He then sailed for the West Indies and South America in pursuit of a fortune. At this point a business career was inaugurated which for thirty years called for untiring labor. He visited all the islands, prospected the Orinoco and Amazon rivers to their head waters, went overland to Caracas and La Guayra, thence to Maracaybo, St. Martha, Carthagena, and Chagres. Here he heard of gold discoveries in California, and proceeded at once to San Francisco _via_ Panama. A hasty survey of the outlook satisfied him that "merchandising" rather than digging for gold afforded better chances for success, and on this foundation determined to build his fortune. In 1850 he went to Oregon, and in the succeeding year formed a copartnership with W. S. Ladd. Esq., for general mercantile pursuits, which continued until 1859. That his operations were diversified and on a large scale, the public prints of that era are ample evidence. He was interested in establishing a line of vessels to run between Oregon and China, one of which, the "C. E. Tilton," had made the quickest passage from New York to Oregon on record to the present time. She was subsequently sold to the Japanese government and by them converted into a man of war, and was finally sunk in an encounter with the U. S. ship "Powhattan." In 1859 the banking-house of Ladd & Tilton, Portland, was organized, so favorably known and generally advertised during the settlement of the presidential vote of that state in 1876. He remained a partner in this institution twenty-one years, retiring in 1880.