To help acquire water rights in 1905, Eaton made high offers to purchase land in Owens Valley. Eaton's eagerness aroused suspicion in a few local Inyo County people. Eaton bought land as a private citizen, hoping to sell it back to Los Angeles at a tidy profit. Eaton claimed in an interview with the "Los Angeles Express" in 1905 that he turned over all his water rights to the City of Los Angeles without being paid for them, "except that I retained the cattle which I had been compelled to take in making the deals ... and mountain pasture land of no value except for grazing purposes". Eaton moved to the Owens Valley to become a cattle rancher on the land he purchased. Eaton always denied that he acted in a deceptive manner.