Details For Cover ID# 28757

"Wells Fargo Express San Andreas" blue oval marking (Leutzinger type 3-1) on 3c red on white Nesbitt entire (U9) with Wells, Fargo & Co. Paid printed frank, to Louis Besagno, San Francisco.

This cover cannot have been used any later than 1858 because Louis Besagno died that year, and is buried in Mission Dolores Cemetery, the oldest cemetery in San Francisco. The Wells Fargo office at San Andreas first appeared in company directories in 1855.

San Andreas, Calaveras County, California was settled by Mexican gold miners in 1848 and named after the Catholic parish St. Andrew. The town has been a noted mining camp since early days. The gold from the initially discovered placers gave out after a few years, but the discovery of gold in an underground river channel in 1853 revitalized the camp and it soon became a town. Mining of the channels was lucrative enough for the town to completely rebuild after fires in 1858 and 1863.