1854 – Privately-carried letter documenting the business feud between the American Express Company and Erie Railroad, enclosed in a map-illustrated envelope showing all of the American Express routes in New York and the Upper Midwest
Elmira, New York: Wells, Butterfield & Company, 1854. Envelope or Cover. This letter sent by Wells, Butterfield & Company in Elmira, New York to the Cashier of the Chester Bank in Orange County, is written on American Express Company stationery and datelined “April 10th 1854.” Its accompanying mailing envelope features an all-over illustration of a “Map of the Routes of the American Express Co.” The envelope was privately-carried and displays no postal markings. In nice shape.
It reads in part:
“We shall withdraw our Express lines from the Erie Rail Road and its connecting branches on the first of May next.
“You will please take notice that all contracts made for us for the transportation Bank Packages Gold and Siver coin, is hereby canceled agreeable to the provisions specified therein. . ..”
. Very good. Item #010841As explained at the American Express Company website, “In 1854, trouble developed with the New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad [better known as the Erie Railroad, which was] American Express's link to the Midwest, when Daniel Drew, the railroad's owner, became outraged that American Express had picked off the Erie's most profitable freight business by shipping light, high-rate freight on the Erie under its express contract. Drew was determined to award the express rights to others. In response, American Express created an affiliate and presented it as a bona fide competitor. American Express loaned the funds to start a new company to Danforth Barney, then president of Wells Fargo. Barney's new company, United States Express Co., then acquired the Erie express rights from Drew. . ..” Drew’s plan failed completely. Because the United States Express Company was an “undercover’ affiliate funded entirely by American Express, they divided the highly profitable Midwestern rail business between themselves, keeping the monopoly intact and leaving the Erie Railroad none the wiser.
Wells, Butterfield & Company was a famous 19th-century express delivery formed jointly by express transport pioneers Henry Wells and John Warren Butterfield, who later were joined by William G. Fargo to form the American Express Company.
This scarce testament to the feud between the Erie and American Express with a terrific route map sold for $547 as Lot 483 in Matthew Bennet Auction 319 in June of 2007.
.Price: $450.00