In the fall, Collins and Gordon returned to Connecticut, while I, having spent much time in the South, laid up in Cleveland for the winter. They returned to Cleveland in the spring, when at the solicitation of our dear wives we decided to dispose of as many of our teams as possible during the summer and locate permanently in some large city, which we did, and in the fall of 1868, with about 100 horses and seventy-five men, we landed in Chicago.

We purchased the northwest corner of Canal and Lake Streets, running to the alley each way. Besides some little stores on Lake Street, there was an immense ice house and a large wooden structure occupied by Garland, Downs & Holmes, as sales station of a carriage manufacturer in Boston. These gave us ample room for all our teams, but before our titles were perfected the city condemned most of the property in opening Dutch Broadway (Milwaukee Avenue) into Lake Street, and although we never came into legal possession of the property the city's appraisement was such that our purchase left us a good bonus besides our occupation of the building for over a year. We then lived over stores on Canal Street, where the Chicago & Northwestern Depot now stands.

In 1869 we bought property on both sides of Lake Street, in the second block west of Western Avenue, where we built homes on the south and a factory on the north side of the street. We then sold our teams, mostly to our men on the installment plan, holding the property in our name until paid for. Then we started manufacturing tinware, working about fifty tinners, selling the ware to those who bought the teams. It was a success. Soon all the teams were off our hands, and the once prolific and romantic business and escapades of the three Richardson brothers had entirely disappeared.

In 1872 Collins sold out to Gordon and me, he returning to Connecticut and settling down on a farm.

In 1874 we sold out the tin factory, and Gordon, who had always been a lover of fast horses, began dealing in them again.

I, who had all the time been exhorting and writing books, entered the Evanston Theological Seminary, preparing for the ministry, but when Dr. H. W. Thomas experienced his troubles with Rock River Conference, I abandoned that course, but kept up, through private instructors, the languages and scientific studies for five years, including one year of experimental astronomy on the great telescope then at Cottage Grove.