William Fargo, who was one of the founders of Wells, Fargo & Company of western fame, was born in 1817 on a farm in central New York.  When he was seven, he went with his family to near-by Syracuse to see the opening of the Erie Canal.  This trip gave him a deep interest in transportation which he kept all the rest of his life.

Even as a boy William showed signs of resourcefulness and bravery.  One day a peddler stopped at the Fargo farm, driving a horse hitched to a wagon.  The horse became frightened at a rabbit and started to run away.  All the peddler's wares would have been destroyed, except for William's quick thinking. 

A few years later, on a trip to Niagara Falls, William spied a pickpocket picking a man's pocket.  He caught the pickpocket and saved the man's money.

William was rewarded in each instance, first with a Barlow knife—the coveted possession of boys in his day—and second with a horse, which also was a coveted possession of boys.  In neither instance, however, was he spurred on by the hope of winning a reward.  In his own words, he merely did what seemed to be most needed at the moment.

When William was thirteen years old he became a mail carrier, riding horseback.  This job as a mail carrier gave him a start in the direction of his chief undertaking in life—hauling articles by express.

Early he saw the need for carrying articles as well as mail from place to place.  Moreover, he could see that hauling articles would be very profitable.

While Fargo was still a young man, he met Henry Wells, who also was interested in transportation. A few years later they organized an express company which was reorganized in 1850 to form the American Express Company. Three years later Wells and Fargo organized Wells, Fargo & Company.

The author of this book, Katharine E. Wilkie, needs no introduction to readers of the Childhood of Famous Americans Series. She has contributed a number of very popular volumes to the series, including Simon Kenton: Young Trail Blazer, George Rogers Clark: Boy of the Old Northwest, and Mary Todd Lincoln: Girl of the Bluegrass.

All these books reveal Mrs. Wilkie's deep understanding of the interests and feelings of young readers.  This book about William Fargo, like all her other books, will greatly appeal to young readers everywhere.

From the dust jacket