Lot
665 
Wells, Fargo & Co's Express, Cochise, A.T., black on orange express label, used on 2¢ Columbian (U349) entire with blue printed 1892 Wells Fargo Columbian frank to San Francisco Cal., purple ms. "Coll." collect notation at top left, violet "Wells, Fargo & Co's Express, San Francisco, Cal. Aug 11" oval datestamp; tiny edge tear at right. Estimate $400 - 600.
Cochise was a station on the Southern Pacific Railroad at the junction of the Eastern Railroad.
Realized: $450
Lot
666
Wells, Fargo & Co's Express, Dos Cabezas, sharp blue oval cancels 3¢ green entire with printed "Wells, Fargo & Co." paid frank to Silver City, N.M. Territory, original 1883 letter accompanies; reduced at left, Very Fine and rare use. Estimate $500 - 750.
THE FINER OF ONLY TWO RECORDED WELLS FARGO USES FROM DOS CABEZAS, ARIZONA TERRITORY.
Benjamin Corey was the Wells Fargo agent of Dos Cabezas, Cochise County from 1883 to 1887.
Realized: $650
Lot
667
Wells, Fargo & Co's Express, Dragoon, A.T., purple oval cancels 2¢ red on amber entire with 1883 Wells Fargo & Co. train frank to San Francisco Cal.; tiny top edge tear, F.-V.F. Estimate $750 - 1,000.
THE ONLY RECORDED WELLS FARGO DRAGOON USE.
Dragoon, now Dragoon Springs is a historic site in Cochise County, Arizona. The name comes from a nearby natural spring, Dragoon Spring, to the south in the Dragoon Mountains at 5,148 feet (1,569 m). The name originates from the 3rd U.S. Cavalry Dragoons who battled the Chiricahua, including Cochise, during the Apache Wars. The Dragoons established posts around 1856 after the Gadsden Purchase made the area a U.S. territory.
Dragoon Spring was a watering place on the Southern Emigrant Trail in territory which eventually joined the United States in the Gadsden Purchase, becoming part of the New Mexico Territory. Following the purchase, Dragoon Spring was used as a watering place by the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line, commonly called the "Jackass Mail", starting in July 1857. After Butterfield started service in September 1858, the Jackass Mail was still operating using Butterfield's improved trail.
Dragoon Springs Stage Station was the second of the two stone fortified stations constructed in Arizona and was the last going west on the 2,700 mile trail from Tipton, Missouri, to San Francisco, California. A six-year mail contract, No. 12,578, was awarded to John Butterfield to start on September 1858 and end on September 15, 1864. This station was built in August and early September 1858 by Butterfield's Overland Mail Company to house employees and livestock. The construction of the station was supervised by Butterfield Division Superintendent William Buckley of Watertown, New York.
During the American Civil War, it was the site of the First Battle of Dragoon Springs and near to the site of the Second Battle of Dragoon Springs, fought between Apache warriors and Confederate soldiers.
Realized: $4,250
Lot
668
Wells, Fargo & Co., Ehrenberg, Dec 8, blue oval cancel 3¢ green entire with "Wells, Fargo & Co." paid frank from the Whipple correspondence to San Diego Cal., photocopy of original 1877 letter accompanies; restored at right slightly affecting indicia, Fine appearance. Estimate $1,000 - 1,500.
THE ONLY RECORDED WELLS FARGO & CO. EHRENBERG USE.
The winter snows of 1868 brought devastating spring floods to the Colorado River and interrupted the easy steamboat service La Paz had enjoyed. The heavy river flow scoured the mainstream of the Color River so deeply that steamers could no longer gain access to the town of La Paz by the shallow La Paz slough. Efforts to link La Paz to the mainstream nearly two miles away by a corduroy wagon road proved unsuccessful. Such isolation from steamboat traffic marked the rapid decay of La Paz as the principal supply point on the river. In a very short time the firm of Gray & Co. dissolved. The town's next largest mercantile firm, J. Goldwater & Bro., built a new store and warehouse on more solid ground near the east anchore of the Bradshaw Ferry six miles to the south. Thus began an exodus from La Paz and the conversion of the scattered adobes and jacals of Olive City and Mineral City into a new thriving community that Mike Goldwater - grandfather of Arizona's U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater - decided to call Ehrenberg for a German friend who had been murdered by Indias in 1866. By 1871, there were only two Wells Fargo offices in Arizona Territory - at Ehrenberg and Arizona City (Yuma).
Realized: $850
Lot
669
Wells, Fargo & Co's Express, Fairbank. A.T., violet back on 2¢ green entire with printed Wells Fargo frank to Harshaw, Arizona, bold purple "Wells, Fargo & Co's Express, Tombstone, A.T., Jan 28, 1888" datestamp; light diagonal tone band, F.-V.F. Estimate $400 - 600.
George N. Kent was the Wells Fargo Agent (1888-89) of Fairbank, Cochise County. Martin Damaret Scribner was the Wells Fargo agent (1885-88) of Tombstone, Cochise County.
Realized: $1,000
Lot
670
Wells, Fargo & Co., Fort Yuma, Oct 23, blue oval datestamp on 3¢ pink (U58) entire with printed Wells Fargo imprint to San Francisco Cal., reverse with purple "Wm Larken, Fort Yuma, Oct 22" docketing and blue "A.T. Green, San Francisco, Oct 28, 1870" receiving oval; some edge wear, couple minor filing holes in indicia, Very Fine and scarce Fort Yuma use. Estimate $300 - 400.
In the 1860s, Fort Yuma was originally on both sides of the Colorado River. In 1874, the old Fort Yuma changed to the California side only. The Wells Fargo office was in the Hooper & Hinton store in Arizona City (Yuma).
Realized: $525
Lot
671
Wells, Fargo & Co., Globe, A.T., Mar 16, oval datestamp cancels 3¢ green on amber entire with printed "Wells, Fargo & Co." frank to San Francisco, Cal., Very Fine and choice. Estimate $500 - 750.
Jeremiah J. Vosburg was the Wells Fargo agent and postmaster of Globe, Gila County from 1880 to 1887.
Realized: $475
Lot
672
(Wells Fargo) "Happy Camp, Pinal Co., Ariz.", sender's endorsement at left on 2¢ green entire with printed "Wells, Fargo & Co's Express" frank and canceled in transit by magenta "Wells, Fargo & Co's Express, San Francisco Cal., Jan 24, 1889" oval to San Jose Cal.; some mounting glue on reverse as possible paste-up removed, Very Fine. Estimate $200 - 300.
A.E. Saxe's Express carried this letter from Happy Camp, near the Silver King Mine, over the Pinal Range to Globe City - then placed on the Wells Fargo rail car on the Gila & Globe and Northern Railroad to the Southern Pacific Railroad and on to California.
Realized: $170
Lot
673
Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Express, Harshaw, partial purple oval cancels 3¢ green entire to Colusa Cal., pen "1881" docketing; restored right edge, F.-V.F. appearance. Estimate $400 - 600.
Realized: $325
Lot
674
Wells, Fargo & Co., La Paz, A.T., Jul 18, blue double-oval datestamp cancels 3¢ Nesbitt buff entire with printed Wells Fargo & Co. frank to San Francisco Cal., docketed "Reorder 8-69, J. Goldwater" in purple crayon on reverse; partial flap, Very Fine and rare use from La Paz, Arizona Territory. Estimate $750 - 1,000.
The Goldwater Brothers opened a dry goods store in Los Angeles near Bella Union Hotel in 1857. They filed for bankruptcy a few years later. The Goldwaters then established a store in La Paz, Arizona in 1862. La Paz had a Post Office from 1865 to 1875. Floods on the Colorado River isolated the village from a desirable landing for the river steamers. Goldwater moved their store and warehouse to Ehrenberg in 1869. At different times, there have been Goldwater stores at La Paz, Ehrenberg, Prescott, Parker, Seymour, Lynx Creek, Phoenix, Bisbee, Fairbank, Contention, Tombstone, Benson and Crittenden, Arizona.
Realized: $525