Author Archives: nancyleek

At Bodega and Fort Ross John Bidwell took charge of removing the Russian property that John Sutter had purchased. It wasn’t just the cannons, the muskets, and other equipment that he took. The houses and buildings themselves were demolished and … Continue reading →

Dan Barnett’s review of John Bidwell: The Adventurous Life of a California Pioneer appeared in the Chico Enterprise-Record today. You can read it here. I’ve been running out in the dark every Thursday morning for the past two months to … Continue reading →

“By the way, I once shot off one of those old muskets. On one occasion when out with two Indians our dogs treed a California lion. The lion stood one hundred and fifty feet above on two limbs looking down … Continue reading →

The Russians are leaving! the Russians are leaving! — that was the news going around Sutter’s Fort when John Bidwell arrived there in the fall of 1841. The Russian-American Company had established itself in northern California first in 1811. They … Continue reading →

John Bidwell spent his first Christmas in California at Sutter’s settlement. Sutter himself hadn’t been there very long, and was only just getting started with his plans for fields and a fort. “The settlement, if it could then be so … Continue reading →

Today the only grizzly bears to be seen in California are on the state flag. But in John Bidwell’s day, grizzlies were a common sight, and a significant danger. California in 1841 was a land abounding in wild game–deer, antelope, … Continue reading →

John Augustus Sutter (born Johann August Suter in 1803) claimed to have been a captain in the Swiss Guard, and to further that image, bought himself a uniform jacket in St. Louis, before heading westward. He may have served in … Continue reading →