A Great Industry Began When a Man Decided
to Carry Parcels Between
Boston and New York.
William Frederick Harnden, when quite a young man, worn out by his sixteen
hours a day work in the office of the Boston and Worcester Railroad, came
to New York for a short rest. That was in 1839, and there were in the
United States 2,818 miles of railroad, all built within the previous ten
years, as against the 212,000 or more miles that exist at present. There
was no express company in those days, so Harnden said to a friend, James
W. Hale:
"I'm sick of working in a railroad office. Do you know, I think that I
could make a living doing errands between New York and Boston for
people?"
Hale took up the idea at once. He was employed in the Hudson Newsroom, at
the corner of Wall and Water Streets, and one of his duties was to bring
papers down to the Boston boat on its tri-weekly trips. Besides the
papers, he also carried various consignments of money, or parcels from
persons who could not get down to the boats themselves. These parcels were
then turned over to some passenger who was willing to deliver them.
On the stage line the drivers or the passengers were the parcel
deliverers, and no one ever thought of asking money for his services.
"Go ahead," Hale said to Harnden. "You can make money. I'll get you a lot
of customers right here in New York."
Carpetbags First Express Cars.
Harnden bought a couple of extra large carpetbags, and announced that he
was in the errand-running business, and would transport parcels between
Boston and New York, or between intermediate points, at remarkably low
prices.
The idea took. It was now possible to send goods with some surety of their
reaching the desired point in a reasonable time, instead of waiting until
some good-natured traveler or stage-driver came along and agreed to make
the delivery.
Harnden prospered, for the railroads were reaching out in all directions.
Instead of the stage lines that ran out of Boston there were now three
railroads that did most of the business. New York's stage lines were also
rapidly disappearing, their work being taken over by the railroads.
All this enabled Harnden to systematize his work, and by hiring a couple
of assistants, each carrying two carpetbags, to cover the New York and
southern New England district with tolerable regularity.
The railroad companies at first made no provision for the transportation
of anything but passengers, but the growth of the business Harnden had
established necessitated consideration, and soon a special department was
reserved for the goods he was shipping. He cleared over six hundred
dollars the first year of operations, and the force of men employed by
him went up from one to five.
Besides the parcel delivery branch, Harnden had another that occupied much
of his attention. He was engaged in sending immigrants from the Atlantic
seaports to those parts of the country where they would have the best
chance of making a living.
A Builder of the West.
In 1840, Harry Wells, later one of the founders of Wells, Fargo & Company,
was Harnden's clerk, and had been trying to persuade him to extend his
operations Westward.
"That's the way people are heading," said Wells, "and you'll double your
money if you follow them up."
Harnden was doubtful.
"Put people out West," he said, "and my express will follow them."
Wells persisted in pushing his idea, and it gradually took hold of
Harnden. He saw a chance--a big one--of helping the new arrivals in this
country, and at the same time of developing the country. He arranged for
cheap transportation on the Erie Canal, and made it known that he was
ready to transport immigrants to any part of the West. New arrivals in
this country who had friends in Europe saw the advantages at once, and
money was sent over for passage to America.
When the immigrants landed in New York, Harnden's agents took charge of
them and kept them under supervision until they reached their
destinations. In this way the sharper was fought off, the immigrant was
given access to advantages he could not otherwise have, and the country
was developed in the right direction.
It was primarily due to Harnden's foresight that the prosperous industrial
cities of central and western New York, and the great cities of the Middle
West, received the impetus they did during the middle of the last century.
Harnden's business prospered mightily, but death struck him down when he
was only thirty-three years old. The business he started and carried on by
means of two carpetbags now employs about thirty-five thousand men, and
the six-hundred-dollar profits have jumped into the tens of millions, the
four leading express companies of the country alone being capitalized for
almost fifty million dollars.