Table of Contents
When was Sutter fort built?
1841
He built “Sutter’s Fort” (1841), set up frontier industries, and, in spite of his enormous debts, provided lavish hospitality, and often employment, to traders, trappers, and immigrants who came to his fort. Sutter was much less accommodating to the local Native Americans whose labour he exploited.
Why did Sutter build a fort?
Envisioning an agricultural utopia, Sutter began to build a settlement, which he called New Helvetia, or “New Switzerland.” And to protect his new property, he built what became known as Sutter’s Fort.
Who helped Sutter build his fort?
In 1847 Sutter contracted with James Marshall to build a sawmill on the south fork of the American river approximately 50 miles east of Sutter’s Fort. The sawmill was almost completed when, on January 24, 1848, James Marshall discovered gold in the tailrace.
When did Sutter move to California?
Having abandoned his wife, five children and debts in Bern, Switzerland in 1834, Sutter arrived in Mexican California in July 1839 posing as a Swiss Guard officer forced to flee the French Revolution of 1830.
How old is Sutter’s Fort?
Sutter’s Fort was a 19th-century agricultural and trade colony in the Mexican Alta California province. The site of the fort was established in 1839 and originally called New Helvetia (New Switzerland) by its builder John Sutter, though construction of the fort proper would not begin until 1841.
What school did John Sutter attend?
Johann August Sutter was born on February 23, 1803, in Kandern, Baden (present-day Germany). His father came from the nearby town of Rünenberg in the Canton of Basel in Switzerland. Johann went to school in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
Who was president during gold rush?
President James Polk
The Gold Rush began in earnest only after President James Polk endorsed the discovery in December 1848. Prospectors heading to California the following year were dubbed “forty-niners.” Nearly 100,000 people arrived in California in 1849.