51 pp. in a 193-page ledger book, written in ink, approximately five entries per page. Most of the entries had revenue stamps affixed next to them, but about half of these are now lacking. 12¼x7½, lacking the covers but still stitched together.

Important and rare documentation of the financial transactions which drove the Gold Rush in Virginia City, Montana, and of the absorption of the Holladay Overland Mail & Express Co. by Wells, Fargo & Co. The account book receipts for payments made by R. Gillespie, agent for Holladay and then Wells, Fargo & Co., to various vendors, suppliers, messengers, employees, etc., mostly paid in gold dust, but occasionally in greenbacks. The person receiving the payment has in each case signed, or left his mark, beneath the entry describing the transaction. The goods and services paid for include, among others: backsmithing; grain; carrying mail; "Twenty-five dollars in gold dust for 1 saddle"; hauling lumber; charcoal; repairing coaches; at times the nebulous "all demands to date." A fascinating review of the many transactions necessary to operate an express company in the bustle of the Montana Gold Rush following the strikes at Alder Gulch and elsewhere, with signatures of numerous express riders, farmers, blacksmiths, agents, miners and other pioneers. The ledger also spans an important transitional period in the Western stage and express business. During and immediately following the Civil War, there was a great expansion the routes and goods carried, and the profits made. Ben Holladay, proprietor of the Holladay Overland Mail & Express Co., staged a coup by purchasing the Butterfield Overland Dispatch in March of 1865, beating out Wells, Fargo & Co., American Express, and United States Express. This gave him control of over 5,000 miles of stage lines and enough rolling stock to serve it. Among his routes was the lucrative yet difficult road to the gold mining regions of Montana, which were booming at this time. The great expansion, however, left Holladay overextended financially. He also foresaw that the coming of the railroad would render the stage and express business, if not obsolete, at least less profitable. Thus on November 1, 1866, he sold his staging business to Wells, Fargo, and devoted his energy and capital to railroads and steamships. The present ledger starts on Oct. 2, 1866, and ends on June 3, 1867. The entry for Nov. 26, 1866, is the last one under the Holladay name, "Received of R. Gillespie Agent of the H.O.M. & Ex. Co. Tenty-six Dollars in Gold Dust in full for painting and varnishing Hacks in October, J.H. Sweanger." There are then two blank pages, and the entries for Wells, Fargo, begin (reverting to Nov. 10 - there was some overlap in the accounting), the first reading "Received of R. Gillespie Agent of the Hollada Wells Fargo & Co. Fifteen Dollars in Gold Dust in full for sawing 5 cords wood at $3 per cord." "the Hollada" is crossed out, demonstrating that habits are hard to break. A truly remarkable, and quite rare, piece of documentary history. The head of the Wells, Fargo museum in San Francisco knew of no similar examples extant.