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824
$10,000 life insurance policy, a remnant of cattle and a good bunch of horses that I had left in Texas. I did not owe a dollar, and felt chesty as Croesus, in his palmiest days, ever dared to feel. I handled several herds after that in Kansas and Wyoming, and always made a little money. I never bossed another herd all the way from start to finish, but I knew the game, and if a man made good, it was indeed a. hard trip. At another time I delivered 2,500 head of cattle in Wyoming, on the tenth day of September, in an all-day snowstorm ; and while it was indeed something different to what I had been accustomed to, I could not enjoy it at all. I kept buying, selling and trading cattle until 1882, when I made the best money in my life by buying about forty thousand acres of San Miguel land where the town of Hindes is now located on the San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf Railroad, at a very low price. I have watched it go up in value in these forty years while I was using it for pasture until I have sold some of it for $100 an acre ; some at $75 an acre, and have never sold any for less than $20 an acre. I allotted my children sufficient land that if used and managed with prudence and care, will provide them liberally with life's needs, still have a good block of it left, and expect to develop an oil field in the near future.
In the fall of 1903 I helped organize the Pearsall National Bank at Pearsall, Texas, and have served continuously on its board of directors. For the past ten years I have been its president, resigning just recently in order to enable me to give my personal business the attention it deserves. In 1909 I also helped to organize the Atascosa County State Bank at Jourdanton, Texas, and served as its president for six years, relinquishing my post of duty only after the bank was thoroughly established and was doing a nice business. However, I am still one of the largest stockholders in the Atascosa County Bank, and a large stockholder and director in the Pearsall National Bank.