With such a number of passengers as he could easily accommodate in the cabin, he sailed from New York in the summer of 1849, and reached his destination in the autumn. On the way up the Pacific coast a stop was made at Valparaiso, and while there it occurred to the Doctor that it would be a good plan to buy a lot of potatoes to fill up the hole which the passengers and crew had eaten in the cargo. Starting one day for the shore to make the purchase, a favorable wind sprung up, and the Captain signalled to him to return. Thus another good speculation was lost, for on his arrival at San Francisco there was not a potato in the market. To his dismay the bottom had tumbled out of the prices of nearly every other article in his vessel, following for instance the price of lumber, which had fallen from three hundred dollars a thousand to a price lower than it could be bought for in Bangor. After disposing of his vessel and cargo, and finding himself without capital, he opened an office and began a practice, which he hoped to have permanently abandoned. Doctors were fortunately as rare as tacks and potatoes, and within a year his medical and surgical receipts amounted to forty thousand dollars, a sum equivalent, perhaps, to five thousand dollars in the East. One day a Maine Captain called at his office, who was acquainted with his family at home, and in the course of conversation, told him that he had a power of attorney to sell the brig which he commanded, and wished the Doctor would buy it. “No, I thank you,” replied the Doctor, “I have had all the brigs I have any use for, and I think I will keep out of navigation.” The captain called in occasionally afterwards, and the Doctor in the meantime thought, as the people of San Francisco suffered during the previous summer from the want of ice, that it might be a good speculation to go into the ice business in anticipation of the wants of the next summer. The next time the Captain called he asked him if he had sold his brig, and finding that he had not, he told him that he would buy her if he would go in her to Puget Sound and get a load of ice. The Captain agreed, and with a gang of men well supplied with axes and saws, the vessel sailed. In due time the Captain reported himself to the Doctor, who said, “Well, Cap., have you got a good load of ice?” “Ice, no” said the Captain, “not a pound; water don’t freeze in Puget Sound; but I wasn’t coming home with an empty hold, so I put my gang ashore and cut a load of piles.” It so happened that piles were much needed on the harbor front, and the cargo sold at once at a big price, and the brig started off for a second load. By the time the second load arrived, which proved as profitable as the first, other vessel owners had got wind of the business, and the Doctor said, “now, Captain, we have had the cream of this business, I guess we will let these other fellows have the skim milk. You go up and get another load and carry it over