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.