CHAPTER XIII.
A MILLIONAIRE.
Soon after returning to Fort Hays, I was sent with dispatches to Fort Harker.

After delivering the messages, I visited the town of Ellsworth, about three miles west of Fort Harker, and there I met a man named William Rose, a contractor on the Kansas Pacific Railroad, who had a contract for grading near Fort Hays.

He had had his stock stolen by the Indians, and had come to Ellsworth to buy more.
During the course of our conversation, Mr.Rose incidentally remarked that he had some idea of laying out a town on the west side of Big Creek, about one mile from the fort, where the railroad was to cross.

He asked my opinion of the contemplated enterprise, and I told him that I thought it was "a big thing." He then proposed taking me as a partner in the scheme, and suggested that after we got the town laid out and thrown open to the public, we should establish a store and saloon there.
Thinking it would be a grand thing to be half-owner of a town, I at once accepted his proposition.

We bought a stock of such articles as are usually found in a frontier store, and transported them to the place on Big Creek, where we were to found our town.