James J. Ayers left St. Louis, Missouri for California in 1849. He remained to carve out a career for himself in journalism. Gold and sunshine (1922) was completed by Ayers in retirement at Azusa in 1896 but not published until after his death. He recalls his 1849 voyage to California and brief career as a miner in Calaveras County, newspaper publishing in Mokelumne Hill (1850-1852), and San Francisco (1850s). Ayers also discusses local and national politics for all periods as well as a theatrical tour in the Gold Rush, a Civil War visit to the front and meeting with Lincoln, Nevada gold and silver mining, the California Constitutional Convention of 1878, and Sacramento in the 1880s.