john riley robinson; part 4

Fourth installment of a series about the man who built Oak Hill Cottage

Historian John Mason Hart in his book “The Silver of the Sierra Madre” credits Robinson with being a member of upper management with Wells Fargo & Company, a judge, and a doctor.

The Wells Fargo association was true, but the judge and doctor attributions are questionable. Robinson does not appear to have claimed to be a doctor in the professional sense, even though the 1860 census lists that as his profession. During his first trip to Batopilas, Mexico at the beginning of his silver mine venture, he relates the following; “Attended to the sick Senoras in the lower part of the house, and administered medicine for a sore breast for one, and for a pain in the side and limbs for another. They seem to think every Yankee is a physician. If I am successful in these cases, expect to be called to attend all the afflicted of the town, particularly the female portion.”

The profession of judge seems equally unlikely. During his stopover at Ft. Davis in the diary of his first Batopilas trip he relates the following: “The corral was broken into last night and a driver was seen in the act of placing halters on the mules. The guard shot at 2 Greasers who were tearing down the wall. The driver was tried by Judge Lynch, in whose stead I officiated, and adjudged him to leave on the first stage for San Francisco or be strung up to a cottonwood tree. He chose the former.” The “Judge Lynch” Robinson alludes to was a Western euphemism for a vigilante trial. It is doubtful Robinson was a judge in any other sense than where the absence of established courts brought Judge Lynch to the bench, and the most prominent or respected man present officiated “in his stead”.

But his connection with Wells Fargo is well established. In Noel Loomis’s book, Wells Fargo, he quotes a letter from Robinson in New York in 1860 on Overland Mail letterhead. Robinson outlines his objectives of an upcoming silver mine venture in which he envisions the “introduction of Wells Fargo & Company into Mexico in their express and banking business.” He mentions William Fargo, the Barneys, and himself as the potential purchasers of the mine.

Wells Fargo was established in 1852 to provide express and banking services to California. Wells, Butterfield and Company was part of the American Express. John Butterfield was the line superintendent of this grand combine, from which the joint contractors had been recruited to build the Great Overland Mail Company, of which Butterfield was president. From September 15, 1857 these contractors had exactly one year to create the southern mail route, operating across 3000 miles, 165 stations, and seven deserts to provide twice weekly mail service to California. Wells, Fargo, & Company gained control of the Overland Mail Company in 1860, the same year as Robinson’s letter. The southern mail, the “Oxbow Route”, ceased operation in 1861 with the outbreak of the Civil War.