Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Louisiana. In the latter State, the business started in 1850 by John K. & A. L. Stimson, under the style of Stimson & Co.'s New Orleans and Mobile Express, had passed into the hands of Adams & Co. This, too, was the case with the thriving Charleston Express of Hoey & Co. (John Hoey and John K. Stimson). By these accessions to its strength in the south, and still more by the creation of new railroads, and its enterprising and efficient management in that quarter, the Adams Express, like the Harnden, were doing an immense and constantly increasing service there.

In the west, also, where in 1856 Alfred Gaither came to the front as superintendent, the Adams Express had acquired in 1860 an extensive and prosperous business. C. Woodward, then the smart and assiduous agent at Cincinnati (Gaither's headquarters), was formerly located at Indianapolis. J. H. Rhodes was connected with the Pittsburgh office.

One of the best men in the business at that time was Col. John Bingham, superintendent of the Pennsylvania division. Geo. H. Burns, early employed in the Philadelphia office, was agent at Washington, D. C.

The superintendent of the southeastern division was S. M. Shoemaker, a director and large stockholder.

E. W. Parsons was superintendent of the eastern division, and universally esteemed.

In 1854, the very able and popular cashier, and corresponding clerk, in the New York office, was J. C. Babcock, formerly a bank cashier. Hiram Dixon, still book-keeper there, was in his prime.

R. P. McCullagh, superintendent of the Philadelphia office had had the advantage of many years' experience, and was highly esteemed for the judicious and thorough manner in which he discharged his laborious and responsible duties.

In 1860, E. S. Sanford was general superintendent of all the routes of the Adams Express Company.

E. Coleman and Harry Gorman, also Messrs. Heath, Lambertson, Bell, Piers, and McKeever (the latter in 1860 agent at New Orleans), were in the Philadelphia office.

Alvin Adams, the father of this great institution, preferring the quiet city of Boston, where he had resided for 30

years or more, remained in charge of the operations and office at that original fountain-head of the business, assisted by his two sons, Alvin, Jr., and Waldo; also, Richardson, who was a pioneer in "expressing" away down east, where the sun rises.

KINSLEY & Co.'s EXPRESS was one of the pioneer institutions, and for the able and thorough manner in which it was conducted, is worthy of honorable mention.

It was begun in 1842 by James Gay and E. Littlefield, of Boston. R. B. Kinsley afterwards became the senior partner. Their first trip on the Fall River line, their route to New York, was in May, 1847.

That route was a popular one, and the Express equally so, both east and south, to which they had extended. The New York, Philadelphia, and Boston offices were well-manned. E. Littlefield had charge of the New York department many years.

On the 1st of July, 1854, an arrangement was entered into by which the several Expresses mentioned, viz., Adams & Co., Harnden & Co., Thompson & Co., and Kinsley & Co., were consolidated in one company, under the style of "The Adams Express Company," with a capital of $1,200,000. Its organization being as follows, viz.:

President-Alvin Adams; Vice-President-Wm. B. Dinsmore; Directors-Edwards S. Sanford, S. M. Shoemaker, C. Spooner, John Bingham, Johnston Livingston, Geo. W. Cass, R. B. Kinsley.

CHAPTER IV.

THE AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY.-GEO. POMEROY, HENRY WELLS,

AND THEIR LETTER EXPRESS.-THE LIVINGSTONS AND FARGOS.

-WESTWARD, HO!-JOHN BUTTERFIELD.

IN 1841, Henry Wells, at that time, or a little earlier, agent of Harnden at Albany, suggested to George Pomeroy, a western freight and passenger forwarder, that it would pay to start an Express from Albany to Buffalo. The hint was taken, and Pomeroy made three trips; acting as his own messenger, but never serving again in that capacity. His Express had been relinquished for some time, when Crawford Livingston proposed to Henry Wells that they should join him in resuming the enterprise. Wells consented, and Pomeroy & Co.'s Albany and Buffalo Express was established upon an enduring foundation. Its transportation at that time (1841) was by railroad to Auburn; thence by stage, 25 miles, to Geneva; thence by Auburn and Rochester Railroad to Rochester; thence to Lockport, 60 miles, by stage; thence to Buffalo, 30 miles, by private conveyance; and also from Rochester to Batavia, 34 miles, by Tonawanda Railroad, and thence to Buffalo, 40 miles, by stage. The trip was made once a week, and occupied four nights and three days. It is now accomplished in about eleven hours each way.

The Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, the Utica and Schenectady Railroad, the Syracuse and Utica Railroad, the Auburn and Syracuse Railroad, all had been in operation about a year. The Rochester and Auburn Railroad and the Tonawanda Railroad were only partially built; the Attica and Buffalo Railroad had not been begun. These seven railways afterwards composed the great New York Central Railroad, from Albany to Buffalo, under the management of that experienced, wise, and famous railroad president, Erastus Corning, the predecessor of the Vanderbilts.