In early 1834, a man with a failing store in Burgdorf, Switzerland abandoned his family and set off for America. He arrived in New York, and quickly changed his name from Johann August Sutter to John Sutter. He also claimed a military background, saying he had been a captain in the Royal Swiss Guard of the French king. There's a question whether that was true, but as “Captain John Sutter,” he soon joined a caravan headed for Missouri.
In 1835 Sutter was moving farther westward, in a wagon train headed for Santa Fe. For the next few years he engaged in several businesses, herding horses back to Missouri and then guiding travelers out to the west. Always close to being bankrupt, he heard about opportunity and land in California, and joined an expedition to the Cascade Mountains.
Taking the Long Way to California
Sutter loved the adventure of the trip, which took him to Vancouver. He wanted to reach California, which would have been difficult to do overland, so he actually sailed to Hawaii. He hoped to catch a ship in Honolulu bound for San Francisco.
In Hawaii his plans, typically, unraveled. There were no ships bound for San Francisco. But, trading on his purported military credentials, he was able to raise funds for a California expedition which, bizarrely, went by way of Alaska. In June 1839 he was able to take a ship from a fur trading settlement at Sitka to San Francisco, arriving on July 1.
Talking His Way Into Opportunity
At that time, California was Mexican territory. Sutter approached the governor, Juan Alvarado, and presented him with letters of introduction. The governor was impressed and told Sutter to find a suitable tract of land where he could begin a settlement. If the settlement was successful, Sutter could eventually apply for Mexican citizenship.
While Sutter had talked himself into what seems like a wonderful offer, it was not a guaranteed success. The central valley of California at that time was inhabited by Native American tribes who were very hostile to white settlers. Other colonies in the area had failed.
With his usual optimism, Sutter set out with a band of settlers in late 1839. Finding a suitable spot where the American and Sacramento Rivers came together, Sutter began building a fort. Over the following decade the little colony, which Sutter had dubbed Nueva Helvetia (or New Switzerland), absorbed various trappers, immigrants, and wanders who were also seeking fortune or adventure in California.
The Former Shopkeeper Becomes a Land Baron
Sutter built up a huge estate, and by the mid-1840s the former shopkeeper from Switzerland was known as “General Sutter.” He was involved in various political intrigues, including disputes with another power player in early California, John Charles Fremont. Sutter somehow emerged unscathed from these troubles, and his fortune seemed assured.
In a very peculiar irony of history, the discovery of gold on his property on January 24, 1848 sealed his eventual doom. The California Gold Rush resulted. The workers in Sutter's settlement deserted him to search for gold in the hills, and squatters encroached on his lands. By 1852 he was bankrupt.
A Casualty of the California Gold Rush
Sutter eventually returned to the east coast, living in a Moravian colony in Lititz, Pennsylvania. While on a trip to Washington, DC, he petitioned Congress for financial help. While his relief bill was bottled up in the Senate he died in a Washington hotel on January 19, 1881.
Sutter is best remembered as something of a footnote to history because James Marshall, one of his workers, discovered gold at “Sutter’s Mill” in 1849. But his peculiar life has long attracted interest, and there’s no denying his role as a central character in the early history of California.
