The Demise of John Sutter

The life of Captain John Augustus Sutter, the German-Swiss pioneer, dramatically changed when gold was discovered on his property on January 24, 1848. Once the news of the find was made public the West was transformed into a land teaming with eager prospectors. Sutter immigrated from Switzerland hoping to make his fortune in America. He scarcely could have imagined the impact the glittering lumps of gold found near his sawmill in Coloma, California, would have had on his future and that of the emerging nation. Sutter was born in February 15, 1803 in Kandern Baden, Germany, a few miles from the Swiss border. He received his formal education in the village of Neuchatal. At 13 he became an apprentice to a firm of printers and booksellers. Although he was a diligent worker the trade did not suit him. He ventured into business, owning and operating a dry goods store. In addition to managing his store he also served as a Lieutenant in the Swedish Army Reserve Corps. Due in part to his expensive way of living, Sutter eventually ran into trouble with his debtors and lost the store. In May 1834, he fled the area and his creditors and headed for America. He left behind a wife and five children. Shortly after arriving in New York, Sutter was able to reestablish himself in the business world. His spending habits had not changed however and he fell into the same desperate financial situation as before. Again he ran and this time ended up in St. Louis, Missouri. There he worked as an inn keeper and merchant. Four years after his arrival into the states, and with a goal of building an agricultural empire, he joined the American Fur Company and headed west. After taking a brief detour to the Hawaiian Islands, Sutter made it to Monterey, California. He was driven to see his dream realized and met with the leader of the territory, Governor Alvarado, to discuss the possibility of establishing a business in the country. As soon as the initial permission was granted, Sutter secure two schooners filled with supplies and sent them down the Sacramento River. Two weeks later the vessels landed at the location where the American River meets the Sacramento. The Natives around the area where Sutter had disembarked did not like the foreign control of their land. They harassed him because of his association with the government in power. Sutter made treaties with the Indians and dealt fairly with them in all matters. They finally became friends and later worked for him. John Sutter successfully acquired a land grant by becoming an official Mexican citizen on August 29, 1840. The following year he began construction on a fort that would become the headquarters for all newcomers to California. Miwok and Nisenam Indians, Mexican and Hawaiian people were hired to work and guard the fort and the 48 acres of land surrounding the site. The fort housed a distillery, flour mill, bakery and a blacksmith and carpentry shop. The fields around the property contained several heads of cattle and numerous horses. There were also sheep, chickens and pigs. The fort grew to become a necessary stop for emigrants who came west. In 1847, Sutter contracted with the carpenter and pioneer James Marshall to build a sawmill on the South Fork of the American River, 50 miles east of Sutter’s Fort. The sawmill was near completion when Marshall discovered gold while walking along the clear banks of the water. At the time of the find that started the Gold Rush, Sutter’s asset were at their height. After several years of growth, the fort was self-contained. Instead of the gold find bringing him fortune, his land was suddenly overrun with squatters. They slaughtered his cattle at will and helped themselves to the rest of his livestock. His wheat fields were trampled, his lumber and grist mills were deserted and dismantled, and hides were left to rot in his tannery. His workers, even the Native Americans, abandoned him for the gold fields. Broken and desperate, Sutter fled with his newly arrived family to a farm near Yuba City, California. By 1865, having seen his fort reduced to one building and his farm burned to the ground, Sutter moved to Lititz, Pennsylvania. He lived out the remainder of his days near poverty. From 1865 to 1880, Sutter lobbied Congress for compensation for the loss of land for which he had paid thousands of dollars in taxes. Year after year he was told by political leaders that the matter would be addressed and settled, but it was never fully resolved. On June 20, 1880, John Sutter died of heart failure. He was 77 years-old. His funeral was attended by General Phil Sheridan and Mark Twain, and his eulogy was delivered by Western Expedition leader, General John Charles Fremont. Sutter was laid to rest in the Moravian Brotherhood’s Cemetery in Lititz, Pennsylvania.