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Canyon, and the mighty Colorado River (whichalmost took his life when he and another manattempted a crossing on a log raft), he realizedthat he could not go back to cataloguing books.His mother advanced the opinion that he wouldhave more chances to “spread” (his wings) inwide-open California than in the nation’s cliquishcapital. Responding to her prodding, Sib agreedto try sheep ranching with his brother. 39Though he enjoyed donning a sombrero andspurs and riding the range astride a horse bearinga beautiful Mexican saddle laden with heavyleather trappings, in 1874 the former Harvardman accepted with alacrity an offer of a year’semployment as president of Santa Barbara College,a private boys’ school. He missed cultivatedBoston, he confided earlier to his youngerbrother, Pierre, “for in my late wanderings Ihave come upon no place to be compared to it.”But pride kept him from returning home: “I’vealmost resolved never to go back [to Boston] untilI’ve done something worth mentioning, moneywiseor otherwise—since I’ve really broken away,& should return only to find all my friends andclassmates far ahead in their life-work.” 40As soon as Seymour and Sibley were situatedin southern California, T.C. began to dreamabout joining them. “Don’t make a start hitherward. . . without something definite in hand orfunds enough to do something with,” Seymourhad cautioned T.C. in early 1873. “Cash is everythinghere.” 41But prospects were all that T.C. had. His positionat Boston’s North National Bank was of lowrank—as of 1875 he still reported to the bank’scashier—but it did provide a steady income.The problem was T.C.’s poor luck with investments.Shortly after the Civil War, he had beenpersuaded to buy into an Alabama coal mine by aBoston businessman who was building a railroadin the South and promised to purchase a substantialportion of the mine’s output. Unfortunately,the decision to employ African Americans,which Severance would have wholeheartedlysupported, subjected the mine to frequent raidsby the Ku Klux Klan, and the disruptions turnedwhat seemed to be a sure bet into a financial disappointment.42By 1873, T.C. had sufficiently recovered from thissetback to be able to consider an investment ina railroad company as a means of securing hisCalifornia grubstake. Two years later, he hadyet to build the needed cash reserve. Nonetheless,he couldn’t resist talking about his plannedrelocation to Santa Barbara. “[A]lmost to a man,”the friends with whom he shared the news haddeemed the move “a wise one,” he informedhis skeptical wife, provided that “we have somethingto do, or fall back upon, on arrival out.”T.C. was gratified that his confidants were not“backward” in admitting to their envy of the Severances’opportunity to experience California’s“climate and the trip over, with all their variety &charms. . . .” 43Caroline was not opposed to the move in theory.She had accommodated her husband’s careermoves once before, following him to Port Royal,South Carolina, where he had been appointedcollector of customs for the Union-occupiedharbor by Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P.Chase, a “free soil” advocate from Ohio whosepresidential aspirations T.C. actively had supported.Five or so years after they had returnedto Boston, the Severances had begun to considerthe possibility of relocating to America’s westernfrontier. Caroline was over fifty and her husbandwas approaching sixty, but, as she explained atthe time, “I do not consider myself finished andhave not limited my ambition by what, to others,may seem more realistic. Even now Theodoreand I talk of moving to the West, perhaps California,to carry on our work of organizing people forthe improvement of the human condition.” 44 California History • volume 88 number 1 2010