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 who became a Mexican and later an American citizen, known for establishing Sutter's Fort in the area that would eventually become Sacramento, California, the state's capital. His employee James W. Marshall discovered gold, leading to the founding of the mill-making team at Sutter's Mill. Sutter, however, saw his own business ventures fail during the California gold rush, though those of his elder son, John Augustus Sutter Jr., were more successful.
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👉 John Sutter in the context of 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 gold there in 1848. This discovery set off the California gold rush (1848–1855), a major event in the history of the United States.
The mill was later reconstructed in the original design and today forms part of Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park in Coloma, California. A meteorite fall in 2012 landed close to the mill; the recovered fragments were named the Sutter's Mill meteorite.
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John Sutter in the context of James W. Marshall
James Wilson Marshall (October 8, 1810 – August 10, 1885) was an American carpenter and sawmill operator, who on January 24, 1848, reported the finding of gold at Coloma, California, a small settlement on the American River about 36 miles northeast of Sacramento. His discovery was the impetus for the California gold rush. The mill property was owned by Johann (John) Sutter who employed Marshall to build his mill. The wave of gold seekers turned everyone's attention away from the mill which eventually fell into disrepair and was never used as intended. Neither Marshall nor Sutter ever profited from the gold find.
John Sutter in the context of Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California. The county seat of Sacramento County, it is located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in the Sacramento Valley. It is the fourth-most populous city in Northern California, sixth-most populous city in the state, and 35th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 524,943 at the 2020 census. The Sacramento metropolitan area, with 2.46 million residents, is the 27th-largest metropolitan area in the country.
Before the arrival of the Spanish, the area was inhabited by the Nisenan, Maidu, and other indigenous peoples of California. In 1808, Spanish cavalryman Gabriel Moraga surveyed and named the Río del Santísimo Sacramento (Most Holy Sacrament River), after the Blessed Sacrament. In 1839, Juan Bautista Alvarado, Mexican governor of Alta California, granted the responsibility of colonizing the Sacramento Valley to Swiss-born Mexican citizen John Augustus Sutter, who subsequently established Sutter's Fort and the settlement at the Rancho Nueva Helvetia. Following the American Conquest of California and the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, the waterfront developed by Sutter began to be developed and incorporated in 1850 as the City of Sacramento. In 1852, the city offered its county courthouse to the state of California to house the state legislature, resulting in the city becoming the permanent state capital in 1854 and ushering in the construction of a new state capitol building which was finished in 1874.
John Sutter in the context of Sutter's Fort
Sutter's Fort was a 19th-century agricultural and trade colony in the Mexican Alta California province. Established in 1839, the site of the fort was originally part of a utopian colonial project called New Helvetia (New Switzerland) by its builder John Sutter, though construction of the fort proper would not begin until 1841. The fort was the first non-Indigenous community in the California Central Valley, and saw grave mistreatment of Indigenous laborers in plantation or feudal style conditions. The fort is famous for its association with the Donner Party, the California gold rush, and the formation of the city of Sacramento, surrounding the fort. It is notable for its proximity to the end of the California and Siskiyou Trails, which it served as a waystation.
In modern times, the adobe structure has been restored to its original condition (38°34′20″N 121°28′16″W / 38.5723°N 121.4712°W) and is now administered by California Department of Parks and Recreation. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961.