In 1875, having enough of the cold of Minnesota, the Anderson family decided to move to Bronson, Levy County, Florida but their son Tobias decided not to go with them.  Tobias instead went to California to try and make his fortune as a gold miner.  Tobias told the story many years later to his children about his trip to California.  He said that on the train on the way there a man approached him and offered him a drink.  He took the cup, finding that it was full of whisky, not being a drinking man, he shook his head and tossed it out the window.  This upset the man that gave it to him to the point they almost came to blows and the conductor put Tobias off the train.  Tobias said that the only use he had for whisky was to pour it into his books to keep his feet from hurting as he walked.  He should have saved the whisky for his boots that day as he had to walk to the nearest town.

Tobias couldn’t speak a word of English when he went to California, but over time, he taught himself English by using a Norwegian Bible and English Bible for translation.  It was said that he always talked like a scholarly man for he talked like verse in the bible.     

Gold mining was hard work, they used hand-drills where it was not possible to use steam drills. He would drill holes, fill with black powder, blast, clear out rock, send to crusher and repeat again and again. He made good money which he sent the back to his parents in Florida to buy land in Levy County.   

1880