[3] The Sheltons traveled to China with medical doctor Susanna Carson Rijnhart, who had attempted to visit Lhasa, Tibet in 1898.

On arrival in China, the Sheltons and Rijnhart traveled up the Yangtze River by boat, foot, and horseback through the rugged eastern ranges of the Himalayas reaching the frontier trading center of Kangding, then called Tachienlu, on March 15, 1904.

In 1909 medical missionary Zenas Sanford Loftis joined the Sheltons and Ogdens, but he perished from smallpox two months after his arrival.

[5][6] Shelton was an indefatigable traveler via muleback who utilized his medical knowledge to gain access to both Chinese and Tibetan officials and to ensure his welcome throughout the region.

Kham was a battleground between China, attempting to gain control of the area, and the Khampa Tibetans resisting the Chinese.

Shelton brought home with him a collection of Tibetan art and curios which he sold to the Newark, New Jersey museum for $2,000 (more than $60,000 in 2020 dollars).

He spoke extensively across the United States in a fund-raising campaign for the expansion of the overseas FCMS's missions and achieved the status of a "missionary-hero".

He had continued collecting Tibetan art and artifacts and sold them and his photographs to the Newark Museum for more than $4,000—about triple the average yearly salary of a minister in the United States.

Shelton's objective was to establish missions deeper into Tibet, ultimately to travel to Lhasa, but initially to Markam Gartok (called "Gatuo Town" today).