Sutterville

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Plan of the never established city of Sutterville

Sutterville (also: Sutter, Sutter City or Suttersville) is a settlement in the city of Sacramento , California .

history

The center of New Helvetia was Sutter's Fort about 4 kilometers southeast of the confluence of the American River in the Sacramento River and about 2 kilometers from the bank of the American River. The goods needed for the construction and supply of New Helvetia came from Yerba Buena (San Francisco) and were landed about 2 kilometers south of the mouth of the American River on the east bank of the Sacramento, which is why the place was called Embarcadero . At that time ocean-going ships came as far as that. In the area between the two rivers, Sutter had built agricultural properties. The sheep and pig farms were set up a few kilometers south of the landing site. Johann August Sutterannounced in a letter from January 1845 his intention to found a city there, which he wanted to name Montezuma . Sutter later placed the site for the city's foundation a little closer to Embarcadero (about 4 kilometers south of the landing site) and Fort (about 4 kilometers southwest of the fort) and chose the name Suttersville . In January 1846, Lansford W. Hastings and John Bidwell drafted a city map and were given a number of lots - Hastings the entire north half, making him the largest landowner in Sutterville. In 1847, California's first brick building was erected in Sutterville. The Columbia Hotel was built in 1848.

In January 1849 the sale of land began in Sacramento, a newly planned town between Embarcadero and Fort. On the initiative of Sam Brannon, Johann August Sutter jun. Land to pay off his father's debts. This year the usual flooding of the area did not occur and the sale of the land at high prices boomed.

The real estate prices that could be achieved led to a battle between different groups of property speculators in 1849. Among others, the later governor John McDougal tried to develop Sutterville at the expense of Sacramento. The two cities in the process of being founded and their groups of investors tried to poach the trading branches from each other and specifically gave away land. The floor plan of Sutterville was significantly expanded on paper several times and the name was changed from Sutterville to Sutter .

In the winter of 1849/50, Sacramento suffered flood damage, whereupon the concept for a dyke system was presented in March 1850. Sutterville tried now to play off his advantages on increased ground against the flooded rival Sacramento. On the other hand, Sutterville needed better unloading facilities for ships and the backfilling of a swamp area. Sacramento went dry again, and Sutterville dried up almost completely in the fall of 1850 - few houses and a brick factory remained. After another flood of Sacramento in 1853, the landowners of Sutter (ville) made a new attempt to rebuild their city and poach companies from Sacramento, which again failed. In the winter of 1861 the situation repeated itself, but Sutterville had no chance.

From 1855 to 1860 the settlement had a post office. In 1861 Camp Union was built in Sutterville, which served as a training camp for around 300 Union Army volunteers , and in 1862 a brewery was opened in the Vance Brick Building . The training camp and brewery closed at the end of the decade. In 1868 Sutterville still had about 100 residents.

Sutterville has been a California Historical Landmark since 1957, which is marked by a plaque.

Which Sutter founded which city?

Johann August Sutter initiated the establishment of Sutterville. He is also often credited with founding the city of Sacramento, but this is incorrect. He may have had Sutter's Fort built, which today also belongs to Sacramento, but Sacramento City has survived Sutter's eldest son Johann August Sutter junior. Thanks to. The junior had arrived in Fort Sutter in September 1848 and his father had transferred his fortune to him in October in order to remove it from the control of the Russian-American Society , which wanted to collect the purchase price for Fort Ross by accessing New Helvetia . Sutter jun. quickly realized that the thousands of incoming immigrants would squatters the properties around Fort Sutter if he didn't secure them. Since he also urgently needed money to pay his father's debts, he gladly and quickly responded to Sam Brannon's proposal to sell the land between Embarcadero and Fort. Since his father had gone back to the mining area and indulged in alcohol, an agreement with him was not possible and so the son justified the competition for the father's pending city foundation. His "friends" were now working on Sutter sen. to secure their land speculation and thus drove a wedge between father and son. Sutter Sr. was not the founder of Sacramento City, but a fierce opponent of this foundation.

literature

  • Ernest Emanuel Lehr: Sutterville: the unsuccessful attempt to establish a town safe from Floods, 2016 online
  • G. Walter Reed: History of Sacramento County, California Google digitized
  • Winfield J. Davis: An illustrated history of Sacramento County, California. Containing a history of Sacramento County from the earliest period of its ocupancy to the present time. Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company 1890 archive.org
  • Mark A. Eifler: Gold Rush Capitalists: Greed and Growth in Sacramento , Albuquerque 2002 [1]
  • Albert L. Hurtado: John Sutter. A Life on the North American Frontier . University of Oklahoma Press, Norman OK 2006, ISBN 0-8061-3772-X, can be borrowed from the Internet Archive

Web links

Commons : Sutterville  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ see Lehr p. 10.
  2. ↑ see John Bidwell: Echoes of the Past about California. Chico o. J, p. 56 in the Internet Archive
  3. ↑ see Lehr p. 48.
  4. ^ Office of Historic Preservation No. 593
  5. ↑ see Hurtado p. 245ff.

Coordinates: 38 ° 32 ′ 45 "  N , 121 ° 30 ′ 30"  W.