In 1849, Edwin and eight other Waupun settlers came down with gold fever and formed a company to travel to California.

When he returned from California, he engaged in a store business with his brother before he sold his share a few years later.

He and others established the Dodge County Mutual Insurance Company, and Hillyer worked there for the entirety of its existence.

In 1895, citing his advanced age and the job's strenuous work, he turned the book stock over to the city.

[3] When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Hillyer raised part of two companies for the Wisconsin Volunteer Infantries.

In 1966 the Wisconsin Magazine of History published the first half of Hillyer's Gold Rush Journal, which chronicled his journey from Waupun to California.