He did not enjoy farm life and began offering neighbors various business propositions at an early age, including the sale of firewood to homes and to the local railroad.

Gates was not invited to become part of the company, and he fought back at Morgan for many years through a series of business acquisitions and sales; both men were key figures in the Panic of 1907.

This business venture was a failure; in an effort to escape farm work, he took to spending time at the railroad depot where he had previously sold firewood.

Asel purchased a two-story brick building and Ed Baker provided the capital for stock to open a hardware store in Turner Junction.

When he announced his intentions to sell his interest in the hardware store and become a traveling salesman for the product, his wife and mother were both in favor of the plan.

[18][e] He made a trip to San Antonio, Texas, in 1876, where Isaac Ellwood hired him as a salesman for the Washburn-Moen barbed wire company.

After being assigned to work in Texas, Gates quickly learned that while he found friends and poker playing companions, when it came to selling barbed wire, ranchers were not buying.

Gates traveled to St. Louis, Missouri, where in partnership with Alfred Clifford, he started the Southern Wire Company to compete with Washburn-Moen.

[24][f] When Clifford and Gates hired an attorney to answer the charges made against them in court, the judge ruled that the manufacturing process used by Southern Wire Company was not an infringement on any patents or machinery owned by Ellwood and Washburn-Moen.

When James Hill noted a sudden rise in Northern Pacific stock prices, he traveled to New York to consult with Morgan.

Gates founded the first bank, built a rice mill and established the Port Arthur Light, Power and Ice Company.

[49][50] He was also a large contributor to Port Arthur Business College, and built a model farm to give the city a source of fresh dairy products.

Gates could have easily afforded to finance the entire cost of the new hotel, but he wanted Port Arthur's residents to have an equal share in the venture.

After the pledges of local businessmen had reached US$150,000, Gates donated the remaining US$150,000, and the project began to be built by United States Realty Company.

After the sale of his Louisville and Nashville Railroad stocks to Morgan in 1902, Gates quietly began buying shares of Colorado Fuel and Iron Company.

He had obtained a Circuit Court injunction barring Gates and his associates from attending the meeting; the doors of Colorado Fuel and Iron were guarded by sheriff's deputies armed with shotguns.

Gates was angry about being refused entry to the meeting, but he became enraged when he learned he was described in the local Circuit Court as a "high roller and a gambler".

Apparently feeling that a long battle was not worth it, Gates gave up the fight some weeks later and sold the shares, which eventually wound up with the Rockefeller family.

Schley, the owner of a brokerage and a board member of Republic Steel and Tennessee Coal and Iron, advised Gates of serious business trouble and asked him to return to the US at once.

Roosevelt wrote a note to his Attorney General stating he had not learned the name of the troubled business, but felt that he should not object to this occurrence.

[67] The New York Times, however, printed its amazement that Tennessee Coal and Iron stocks were not acceptable to the clearing house and that the Trust Company of America was deemed insolvent when it had more than enough assets to cover all deposits.

[72] In 1909, he was taking his usual summer holiday in Europe when members of the Republican party from the Eastern District of Texas nominated him for Congress.

[73] Gates had purchased an animal show and a stable of performing horses with the idea of creating a circus for himself and Port Arthur, when in early 1911, he found a growth in his throat.

Congressman Augustus Owsley Stanley of Kentucky, was named chairman of the committee; in his long list of persons to subpoena for their testimony the first was John Gates.

Boldt instructed his elevator operators to take their time when serving his floor, as it allowed Gates to make as much noise as he wished for a few minutes.

Oscar recalled a rainy afternoon in the Waldorf's Oak Room as Gates and two associates watched raindrops trickle down the windows.

The Jockey Club president, August Belmont, Jr., asked Gates to limit his bets to US$10,000, as such large wagers gave the impression that the races were not honest ones.

[57] Outside of his own hotel suite, Gates' favorite spot in New York City was the gambling establishment opened by Richard Canfield in 1898.

[93][94] While Gates left the bulk of his estate to his wife and son, he inserted a clause in his will that prohibited his family from selling any of his securities until ten years after his death.

[100] In 1971, Gates was honored with a state historical marker at the site of his Military Plaza barbed wire demonstration in San Antonio.