James P. Pierce was born 25 August, 1825 in Friendsville, Pennsylvania where he spent his early life, before moving west as a young adult.
Shortly after their arrival, they went to Yuba County, and at Smartsville, California Mr. Pierce engaged in hydraulic mining, becoming a leading operator before he sold out in 1878.
[citation needed] He might have continued uninterruptedly in that important field, had not the death of a brother-in-law, A. H. Houston, drawn him back to San Francisco to take charge of an entirely different enterprise.
Mr. Pierce succeeded to Mr. Houston’s interests and completed 1130 feet of the new sea wall under a new and enlarged contract, receiving as his compensation $240 per linear foot.
Pierce had the property managed for a period of this time by Harry Pickstone an Englishman who later migrated to South Africa where he engaged at Boschendal in the fruit business with Cecil Rhodes.
After Judge Bond's death, the property was sold to Senator James D. Phelan who constructed a Discalced Carmelite Nunnery which is still there as of 2022.
Soon after organizing the Pacific Manufacturing Company, Mr. Pierce became quite active as a lumberman and in addition to the Ben Lomond Mill, he purchased timber lands and built a sawmill at Ash Creek at the foot of Mount Shasta.