Two days after arriving in New York, Nils was off to San Francisco, where he arrived nine days later. Then later that month (March 1886) he took the train and stagecoach to Santa Barbara, where for four years he worked as a stone mason. In 1889, Nils met George Edwards, whose family owned 20,000 acres in the Conejo Valley and who was selling parcels.

In 1890, Nils and four other Norwegians, Ole Nelson, Lars Pederson, George Hanson and Ole Anderson purchased 650 acres from Edwards. Apparently the land cost about $3/acre for flatlands and $2/acre for hillsides. They settled and grew barley and wheat for the next 20 years. This area was known as the Norwegian Colony.

Anderson sold his land to Hanson by 1900 and moved back to Norway. Nelson sold his land to Pederson in 1902. Hanson's wife (he died at age 39 in 1901) sold her land to Olsen in 1902-1903. That left just the Olsens and Pedersons.