262 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 



ment and that cattle are better off without shelter and less liable 

 to disease. He demonstrated that Shorthorn cattle were not 

 too tender for successful raising and feeding anywhere in the 

 country, as the unrestricted sweep of the winter winds of the 

 Illinois prairie severely test the endurance of animals exposed 

 to the weather; also that cattle might be raised to the highest 

 degree of excellence without an expensive outlay for buildings, 

 and that com and bluegrass would produce the finest quality 

 of meat. The reputation of his cattle gained at the Fat Stock 

 Shows in Chicago for their surpassing physical development 

 and hardiness created a demand from the western ranchmen, 

 who bought thereafter for breeding purposes the greater part 

 of his annual crop of calves. In June, 1879, Robert Foote of 

 Wyoming took out 41 heifers and a bull of Mr. Gillett's breed- 

 ing, while Col. Crouch of Texas took 75 bulls at $100 a head. 

 In 1882 a trainload of Shorthorns delivered at Cheyenne 

 featured 23 bulls of Mr. Gillett's breeding which readily out- 

 sold all other consignments in the train. 



In later yea^s Mr. Gillett's agricultural interests were 

 accompanied by political and banking interests. As early as 

 1850 he became interested in founding and laying out towns, 

 Nauvoo in that year, and Lincoln, 111., ten years later. He 

 founded the first National Bank of Logan Co., and was its presi- 

 dent until his death. All business and commerce interested him 

 and he loved to assist the county merchants with loans. Many 

 a Logan Co. grocer, butcher or drygoods vendor received invalu- 

 able financial help from the old gentleman, and when his sturdy 

 pioneer life finally closed, August 25, 1888, he gravely told his 

 surviving family, a widow, seven daughters and one son, that 

 his prairie days held no regrets, "every minute I have enjoyed." 



