Category Archives: Sutter’s Fort

Shopping at Sutter’s Fort, 1849

Posted on December 28, 2020 by nancyleek

Today in History — Courtesy of the Sacramento History Museum: December 28, 1848 On this day in 1848, John Sutter Jr., in an effort to raise capital to pay off his father’s looming debts, started to sell portions of Sutter’s … Continue reading →

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Rise, Ruin & Restoration: A Review

Posted on September 24, 2019 by nancyleek

Sutter’s Fort stands at the center of California history. Here its biography, telling the  story of that iconic fort from the day John Sutter arrived at the spot in August 1839, through its building and its decline, to the State … Continue reading →

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Sutter’s Fort Restored

Posted on February 3, 2018 by nancyleek

“In its broken, withered and dilapidated condition it offers sublime evidence of the devastation of time.” So wrote the Sacramento Daily Union on September 2, 1891. But by 1890, nostalgia for “the days of old, the days of gold, the … Continue reading →

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Sutter’s Fort As It Was

Posted on February 2, 2018 by nancyleek

This painting hangs in the California History Room at the State Library in Sacramento. It shows Sutter’s Fort, what was left of it, as it looked before its restoration in the 1890s. The fort had deteriorated quickly after the gold … Continue reading →

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Diversity at New Helvetia

Posted on January 23, 2016 by nancyleek

The colony that John Sutter gathered around him in California was nothing if not diverse. When John Bidwell made his way to John Sutter’s settlement in November 1841, he found Sutter living amongst a motley crew gathered from the far … Continue reading →

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Murder at Sutter’s Fort

Posted on December 30, 2015 by nancyleek

In the last post I published a letter from the Themis of December 21, 1889, in which John Bidwell writes “You ask if I can throw any light on the killing of “The White Horse?”” So, who or what was … Continue reading →

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Sutter’s Fort as John Bidwell Saw It

Posted on December 29, 2015 by nancyleek

The following letter appeared in the December 21, 1889 issue of Themis, a weekly compendium of political and cultural news published in Sacramento. The paper ran a series about early days at Sutter’s Fort, which drew this comment from General … Continue reading →

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