Sutter Buttes

The volcanic remnants form a rough circle approximately {{convert|10|mi|km|abbr=on}} from north to south and east to west.

The Sutter Buttes lie within the Central Valley of California.

They were formed about 1.6 million years ago in the early Pleistocene Epoch[http://www.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/information/publications/cgs_notes/note_36/Documents/note_36.pdf State of California, ‘’California Geologic Provinces,’’ Note 36, page 2] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222132418/http://www.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/information/publications/cgs_notes/note_36/Documents/note_36.pdf |date=2016-12-22 }} by volcanic activity. They are the remnants of a volcano that has been dormant{{cite web |title=Yuba City's Sutter Buttes |url=http://www.syix.com/yubacity/sutterbuttes.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801103957/http://www.syix.com/yubacity/sutterbuttes.html |archive-date=2013-08-01 |access-date=2014-03-04 |website=Yuba-Sutter Website Directory}} for about 1.4 million years.{{cite web|last=Hausback|first=Brian P.|title=Sutter Buttes—The Lone Volcano in California's Great Valley|url=http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2011/3024/fs2011-3024.pdf|publisher=U.S. Geological Survey|author2=Muffler, L.J. Patrick |author3= Clynne, Michael A. |date=March 2011}} Some geological references suggest that the volcano represents the southernmost boundary of the Cascade Volcanoes, but there are significant differences in age and form compared to the other volcanoes in that range.Charles A. Wood. 1990 Others suggest that its age places it with the volcanic elements of the California Coast Ranges; its composition is closer to that range but does have significant differences.{{Cite news |last=Knapp |first=Don |date=2007-03-16 |title=A Chance to Hike California’s Hidden Buttes (Maybe) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/travel/escapes/16adventurer.html |access-date=2024-05-23 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

The magma that gave rise to the Sutter Buttes first appeared as rhyolite, a molten rock rich in silicates. This silica-rich lava was viscous and thick, and emerged from the crust thick plugs of magma that pushed their way to the surface slowly, approximately 1.6 million years ago. Following this, a second set of eruptions occurred, whose magma was composed of andesite and dacite, compositions that were rich in magnesium and iron, which were much less viscous. This less viscous magma both breached the surface, as well as lifted the surrounding layers of earth, causing the volcanic domes that are representative of the Sutter Buttes today to sit prominently above the floor around them. As the softer sediments of these domes were eroded away their sediments were dispersed around the domes, leading to the sloping fan of earth around the Sutter Buttes, in formations known as ramparts.

Beneath the Sutter Buttes there exists a crisscrossing network of subterranean faults and ridgelines that have served as a network of channels, providing a relatively easy path to the surface for the magma that has formed the Sutter Buttes, as well as the rest of the Coast Range.

Exploration of natural gas leaks was first undertaken at South Butte by Dexter Cook in 1864, when he dug a {{convert|65|ft|m|abbr=on}} shaft. Sutter Buttes Oil Company drilled a well in 1927 to a depth of {{convert|2900|ft|m|abbr=on}}, and other wells were drilled on the western margin. Buttes Oilfields, Inc., drilled a well in 1932, but it wasn't until June 1935, though, that it drilled the first of four gas wells in the area of T. 15 N., R 1 E.{{cite book|last1=Johnson|first1=Harry|title=Marysville Buttes (Sutter Buttes) Gas Field, in Geologic Formations and Economic Development of the Oil and Gas Fields of California|date=1943|publisher=State of California Dept. of Natural Resources Division of Mines, Bulletin 118|location=San Francisco|page=610}}

The rugged central part of the Buttes has a stony, brown sandy loam of variable depth and good-to-somewhat-excessive drainage. The smoother perimeter has more variable soil, with clay or silt loam areas among the sandy loams. These soils support grassland or oak woodland.Soil Survey of Sutter County, California. United States Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, 1988

The Sutter Buttes contain many species of flora and fauna. Wildflowers are represented by numerous taxa; included in these many wildflowers is the yellow mariposa lily, Calochortus luteus.C. Michael Hogan. 2009

File:Sutter Buttes.jpg

File:SutterButtesUSEE1841.png

The Sutter Buttes figure prominently in the creation stories and other traditions of the indigenous Nisenan, Maidu, and Wintun peoples. The Nisenan lived on the East side of the Buttes, while the Patwin Wintun lived on the West side. The Nisenan name for the Buttes is Estom Yanim.{{cite web|title=Nisenan|url=https://www.nisenan.org}} The Maidu name for the Sutter Buttes is Histum Yani (middle mountains of the Valley) or Esto Yamani,{{cite web|title=Sutter Buttes: Maidu's Spirit Mountain|url=https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=23786|website=California Department of Parks and Recreation|access-date=10 February 2017}} while the Wintun name for the Sutter Buttes is Onolai-Tol.{{cite web|title=Sutter Buttes: Maidu's Spirit Mountain|url=http://sacredland.org/sutter-buttes-united-states/|access-date=27 September 2017}} All of these names roughly mean "The Middle Mountains".

There were seasonal encampments in the Buttes, and all these tribes visited the Buttes regularly to gather acorns and other foods or to hunt game. The Buttes were also a center of regional Native American religion. According to anthropologist Alfred Kroeber, the Patwin village where the city of Colusa now stands was the "hotbed" where the Kuksu Cult was established. This religion spread through much of Northern California. Ceremonies were performed in earthen dance lodges where spirit impersonators would re-enact ancient mythological events.

In the Maidu and Nisenan religions, the Sutter Buttes is the place where dying people came to ascend to the afterlife.

The Spaniard Gabriel Moraga was the first European to see the Sutter Buttes in 1806. In 1817, the Californio Luis Antonio Argüello named it "los tres picos"[https://www.syix.com/Yubacity/sutterbuttes.html Yuba City's Sutter Buttes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180214073331/https://www.syix.com/Yubacity/sutterbuttes.html |date=2018-02-14 }}, Syix.com (the three peaks, name that appears on the Mexican land grant made to Captain John Sutter). In 1843, John C. Frémont called them "The Three Buttes." James Dwight Dana explored the buttes on 16 Oct. 1841, while part of the United States Exploring Expedition. In June 1846, John C. Frémont, on a massacre spree since April, stopped at the Sutter Buttes. Fearing an attack from the local Indians, Frémont led a preemptive attack which killed many Indians and led the others to flee the area. It remains known as the Sutter Buttes massacre.{{cite book|title= Memoirs of My Life, By John Charles Frémont |url= https://archive.org/details/cihm_14127 |last1= Frémont |first1= John Charles |year= 1887 |publisher= Belford, Clark |location= Chicago |isbn= 9780665141270 }}

Under the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago at the end of the war with Mexico the United States acquired California. Under the treaty the United States agreed to respect titles conveyed by Mexico. John Sutter claimed ownership of the Sutter Buttes under his New Helvetia grant. The United States Land Commission and the courts determined that Sutter's New Helvetia Grant did not include the Buttes. No land title in the Buttes arises under a Spanish or Mexican Grant, all title to land in the Buttes derives from the federal government.For the European history of Sutter Count and the Buttes prior to 1879, see {{cite book |author1=Thompson |author2=West |title=Pictorial History of Sutter County |year=1879}}{{cite book |title=Land of Histum Yani |first=Louise |last=Hendricks}}{{full citation needed|date=October 2021}} During the Gold Rush, the Buttes were called the "Marysville Buttes".{{cite book |first=Peter J. |last=Delay |title=History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, California |publisher=Historic Record Company |location=Los Angeles |year=1924 |page=224 |oclc=6061103}} In 1920, the state of California failed to purchase the Marysville Buttes, which finally became the "Sutter Buttes" in 1949.

Howel Williams further investigated the geology of the buttes in 1929. Williams teamed up with Garniss Curtis in 1977 to include radiometric dating of the area.

Since 1929, the State of California considered purchasing the land for protection and a state park.{{cite report |url=http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/23452/files/sutterbuttesclassification&naming%203-8-052nd.pdf |title=Project Naming and Classification Document |date=8 March 2005 |publisher=California State Parks |edition=2nd |series=Sutter Buttes}}

:

{{cite report |title=Interim Operational Guidelines |date=1 March 2005 |publisher=California State Parks |quote=Approved by PPPC |series=Sutter Buttes |department=Northern Buttes District, Valley Sector}}

:

{{cite report |title=Cultural Landscape Report |last=Bischoff |first=Matt C., Historian II |date=February 2007 |publisher=California Department of Parks and Recreation |series=Sutter Buttes State Park, Sutter County, California |place=Sacramento, California |department=Northern Service Center}}

:

{{cite report |title=Cultural Resources Inventory of the Sutter Buttes |publisher=California Department of Parks and Recreation |edition=revised |series=Sutter Buttes State Park, Sutter County, California |orig-year=2007 |year=2011 |department=Northern Buttes District |place=Oroville, CA}}

In 2003, the California Department of Parks and Recreation purchased {{convert|1784.5|acre|km2|abbr=on}} in Peace Valley, on the north side of the Sutter Buttes, for $3 million with the intent to develop it as a state park. In 2005 the Parks Commission determined that the property would be a state park, but it was not officially named.{{Cite news |last=Garrison |first=Jessica |date=2024-05-20 |title=The magical California state park that doesn't allow visitors |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-05-20/the-state-park-on-sutter-buttes-no-one-can-visit |access-date=2024-05-23 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}For a discussion of the property and the park process see "Sutter Buttes Park Project Naming and Classification Document," from 2005. The California Department of Parks and Recreation lists the park's name as unofficial and its current status as closed to the public as of 2017. {{cite web | title=California Department of Parks and Recreation page for Sutter Buttes | url=http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=23452 | access-date = 2017-02-01}}

Between 1960 and 1962, the US Air Force built a Titan 1 ICBM missile launch complex at the north side of the Sutter Buttes, the Pennington Missile Base. A part of the 851st Strategic Missile Squadron headquartered at nearby Beale Air Force Base, the site was designated "851-B." The companion 851-A and 851-C launch sites were located near Lincoln, California, and Chico, California.{{Cite web|url=http://www.siloworld.net/851st%20SMS/BEALEAFB.HTM|title=BEALE AFB|website=www.siloworld.net|access-date=2019-03-31}} Designed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers to survive a nuclear attack, the Titan 1 complexes were the largest and most hardened of the first-generation ICBM facilities. The sites were composed of three underground missile silos interconnected to support and command bunkers by a network of tunnels.{{Cite web|url=https://www.missilebases.com/titan-i-c1ypw|title=Missile Bases, Communication Bunkers, & Underground Properties|website=missilebases|language=en|access-date=2019-03-31}} The facility was active between 1962 and 1965. In January 1965, the Titan 1 ICBM was phased out by the US Department of Defense. All missiles were removed from the site by February 1965.{{Citation|title=851st Strategic Missile Squadron|date=2018-11-17|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=851st_Strategic_Missile_Squadron&oldid=869290030|work=Wikipedia|language=en|access-date=2019-03-31}} The facilities were then decommissioned and the land subsequently sold back into private ownership.[http://www.militarymuseum.org/Titan1B.html Beale Air Force Base Titan Complex 4B], Militarymuseum.org{{Cite web |title=BEALE AFB |url=http://www.siloworld.net/CONST/Titan/T1/BEALE/beale__afb.htm |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.siloworld.net}} The site has been host to many vandals and trespassers since the early 1980s to the present.{{cite web

| title = Titan 1

| publisher = California Cold War Museum & Memorial

| url = http://www.calcoldwar.org/Titan-Missile-Page.php

| access-date = 2008-12-12

| archive-date = 2011-01-24

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110124212340/http://www.calcoldwar.org/Titan-Missile-Page.php

| url-status = dead

}}

In September 2016, a US Air Force Lockheed U-2 from the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron crashed in the Sutter Buttes during a training mission, killing one of the two pilots.{{Cite web |date=2016-09-20 |title=1 Pilot Dead, Another Injured in California Spy Plane Crash |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/one-pilot-dead-one-injured-california-spy-plane-crash/3517501.html |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=Voice of America |language=en}}[https://www.dailydemocrat.com/2016/09/20/1-pilot-dead-following-u2-spy-plane-crash-into-sutter-buttes/ 1 pilot dead following U2 spy plane crash into Sutter Buttes], Dailydemocrat.com

Before 1960, the land was private, but accessible to the public. In 1960, a fire spread on the Buttes and the ranchers decided to close its access to the public. Since the state acquired some of the Buttes, it intends to redevelop its public access but the neighboring ranchers are highly hostile to that idea.

Public access to the Sutter Buttes is limited.{{Cite web |date=2024-05-20 |title=The magical California state park that doesn't allow visitors |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-05-20/the-state-park-on-sutter-buttes-no-one-can-visit |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} Almost all of the surrounding land is privately held by ranchers and farmers, but an exception is a {{convert|200|acre|km2|abbr=on|adj=on}} parcel encompassing most of North Butte, donated by deed from the McClatchy Company to the Sutter Buttes Regional Land Trust.

{{cite web

|url=http://www.sutterbutteslandtrust.org/about-the-land-trust/our-history/

|title=Sutter Buttes Regional Land Trust - Our History

|access-date=2015-02-26

}}

A few naturalists and local organizations, including Middle Mountain Interpretive Hikes,

{{cite web

|url=http://www.middlemountainhikes.org/

|title=Middle Mountain Interpretive Hikes

|access-date=2015-02-26

}}

and the Sutter County Historical Society,{{cite web

|url=http://www.suttercountyhistory.org/

|title=Sutter County Historical Society

|access-date=2015-02-26

|archive-date=2015-02-27

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150227063134/http://www.suttercountyhistory.org/

|url-status=dead

}}

lead hikes through some areas.

In 2003, the California Department of Parks and Recreation purchased {{convert|1,785| acres}} of land within the Sutter Buttes for $2.9 million. This land was planned to be developed into a state park, however, this has not been completed due to the inability to purchase land that would connect the park to a county road. Owners of the land within the Sutter Buttes continue to oppose the development of the area due to economical and emotional ties to the area. On the loop around the mountain, every access road has posted warning signs stating private property and refusing trespassers.

File:Sutter Buttes2.jpg|Sutter Buttes, 2006

File:Sutter Buttes Mountain Range.jpg|Sutter Buttes, 2024

File:Major General John Fremont Memorial (2024)-L1005339.jpg|A monument at the base of the mountains indicating that John C. Fremont camped nearby

File:SutterButesFremontMemorialInscription.JPG|A close up of the inscription on the memorial

File:The Tiki at the Sutter Buttes, California.jpg|The Tiki

File:Rock of Gibraltar, Sutter Buttes, California.jpg|Rock of Gibraltar, Sutter Buttes, California

File:Hikers in the Sutter Buttes.jpg|Hikers on a slope

File:Volcanic Remnants from the Sutter Buttes Range.jpg|Remnants of volcanic explosion deposits

File:Sutter Buttes Orchard Landscape.jpg|Sutter Buttes and private orchard

File:Sutter Buttes Private Property.jpg|Private Property, No Trespassers sign on adjoined farm

File:Private Access Road to Sutter Buttes State Park.jpg|Private Access Road

{{Portal|California}}

• List of highest points in California by county
• Island range
• Sky island

{{reflist|refs=

{{cite news

| last = Stienstra

| first = Tom

| title = State buys parcel in Sutter Buttes But public access to Peace Valley could take years

| work = San Francisco Chronicle

| page = B-1

| date = 2004-03-18

| url = http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/03/18/BAG6S5MUGB1.DTL&type=printable

| access-date = 2009-05-29}}

}}

• {{cite book

|first=Stuart |last=Allan

|year=2005

|title=California Road and Recreation Atlas

|publisher=Benchmark Maps

|isbn=0-929591-80-1

|page=64

}}

• {{cite web

|title=Sutter Buttes Regional Land Trust

|url=http://www.sutterbutteslandtrust.org/

}}

• {{cite web

|first=C. Michael |last=Hogan

|year=2009

|title=Yellow Mariposa Lily (Calochortus luteus)

|editor-first=N. |editor-last=Stromberg

|website=GlobalTwitcher.com

|url=http://www.globaltwitcher.com/artspec_information.asp?thingid=97686

|url-status=dead

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004094242/http://www.globaltwitcher.com/artspec_information.asp?thingid=97686

|archive-date=2011-10-04

}}

• {{cite book

|editor1-first=Charles A. |editor1-last=Wood

|editor2-first=Jürgen |editor2-last=Kienle

|year=1990

|title=Volcanoes of North America

|publisher=Cambridge University Press

|pages=225–226

|isbn=0-521-43811-X

}}

• {{cite report

|title=Project Naming and Classification Document

|series=Sutter Buttes

|publisher=California State Parks

|date=8 March 2005

|edition=2nd

|url=http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/23452/files/sutterbuttesclassification&naming%203-8-052nd.pdf

}}

• {{cite report

|title=Interim Operational Guidelines

|series=Sutter Buttes

|date=1 March 2005

|publisher=California State Parks

|department=Northern Buttes District, Valley Sector

|quote= Approved by PPPC

}}

• {{cite report

|title=Cultural Landscape Report

|series=Sutter Buttes State Park, Sutter County, California

|first=Matt C., Historian II |last=Bischoff

|place=Sacramento, California

|publisher=California Department of Parks and Recreation

|department=Northern Service Center

|date=February 2007

}}

• {{cite report

|title=Cultural Resources Inventory of the Sutter Buttes

|series=Sutter Buttes State Park, Sutter County, California

|orig-year=2007 |edition=revised |year=2011

|department=Northern Buttes District

|publisher=California Department of Parks and Recreation

|place=Oroville, CA

}}

• [https://californiarevealed.org/do/5dad7049-d082-4273-84f2-4bb6be498d56 Professor Brian Hausback talks about Sutter Buttes geology on California Revealed]
• {{cite web |url=https://www.middlemountainhikes.org/|title=Middle Mountain Interpretive Hikes}}
• {{cite gvp |name=Sutter Buttes |vn=323821 |access-date=2021-06-28}}
• {{cite report |series=Sutter Buttes Project |title=Naming and Classification Document |publisher=California State Parks |date=8 March 2005 |edition=2nd |url=http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/23452/files/sutterbuttesclassification&naming%203-8-052nd.pdf}}
• [https://www.sutterbutteslandtrust.org/north-butte/ North Butte] - Sutter Buttes Regional Land Trust
• [https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=23452 Sutter Buttes State Park]

{{Authority control}}

Category:Buttes of California

Category:Locations in Native American mythology

Category:Mountain ranges of Sutter County, California

Category:Geography of the Sacramento Valley

Category:Volcanoes of California

Category:Extinct volcanoes of the United States

Category:Pleistocene lava domes

Category:Pleistocene California

Category:John Sutter

Category:Mountain ranges of Northern California

Category:Lava domes of the United States