Business career

After the war, Evans moved west to California. He served the company in Vancouver, British-Columbia and in Portland, Oregon, becoming Superintendent of the division which included the Northwestern states. In the late 1880s, his responsibilities were expanded and in 1892 he became manager of the company and was elected Second Vice President,^[2] serving in that role until 1902. After the death of John J. Valentine Sr. in December 1901, Evans served as acting president until he was formally elected to succeed Valentine as president of the Wells Fargo Express Company in October 1902.^[3] In addition to being president of the Express Company, he was president of the Wells Fargo Bank of New York, a director of Mercantile Trust Company, treasurer of the Batopilas Mining Company of Mexico, a director of the Citizens' National Bank of Englewood, New Jersey and the Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank of San Francisco.^[1]

A close friend of the railroad executive E. H. Harriman, Evans closely aligned Wells Fargo express lines with those of Harriman's Southern Pacific Railroad along the Pacific coast and in Mexico where Wells Fargo "took over the express business on all the railway lines in Mexico which are controlled by the Mexican Government."^[4] Harriman had a large influence over the financial policy of the company as one of its largest shareholders,^[3] and staunchly supported Evans during a 1906 stockholder fight over a more liberal distribution of earnings.^[5][6][7] After Harriman's death in 1909, however, the company increased its capital from $8,000,000 to $24,000,000 paying stockholders a 300% dividend.^[8]

Descendants

Through his son Stanley, he was a grandfather of Dudley Evans (1918–1993), a Princeton University graduate who married Carolyn Campbell Ingraham (a daughter of Paul Webb Ingraham) in 1945.^[14][15]