The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1859-07-09
Express System OF the United States

| In No. p Of the Mount Vernon Papers,
published in the Ledger, Mr.. Everett gives an
interesting account of the origin and growth
OF the Express system in the United States
His attention was first called to the subject,
OH embarkmg from New York for South
Carolina and Georgia, more than year ago,
where the arrival and unloading of Adams
Express wagons, by sleek, powerful horses,
attracted his notice, and induced him to
investigate the subject. Mr.. Everett separa-
les the Express system from the commercial
and manufacturing exchanges of the country i.
The latter are for the carriage of articles of
bulk the former for the transit of comuar a .
lively small parcels of value, some Of which
| he thus euumerates.
volume transmitted to friend at dis.
lance: watch sent up to town to be Iepaircd;
daguerreotype of an absent relative: an
engraving in a gilt frame; specie balances
interchanged by banks in critical times; a
small cask of hams of Southern curing and
flavor; piece of plate as bridal present to
distant friend a pair Of shoes of metropol-
lan fabric; specimens of natural history
fossil, pick led. recent ; live rattlesnakes, the
boxes judiciously marked " to be handled
with CARE" delicate fruits from suburban
forcing HOUSES despatched to the interior
| ice, or muscalonge from Sault st. Marie: a
buffalo robe from the plains; a box of Gin
cinpatl or st. Louis champagne patent med
lcines in great quantities; at some season,
mountain piles Of newspapers: picked oysters
for the craving West, denied that luxury by
| nature: box of Congressional documents :;
IN word, every conceivable article of con-
vcnience or necessity the growth Of manu-.
tlctnrp NJ ho
patched by interest, duty, friendship or
affection to the other.
MIR. Everett makes honorable mention of
the connection of Mr.. Alvin Adams with the
| express business since 1910. He thus refers
to Adams Express:
Its lines of communication, as ! have been
| informed from reliable source, now run not
only South as far as New Orleans, but West
as far as St. Louis. BY friendly or tacit
understanding with other Expresses, its ter
ritorial limits extend from Boston to New
| York via Springfield aud New York to Pitts
burg via Philadelphia from Pittsburg to
Cleveland, Ohio; and thence to CINCINNATI !;
TO Indianapolis, and thence to st. Louis -
The points upon these several lines are
common to Adams and the other expresses.
All South and West Of them is, 10y mutual
understanding, within the territorial limits
of Adams Express: all North of these limits
is served by other Expresses.
AT the present time, as learn from the
same authentic source, Adams Express
employs 1888 men 1t has 972 agencies, and
Its messengers travel daily 40, 1872 miles on
the railroads and in the steamers ; a distance
equal to once round the globe and two-,hirds
round it second time.
| Mr. Everett thus aludes to aicssrs Wells.
Fargo K Co., another well known and OK ten
sive Express Company.
No small portion of the specie remittances
from California to New York are conveyed
by Messrs. Wells, Fargo Co. The general
expressage to California is shared by them
with Freeman & Co., late junior partners of
Adams Il Co. The houses of Adams & Co.,
and Wells, Fargo & Co., are the two leading
establishments in the Expressage of the
| United States.