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 corn 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, Ropert Foote of 
Wyoming took out 41 heifers and a bull of Mr. Gittett’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 years 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, IIl., 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.” 
