84: TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 



the law and engage in business witli his brothers. 

 After prospecting at various points he finally settled 

 at Michigan Bluff, in the famous mining county of 

 Placer, wliere he remained nearly four years conduct- 

 ing, in a very successful manner, the business in which 

 lie was engaged, and making a host of friends among 

 the hardy pioneers and miners who were his principal 

 patrons. In 1S56, he removed to Sacramento, and, as 

 a partner, became actively engaged in the mercantile 

 house established by his brothers whose business had 

 grown to large proportions, they being extensively 

 engaged in importing, and having branch houses 

 scattered through the State. The magnitude of the 

 firm's transactions, the multifarious knowledge de- 

 manded and the natural aptitude of Mr. Stanford's 

 mind for the administration of affairs of importance, 

 all combined to develop and enlarge those extraordi- 

 nary powers of observation and generalization which 

 were subsequently displayed in the execution of the 

 gigantic railwa}^ projects which he undertook and 

 carried through with such energy and success. At the 

 breaking out of the civil war, Mr. Stanford was a most 

 pronounced friend of the Union. He was chosen a 

 delegate to the Chicago Convention in 1860, and voted 

 for Abraham Lincoln as the Republican candidate for 

 the Presidency. The acquaintance which he there 

 made with Mr. Lincoln ripened into intimacy and con- 

 fidence, and Mr. Stanford spent many weeks at Wash- 

 ington after the inauguration, and became the trusted 

 adviser of the President and his cabinet in regard to 

 the appointments for the Pacific coast. It is not 

 one of the least of Mr. Stanford's honors, that in 



