42 LIFE SKETCHES OP A JAYHAWKER 



that I ever read In all my life. Col. Baker was the best orator I ever lis- 

 tened to, his equal was never in California and perhaps no better in the 

 world. By the way, when Col. Baker came to California in 1852, he came 

 to our ranch where seven of us were batching. As you are already aware 

 he was acquainted with some of our boys in Springfield, Illinois, and a finer 

 more jovial and genial a man I have never had the good fortune to meet. 

 He stayed with us about a month, and ever after he was always trying to 

 throw something of advantage our way. If we had taken his advice just 

 in one deal it would have made us all rich; his foresight was better than 

 ours and he was a man whom everyone admired. It makes my heart ache 

 until this day to think he was slaughtered in the Civil War at Bulls Bluffs. 

 In the Civil War, anyone who is conversant in the history of it, knows how 

 he marched at the head of his regiment to his death, and he knew it too, 

 but he was too brave a man to falter in the least. 



CHAPTER VII. 



My next venture was to go into the cattle business again. By this time 

 I had been running around a good deal and finances were getting low and 

 about this time I received a letter from an old friend of mine asking me to 

 come and see him at Benecia. He was engaged there on government works, 

 a good paying position, and he proposed if I would like to go into the cat- 

 tle business again he would furnish the necessary capital. If I had let him 

 in as full partner I still held my interest in the cattle ranch on the San 

 Joaquin. So he proposed that he would put in eight thousand dollars to 

 start the business, and if it was necessary he could put more later. So in 

 the fall of 1857 two others besides myself started up to Visalia to see what 

 we could do there. One of the men was my old partner in the business, 

 Mr. S. Wilson by name, but the agreement was that each one would buy 

 on his own hook and keep his separate brand, but drive together, each 

 bearing his quota of the expenses, but my old partner, after prospecting for 

 some time, could not see anything that suited him and returned home with- 

 out buying anything. In a short time after that I came across a man who 

 had driven up the summer before three hundred cows and calves, which 

 were year olds in the spring, and I bought the lot and took them to the 

 ranch and in the spring the three hundred cows were having their three 

 hundred calves again. 



In the spring, time came for rodeoing. I attended all the rodeos in 

 that part of the country and collected cattle every place I went, and when 

 we got all through I was short but a very few head, and we soon made 

 preparations to drive. In the meantime the other man had bought all he 

 wanted, and by the time I had driven home to the ranch I was able to 

 brand nearly nine hundred cattle, little and big. They increased very fast 

 and it seemed to me it was but a little while that I had about fifteen hun- 

 dred head and the prices were still good. I wanted to sell and went to see 

 my partner about it, and he seemed to think I was losing my head. "What 

 better do you want to do than that? There are so many cattle worth so 

 much per head that will foot up about forty thousand dollars." "Yes," I 

 told him that they were bringing good prices now. I rather insisted on sell- 

 ing, but he would not listen to it at all. I had the same experience once 



