Where did cowboys buy their bullets??? (dry goods store or "hardware")

[Grogan]

My G/G/Grandfather ventured out to the California Gold Rush in 1850 at the tender young age of 17.

He left his family's farm on Long Island in search of making his fortune in California's Gold Country.

He had an uncle (Jones) in NYC who was a store owner and they made a deal...his uncle would grubstake him with a consignment of goods and young Henry Hewlett would get them to California via ship and sell them, reaping the highest prices he'd be able to get and the two of them would split the net proceeds 50/50.

Young Henry had a good business head on his shoulders and was able to liquidate his entire consignment at a handsome profit.  Good enough that he ordered another batch of goods to be sent to him from back east ASAP.

Soon, he was able to drop back down from the Gold fields where he'd sold his last items, a large supply of boots, that sold very handsomely.

He ended up settling in the camp that was to later become the small town of Stockton, one of the "Gateways to the Mother Lode".

In Stockton he built this store, which prospered, and soon he was selling almost everything imaginable from boat rigging to guns to farm machinery, all sorts of hardware, you name it, he had it! 



In fact his store grew so much in popularity that he was able to have various items put up in his store's name.

Here is a flyer for his own "house" brand of Blackpowder, put up for him by the Mass. Powder Co.



The store was just a start, soon he was involved in various other businesses as well; he definitely had the "Midas Touch".

BTW, this information was sent to me a few years ago by the Historian for Wells Fargo.

If anyone out there would like a copy of this Blackpowder flyer, I've had a small number printed up on period colored heavy paper stock, suitable for framing or display.  PM me and maybe I can get one to you. 

 

[Roscoe Coles]

Interesting that no one has really addressed the role of gun stores in the sale of ammunition (though this may have been brought up in another post).  The best known are places like J.P. Lower's "Sportsman's Depot," Carlos Gove's "Denver Armoury" and the Freund Brothers "Wyoming Armoury." Freund Brothers advertised  500-1000 breach loading firearms and 500,000 - 1,000,000 rounds of ammunition in stock at all times.  Not every town had a big gun store like these, but many towns had gun shops which bought and sold guns and ammo and did gunsmithing.  It would seem that these would be centers for specialized ammunition, much as they are today. 

[Hangtown Frye]

Grogan, that's really cool information there.  I was born and raised in Stockton, and went to school with several Hewlett's, who are still in the area (and they in turn are related to Benjamin Holt, of Holt-Caterpillar, inventor of the Caterpillar tractor).  Any idea as to where your G-G-Grandfather's store was located in Stockton?  I knew the town and it's history pretty well, it would be nice to have another piece of the puzzle to put into place.  (BTW, LOTS of Texas Ranger history in regards to Stockton, oddly enough!)

Cheers!

Gordon

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[Daniel Nighteyes]

Crescent and Forehand & Wadsworth and Meridian were but three that supplied the Trade.

I still have my grandmother's single-shot Crescent 20 gauge, which she used to keep 4-legged varmints away from the garden, and 2-legged varmints away from the house.  Still shoots good, too.

[WaddWatsonEllis]

My grandfather had this .22 pump rifle that my father used to get food for the table with during the Depression.

He never used it cause it was 'missing a part'

I told him that if he ever did anything with it, that I wanted to pay to get it repaired and have it.

I came over one summer and he had thrown it away cause he did not want to repair it....

Besides the familial history (my Dad and Grandad have long passed), I try not to think what the worth of that rifle would be now ....

[Grogan]

Grogan, that's really cool information there.  I was born and raised in Stockton, and went to school with several Hewlett's, who are still in the area (and they in turn are related to Benjamin Holt, of Holt-Caterpillar, inventor of the Caterpillar tractor).  Any idea as to where your G-G-Grandfather's store was located in Stockton?  I knew the town and it's history pretty well, it would be nice to have another piece of the puzzle to put into place.  (BTW, LOTS of Texas Ranger history in regards to Stockton, oddly enough!)

Cheers!

Gordon

Hangtown,

I'll go back and check on my history and see if I can find out more about the location of his store and bank (I think they were next door to each other).

If you have access to much of Stockton's history, then the bank was the 1st National (Gold) Bank of Stockton, founded in 1873.

Much of my G/G/Grandfather's history came to light about 6 years ago when I bought the book Property of Wells Fargo from its author, James Bartz, who lives down in Fallbrook, CA.

I wrote to him (assuming that he knew lots of Wells Fargo's history) and mentioned that my G/G/Grandfather had owned this bank in Stockton and I wondered if he'd done much business with Wells Fargo Express Co.?

Mr. Bartz, who had excellent access to the Historical Staff of Wells Fargo Bank, forwarded my message on to the head historian who in turn got in contact with me.

As it turned out "the bank" (our bank) was sold to American Trust Co. in 1929, which was in turn merged with Wells Fargo in 1960.

Many historical documents, never seen by two generations in my family, were in possession of Wells Fargo Bank, including photographs, documents, as well as a biographical interview of my G/G/Grandfather that was published in an 1890 edition of the Stockton Record newspaper.

The Historical Dept. of Wells Fargo Bank most generously xeroxed most of these relavent documents (including the Gunpowder flyer shown above) and sent them to me.    This was MORE information than I'd ever had or known of prior to this time.

[WaddWatsonEllis]

As we have chatted about before, I live in Sacramento (~65 miles north on I-5).

I would love to know the address, and will take some digital pictures the next time I am in Stockton of that address and post it on here (and my appologies for the run-on sentence).

[Grogan]

I did a little searching around and found this...

First National Gold Bank of Stockton
Main Street/Hunter Street
Era: 1868
Photographer: Leonard Covello

 
"This photo shows the First National Gold Bank of Stockton, next to the J.H. Condit and Company clipper and mower business. Also shown is the Perkins Brothers Grocery business. Originally photographed in 1868.

The First National Gold Bank of Stockton was founded by Henry H. Hewlett in 1872. Hewlett was a founder of the Stockton Savings and Loan Society in 1867, and owned one-fourth of its capital just one year later. He likewise owned most of the stock in the First National Gold Bank, and was elected cashier and manager of the bank."

You can see this and the photo here (isn't Google wonderful?!! )

http://www.stocktongov.com/history/pic1507.cfm