Sutter's Fort

File:Sutter's Fort ruins painting by Calthea Vivian.jpg

To build his colony, John Sutter secured a 50,000-acre land grant in the Central Valley from the Mexican governor.{{cite book |last=Harris |first=Malcolm |author-link=Malcolm Harris |title=Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World |date=February 14, 2023 |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |pages=14–15 |isbn=978-0-316-59203-1}} The main building of the fort, a two-story adobe structure built between 1841 and 1843, was constructed using Indigenous forced labor. It is the only original surviving structure at the reconstructed Sutter's Fort State Historic Park. On January 28, 1848, James Marshall met privately with John Sutter inside this building to show him the gold found during the construction of Sutter's sawmill along the American River four days earlier. Sutter built the original fort with walls {{convert|2.5|ft|m}} thick and between 15 and {{convert|18|ft|m}} high. Pioneers began settling at Sutter's Fort around 1841. Following the start of the California Gold Rush, the fort was largely deserted by the 1850s and fell into disrepair.

The party led by John Sutter landed on the bank of the American River in August 1839. The group included three Europeans and a Native American boy, probably to serve as interpreter. Some of the first people brought to the colony were Native Hawaiian workers, called Kanakas. Sutter had entered a contract with the governor of Hawaii to import and use the labor of these eight men and two women for three years. Once the first camp was set up, Sutter used local Miwok, Nisenan, and "missionized" Native Californians to build the first building, a three-room adobe.

Once the fort was built, Sutter established an agricultural colony with labor structures similar to Southern plantations and European feudalism. The colony relied on ranching and growing wheat crops. European colonists oversaw Native Californian and Native Hawaiian workers, who were often gravely mistreated. Sutter employed a caste system to ensure that the minority European settlers maintained control over the colony. Although some of the laborers worked voluntarily, many were subjected to brutal conditions that resembled enslavement or serfdom.{{cite journal|last=Hurtado|first=Albert|title=California Indians and the Workaday West: Labor, Assimilation, and Survival|journal=California History|date=Spring 1990|volume=69|issue=1|page=5|doi=10.2307/25177303|jstor=25177303}}

After gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill (also owned by John Sutter) in Coloma on January 24, 1848, the fort was abandoned.

File:SuttersDesk.jpg's desk, photographed at Sutter's Fort State Historic Park]]

In 1891, the Native Sons of the Golden West, 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 to the State of California. In 1947, the fort was transferred to the authority of California State Parks as Sutter's Fort State Historic Park.

File:Making nails at Sutter's Fort, Sacramento.jpg

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.

File:ISH WC SuttersFort3.jpg

Sutter's Fort is located on level ground at an elevation of approximately {{convert|20|ft|m}} above mean sea datum.U.S. Geological Survey, Sacramento East Quadrangle, 1967, photorevised 1980 The slope elevation decreases northward toward the American River and westward toward the Sacramento River. 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. However, after peak rainfall, the Sacramento River swells and the groundwater flow 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

Sutter's Landing is the spot the Captain John A. Sutter landed in August 1839 at the American River after coming up the Sacramento River from Yerba Buena at {{coord|38.5816|-121.4660|display=inline}}. After landing, Sutter built a base camp, then Sutter's Fort. The site of the landing is California Historical Landmark #591 that was listed on May 22, 1957.{{cite ohp |591 |Sutter's Landing #591|2012-10-07}}

The old Coloma Road opened in 1847, it ran from Sutter's Fort to the city of Coloma. Marshall traveled the road to tell of his gold find to Captain John A. Sutter. During the 49ers gold rush thousands of miners traveled the road heading out to look for gold and claims. Coloma Road at Sutter's Fort is a California Historical Landmark No. 745.{{cite ohp |745|Coloma Road -Sutter's Fort #745 |2012-10-07}} There are two other Coloma Road California Historical Landmarks: Coloma Road, Rescue California Historical Landmark, No. 748, in Coloma and California Historical Landmark No. 747 at Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park.{{cite ohp |747 |Coloma Road #748|2012-10-07}}{{Cite web|url=https://sierranevadageotourism.org/entries/coloma-road-coloma-no-748-california-historical-landmark/e9f0ad3f-d46e-44e0-af0b-567866a5714d|title=Coloma Road - Coloma (No. 748 California Historical Landmark) | Sierra Nevada Geotourism|website=sierranevadageotourism.org}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.californiahistoricallandmarks.com/landmarks/chl-748|title=CHL # 748 Coloma Road-Coloma El Dorado|website=www.californiahistoricallandmarks.com}} California's first stage line, California Stage Company, traveled the road starting in 1849, the line was founded by James E. Birch.[https://books.google.com/books?id=_ecNAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA151 Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of California] Volume 24, The History Company, 1890. pp. 151–152 and notes 46, 47, 48]

• New Helvetia Cemetery (formerly, "Sutter Fort Burying Ground")
• California State Indian Museum
• Old Sacramento State Historic Park
• History of Sacramento, California
• List of California State Historic Parks
• California Historical Landmarks in Sacramento County, California
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Sacramento County, California
• John Sutter's relationship with Native Americans
• Ranchos of California

• {{cite thesis |last=Gwinn |first=Herbert D. |title=The History of Sutter's Fort, 1839–1931 |type=Master's thesis |location=Stockton, California |date=1931 |oclc=34259670 |institution=College of the Pacific |url=https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/911 }}

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• [https://oac.cdlib.org/search?style=oac4;Institution=California%20State%20Library::California%20History%20Room;idT=ACT-6832 John Bidwell (Sutter's Fort Pioneer Collection), 1841–1902. Collection guide, California State Library, California History Room.]
• [http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=485 Sutter's Fort State Historic Park official site]
• [http://score.rims.k12.ca.us/activity/suttersfort/ Virtual Sutter's Fort Virtual Web Site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071228084002/http://score.rims.k12.ca.us/activity/suttersfort/ |date=2007-12-28 }}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20010210213609/http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/5views/5views1h90.htm A History of American Indians in California: Sutter's Fort]
• [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hh:@field(NUMBER+@band(CA0546)) Library of Congress, Americas Memory]

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Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1839

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