How did the SS Central America make it to the Atlantic from the Pacific? Articles repeatedly mention the ship headed to Panama. What's interesting is that this was 1857. The Panama Canal did no open until August 15, 1914. Prior to that they had a cross country railroad. If it went around the tip of South America, why do articles keep mentioning Panama which seems to me to be insignificant?

The S.S. Central America was never in the Pacific.

The Panama Route consisted of two separate steamship lines, and a railroad across the Isthmus of Panama (completed in 1855.) The ships of the United States Mail Steamship Company, including the S.S. Central America made voyages between New York and the American port of Aspinwall, on the Caribbean coast of Panama. The ships of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company took care of travel between Panama City, on the Pacific side of the isthmus, and San Francisco. The Panama Railroad, following a route roughly the same as the later canal, took care of the crossing between the oceans.

Steamships were arguably one of the two great technological advancements of the age. For the first time in human history, steamers made it possible to schedule fairly long-distance travel at sea. Ideally, the two steamship lines scheduled their departures from New York and San Francisco so that they arrived on opposites coasts of Panama on the same morning, the railroad could complete the crossing in a few hours, and travelers could be northbound on another ocean the evening of the same day.

Of course, disruptions could occur, but that was the idea.

The ill-fated New-York-bound passengers on the S.S. Central America had departed San Francisco on the Pacific Mail's S.S. Sonora on August 20, 1857. Generally, a steamer left San Francisco on the 5th and 20th of every month. The steamer lines generally kept two, sometimes three, steamships on a rotating schedule to maintain their service, which was considered very reliable, and thus carried the US Mail. It is interesting to note that this was also the fastest means of communication between the eastern states and California prior to the completion of the transcontinental telegraph in 1862.

The S.S. Central America completed 43 voyages between New York and Panama and back, beginning in November, 1853. It was lost on the homeward leg on its 44th voyage, sinking on September 12, 1857.