He found a schooner, the master of which -- later the captain of one of the finest steamers on the Sacramento River -- oft'ered him a dollar an hour to help load her, and he earned his passagemoney in this way, and landed in Sacramento richer by some dollars than when he arrived in San Francisco.

His training and natural inborn capacity as a merchantand business man now came into play. Neither he nor his partner and dear friend of many years -- the late Mark Hopkins -- ever spent much time in actual gold-mining. Mr. Huntington, it is said, returned to Sacramento after four days at the nearest mining camp, convinced that gold-digging had too many risks beyond the control of the digger to be to his taste. He became again a merchant, and began, in a small tent and with a very liniite<l su|»ply of goods that business career in California which made him during many years, one of the foremost merchants of the State and one of the most successful.

There are many amusing stories current among old Sacramento men of Mr. Huntington's early business career, all showing the remarkable sagacity, quickness to see and grasp opportunities, and sterling honesty and love of fair j)lay which have been hia conspicuous traits. It is told of him that he wasonce besought to buy a large tent, the property of a com-

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

pany of intending miners who had disagreed, and were eager to divide their property and separate. He offered them one hundred and fifty dollars for it, which they accepted on condition that they should have a day to remove their other possessions. He had no sooner bought it than he took a lump of charcoal and marked on the tent in large letters "For Sale," and in two hours had sold it for two hundred and fifty dollars, to the amazement of the previous owners, still sitting under its shade, who had not thought of the simple device of advertising their desire to sell.