Wells Fargo and American Express
Cheney joined Nathaniel White and William Walker in 1842 to organize an express line between Boston and Montreal. In 1852 Cheney effected his first consolidation when he bought out Fisk & Rice's Express between Boston and Burlington, Vermont. Subsequent consolidations resulted in the organization of the United States & Canada Express Company in 1854.
In 1854, while on his way home from Canada, he lost his right arm in a railway accident.
Cheney was elected a director of Wells Fargo & Company in September 1854 in place of Alpheus Reynolds, who had resigned. On April 15, 1863, the Wells Fargo management named Cheney, Danford N. Barney and William Fargo a committee to go to California "in the best interests of the company". Traveling by stage, they spent most of July, all of August, and most of September 1863 in California looking after the company's affairs.
He retired from the Wells Fargo board in 1877, but again served as a director from 1882 to the beginning of 1884.
Cheney sold United States & Canada Express in 1879 to American Express, at which time he became the company's largest shareholder as well as treasurer and a director. He remained a large shareholder of Wells Fargo, National Express, and others.
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