I had now lain around so long that I had become restless, as it never did suit me to loaf about a town, so I concluded that I would try ranching.  I had enough money to buy a good ranch and stock it, not thinking that it required any great amount of skill.  So I started up the Sacramento river to look for one.  After I was out most a month, this now being the last of February, 1867, I found stock looking well and found a man that wanted to sell out his stock and ranch.  He had three hundred and twenty acres of land and one hundred and fifty head of cattle, some chickens, a few hogs, and a very few farming implements.  After I had ridden around over the ranch several days and looked at his stock, and finding the range good, I asked his price.  He wanted nine thousand dollars.  I believed that this would be a nice quiet life, and although I did not know anything about raising stock, yet I thought I would soon catch on as the saying goes, so I made him an offer of eight thousand dollars, which offer he accepted.  He was to leave everything on the ranch but his bed and clothing and a few little keep-sakes that he had about the house.

Now I started in to be an honest rancher, believing that all I would have to do was to ride around over the range occasionally and look after my stock, take things easy, and let my stock grow into money, as I had heard it said that stock would while one was asleep.

I stayed on this place until the spring of 1872, ranching with very poor success, by which time I had learned to a certainty that this was not my line.

When a man came along and wanted a cow I always sold him one.  I would take his note for the price and, as a rule, that was all I ever got.

In the spring of 1875 a man named Glen came into that country from Jefferson county, Missouri, and to him I sold my entire possessions.  I got out of that scrape by losing my time and one thousand dollars in money, but I had five years of almost invaluable experience in ranching and stock-raising.

In those days this was what we called a Mexican stand-off.  I lost my time and money, but had my life left.  Nothing occurred during this five years of my life more than the routine of business that naturally belongs with this kind of life, so I will pass over it.  I had such poor success ranching that I don’t like to think of it myself, much less having it told in history.

Leaving here I went to Virginia City, Nevada.  This was in the palmy days of the Comstock, and everything was high.  After looking around for a few days and seeing that horses were valuable, I started for Jacksonville, Oregon, to buy horses for the Virginia City market.  On my arrival at Jacksonville I met a man by the name of John T. Miller, who was a thorough horseman, and was said to be a great salesman, which I knew I was not myself.  I could buy, but I could not sell to advantage like some other men.

I formed a partnership with Miller, and we were not long in gathering up eighty-five head of horses in Jackson county and starting to market with them.