Sutter's Fort was a 19th-century agricultural and trade colony in the Mexican ''
Alta California'' province.
[National Park Service]
"California National Historic Trail."
/ref> The site of the fort was established in 1839 and originally called New Helvetia
New Helvetia (Spanish: Nueva Helvetia), meaning "New Switzerland", was a 19th-century Alta California settlement and rancho, centered in present-day Sacramento, California.
Colony of Nueva Helvetia
The Swiss pioneer John Sutter (1803–1880) a ...
(''New Switzerland'') by its builder John Sutter
John Augustus Sutter (February 23, 1803 – June 18, 1880), born Johann August Sutter and known in Spanish as Don Juan Sutter, was a Swiss immigrant of Mexican and American citizenship, known for establishing Sutter's Fort in the area th ...
, though construction of the fort proper would not begin until 1841. The fort was the first non-indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention
*Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band
*Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
community in the California Central Valley. The fort is famous for its association with the Donner Party
The Donner Party, sometimes called the Donner–Reed Party, was a group of American pioneers who migrated to California in a wagon train from the Midwest. Delayed by a multitude of mishaps, they spent the winter of 1846–1847 snowbound in th ...
, the California Gold Rush, and the formation of the city of Sacramento
)
, image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
, surrounding the fort. It is notable for its proximity to the end of the California Trail and Siskiyou Trail
The Siskiyou Trail stretched from California's Central Valley to Oregon's Willamette Valley; modern-day Interstate 5 follows this pioneer path. Originally based on existing Native American foot trails winding their way through river valleys, t ...
s, which it served as a waystation.
After gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill
Sutter's Mill was a water-powered sawmill on the bank of the South Fork American River in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in California. It was named after its owner John Sutter. A worker constructing the mill, James W. Marshall, found gol ...
(also owned by John Sutter) in Coloma on January 24, 1848, the fort was abandoned. The adobe structure has been restored to its original condition and is now administered by California Department of Parks and Recreation. It was designated a National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
in 1961.
Description
The Main Building of the fort is a two-story adobe structure built between 1841 and 1843. This building is the only original surviving structure at the reconstructed Sutter's Fort State Historic Park. It was in here on January 28, 1848, that James Marshall met privately with Sutter in order to show Sutter the gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...
that Marshall had found during the construction of Sutter's sawmill along the American River
, name_etymology =
, image = American River CA.jpg
, image_size = 300
, image_caption = The American River at Folsom
, map = Americanrivermap.png
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, map_caption ...
only four days earlier. Sutter built the original fort with walls thick and 15 to high. Pioneers took residence at Sutter's Fort around 1841. Following word of the Gold Rush
A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New ...
, the fort was largely deserted by the 1850s and fell into disrepair.
In 1891, the Native Sons of the Golden West
The Native Sons of the Golden West is a fraternal service organization founded in the U.S. state of California in 1875, dedicated to historic preservation, documentation of historic structures and places in the state, the placement of historic ...
, who sought to safeguard many of the landmarks of California's pioneer days, purchased and rehabilitated Sutter's Fort when the City of Sacramento sought to demolish it. Repair efforts were completed in 1893 and the fort was given by the Native Sons of the Golden West
The Native Sons of the Golden West is a fraternal service organization founded in the U.S. state of California in 1875, dedicated to historic preservation, documentation of historic structures and places in the state, the placement of historic ...
to the State of California. In 1947, the fort was transferred to the authority of California State Parks
The California Department of Parks and Recreation, more commonly known as California State Parks, manages the California state parks system. The system administers 279 separate park units on 1.4 million acres (570,000 hectares), with over 280 ...
.
Most of the original neighborhood structures were initially built in the late 1930s as residences, many of which have been converted to commercial uses such as private medical practices. The history of the neighborhood is largely residential.
Construction
The party led by John Augustus Sutter landed on the bank of the American River
, name_etymology =
, image = American River CA.jpg
, image_size = 300
, image_caption = The American River at Folsom
, map = Americanrivermap.png
, map_size = 300
, map_caption ...
in August 1839. The group included three Europeans and a Native American boy, probably to serve as interpreter. Most of the colony's first members were Native Hawaiians. Sutter had entered a contract with the governor of Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...
to hire eight men and two women for three years. Once the first camp was setup, Sutter arranged for local Miwok
The Miwok (also spelled Miwuk, Mi-Wuk, or Me-Wuk) are members of four linguistically related Native American groups indigenous to what is now Northern California, who traditionally spoke one of the Miwok languages in the Utian family. The word ...
and Nisenan
The Nisenan are a group of Native Americans and an Indigenous people of California from the Yuba River and American River watersheds in Northern California and the California Central Valley. The Nisenan people are classified as part of the lar ...
people to build the first building, a three-room adobe.
Geography and hydrology
Sutter's Fort is located on level ground at an elevation of approximately above mean sea datum. The slope elevation decreases northward toward the American River and westward toward the Sacramento River
The Sacramento River ( es, RÃo Sacramento) is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento†...
. Slope elevation gradually increases to the south and east, away from the rivers. All surface drainage flows toward the Sacramento River. Groundwater in the vicinity flows south-southwest toward the Sacramento Delta
)
, image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...
. However, after peak rainfall, the Sacramento River swells and the groundwater flow
Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...
can actually reverse away from the river.['' Phase I Environmental Site Assessment, 2617 K Street, Sacramento, California'', Earth Metrics Inc. Report # 10185, October 3, 1989]
See also
* California State Indian Museum
The California State Indian Museum is a museum in the state park system of California, United States, interpreting the diverse cultures of the indigenous peoples of California. It is located in Midtown Sacramento at 2618 K Street. The museum exh ...
* Old Sacramento State Historic Park
Old Sacramento State Historic Park occupies around one third of the property within the Old Sacramento Historic District of Sacramento, California. The Old Sacramento Historic District is a U.S. National Historic Landmark District. The Historic ...
* History of Sacramento, California
The history of Sacramento, California, began with its founding by Samuel Brannan and John Augustus Sutter, Jr. in 1848 around an embarcadero that his father, John Sutter, Sr. constructed at the confluence of the American and Sacramento Rivers ...
* List of California State Historic Parks
List of California State Historic Parks — a division of the California Department of Parks and Recreation, for historic sites in California.
List
*Anderson Marsh State Historic Park
*Antelope Valley Indian Museum State Historic Park
*Bale G ...
* California Historical Landmarks in Sacramento County, California
*
Further reading
* Gwinn, Herbert D.. (1931). ''The history of Sutter's Fort, 1839–1931''. University of the Pacific, Thesis. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/911
References
External links
John Bidwell (Sutter's Fort Pioneer Collection), 1841–1902. Collection guide, California State Library, California History Room.
Sutter's Fort State Historic Park official site
Virtual Sutter's Fort Virtual Web Site
Library of Congress, Americas Memory
{{Coord, 38, 34, 24, N, 121, 28, 17, W, region:US-CA_type:landmark, display=title
Buildings and structures completed in 1839
California Gold Rush
Fort
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
California State Historic Parks
Museums in Sacramento, California
History museums in California
Forts in California
Military and war museums in California
Parks in Sacramento County, California
History of Sacramento, California
Adobe buildings and structures in California
Buildings and structures in Sacramento, California
California Historical Landmarks
National Historic Landmarks in California
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in California
National Register of Historic Places in Sacramento, California
1839 establishments in Alta California
Donner Party
Landmarks in Sacramento, California
Houses in Sacramento County, California