I just read this amazing account of a man who had deposited $12,500 dollars worth of gold on a bank in Sacramento only to realize later in the day that the bank had declared bankruptcy! Looking for a solution he realized that a branch of the bank in Portland hadn’t heard the news yet if he could get there before a steamship carrying the message arrived at Portland he could potentially get his money back!
You guys need to read the story, it has all of the wild west drama you could want.
I found a few articles about it, but they all either have no sources or link back to that same website. I suspect an urban myth.