Meet Cashup Davis.

James “Cashup” Davis was a charismatic homesteader whose incredible true story is one of the great untold tales of the Old West. And even though he thrived in the 1800’s and died in 1896, his life illuminates so many of today’s pressing questions: How do you define success? What is your true legacy? Do you chase your dreams or instead listen to the doubters in your life...or in your head? 

Imagine leaving everything you know and love, hopping on a ship at a young age and heading to America. He was known by his real name James for most of his life. He brought with him to America a few possessions and a lot of moxie gleaned from an ambitious young life in Southern England.

He was fascinated by living on the edge of western settlement in America’s old west. And he did just that. He married an American woman with lineage, raised 11 children and made stops in Ohio, Wisconsin and Iowa before bringing his large family way out west. The final leg of his journey – he did not know what he was looking for – was riding a mule into the magical rolling hills of the Palouse and finding land to claim. After bringing his family to join him, it turned out his land claim was some of the most fertile farmland the world has ever seen. He turned dirt for the first time in 1871 in the Palouse.

He made a fortune for the first time.

Then he noticed his land was in a prime spot for stagecoaches crisscrossing the west. So he built a stagecoach stop to refresh horses and people. It quickly became one of the most famous stagecoach stops in all the land.

He made another fortune. And he became famous.

But when the trains killed the stagecoach business, he listened to his instinct that had always brought him success. He became obsessed with his vision of building a lavish hotel on top of Steptoe Butte, a massive protrusion of basalt lording high above the rolling hills of the Palouse. There was no road to the top. No water. No electricity.

Everyone told him not to build his hotel. But he did anyway.

It opened to tremendous fanfare on July 4, 1888 written up in newspapers all the way to New York City.

What happened next is the pinnacle of the life lessons we glean from Cashup’s life.

Our book is told through the eyes of Cashup’s great grandson Gordy Davis who seeks to fully understand his own great accomplishments by going on a journey to know more about the life of Cashup, the secret mentor he never met.  What Gordy found was profound – by his successes and his failures.

Cashup can be your secret mentor too.