After the discovery of gold in California, James (age 14), along with his brothers Henry (age 16) and Edward (age 20) set out in the autumn of 1849 on a ship bound for the Isthmus of Panama. After a raft and hiking journey across the Isthmus, the brothers waited at Panama City for quite a while before catching the Pacific mail steamer "Isthmus" on April 10, 1850. They entered the Golden Gate on May 5, 1850.