In 1851, Mr. Horton went to California for the first time. Mining-stock was his first business experience, and it cost him $1,000. It was his _last_ transaction in that line also. Spent a few months at mining in El Dorado and Placer Counties, and then opened a store at Pilot Hill. There also he devised and constructed a ditch 6½ miles in length, purposing to supply the miners with water as well as other commodities. At the end of a year he had sold out his water-works and other interests for $6,500, of which sum he had used the larger portion in his improvements. Next he was trading in gold-dust on account of Adams' Express Co., realizing usually $30 a day in commissions. A day or two before the failure of his employers, in 1853, a friend suggested to him, that his money remaining in their office at ----, might be safer in his own pocket. It was "a word to the wise," and before noon the next day he had ridden 30 miles, and much to the dissatisfaction of the agent, drawn his money from the safe of the company. His next care was for his friends hard at work in the mining-camps and elsewhere. To all whom he could reach he gave the hint, and thousands of dollars were secured, by his prompt efforts, to those who had earned the money by the hardest of toil. The following day the express offices were closed, and payments suspended. He was in capital standing in the mining districts where he had operated, and resumed the business with himself for banker. He bought at the mines and sold in the towns, often with a profit of $4.50 per ounce. He was a man of _dust_, and with his native adroitness, managed to carry valuable deposits of the precious article upon his person without a single mishap. Sometimes his outer garments would scarcely secure him other than the slightest attentions. His landlords were afraid their bills would be unpaid, except his fares were collected in advance. He arrived one evening at one of the rough taverns of those times, with treasure enough about him to incite the gamblers about him to worse crimes for its possession. His good clothes were covered with very dirty overalls and woolen shirt. In calculating Yankee phrase, he interrogated the proprietor as to his accommodations for man and beast, and the reasonableness of his _charges_. Card-playing ceased for a time in the general astonishment, then the party shouted with laughter at the green chap from Connecticut. They bantered him to play off a Yankee trick. He showed them how to eat the mush and milk, which he had stipulated for as his supper, and with a yawn of indifference to the jests made at his expense, he signified his desire to sleep. The door of his room was without lock or bolt, but the landlord laughingly assured his guest, that he would be the last man anybody would think of robbing.