Unusual for the times, the dark chestnut with a large white blaze was born in 1886 in California. James Ben Ali Haggin had purchased his dam, Salina, and shipped her to his Rancho Del Paso with Salvator "in utero". Haggin had made his money in the California Gold Rush of 1849, so much of it he was suddenly one of the wealthiest men in America, and he used his new wealth to establish the biggest horse breeding operations in world history. Aside from the thousands of grazing acres he owned in Arizona, New Mexico and Southern California, he headquartered at the Rancho del Paso near the present-day city of Sacramento. He bought breeding horses from every state that bred fine thoroughbreds, as well as shipping them in from Ireland, Australia and England. Eventually he bought Swigert's Elmendorf Farm and moved his headquarters there. Haggin added to the property until he held of prime bluegrass. (Over time, and through several owners, this property was broken up into stud farms like Spendthrift Farm, Greentree Stud, and others.)