Sutter's Fort from Gleason's Pictorial Drawing Room Companion

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

Sutter's Fort ruins painting by Calthea Vivian

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 , map_size = 300 , 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

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 ...

Making nails at Sutter's Fort, Sacramento

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, Río 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

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

Description

Construction

Geography and hydrology

See also

Further reading

References

External links