroy & Co., and largely maintained by the advertising patronage of various express companies.
Some of these feeder lines were made up of less important lines, one beginning where the other ended, the whole net-work of express service closely resembling the present-day postal service in its subdivisions of star routes.
(From “FILATELIC FACT AND FALLACIES”, Vol. 3-4, 1894-6, page 66)
