In 1852, Henry Wells and Fargo created Wells Fargo &amp; Co. when Butterfield (and other directors of American Express) objected to the extension of its operations to California. The original "Wells Fargo &amp; Co." was created to facilitate an express business between New York and San Francisco by way of the Isthmus of Panama and on the Pacific coast. The new company offered banking services, which included buying gold and selling paper bank drafts, and express services, which included rapid delivery of gold and anything else valuable. The company opened for business in the gold rush city of San Francisco, and soon the Company's agents opened offices in the other new cities and mining camps in the West.