Portrait of John Sutter

People/magnate

John Sutter

John Sutter (1803–1880), magnate, from Switzerland. Linked to gold.

The lucky break

Founded the first white settlement on the site of Sacramento in 1839 and received a large land grant from the Mexican government.1,2

The downfall

The gold found on his land at Coloma in 1848 ruined him. Workers deserted, diggers overran his lands, and the Supreme Court decided against his 33-league land claim, leaving him reduced to want.1,2

Legacy

His mill race was where James Marshall found gold, starting the California gold rush. Appletons describes him as of Swiss parentage, born in Baden.1,2

Story cards

Timeline

  1. 1848James Marshall finds gold at Sutter's sawmill3
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Where next

People

Partner ofJames MarshallA nugget in a mill race made one man famous and ruined his employer.1,4

Events

InvestigatedJames Marshall finds gold at Sutter's sawmillThe gold rush on his land cost him everything.1

Sources

  1. Sutter, John Augustus Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1889 (public-domain text on Wikisource)
  2. File pages and licence metadata for portraits (via the Commons imageinfo/extmetadata API) Wikimedia Commons
  3. The California Gold Rush (California National Historic Trail) US National Park Service
  4. Marshall, James Wilson Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1900 (public-domain text on Wikisource)

Pictures on this page: John A. Sutter Oval Crop Edit Desat.png, Unknown author (Public domain).

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0; Underground mining equipment by Kaupo Kikkas, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Gold prospectors constructing a long box with a filter for panning gold. Process print after H.M. Paget, 1899., Henry Marriott Paget (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Pangkalpinang. Mijn 3b. Een reeks koelies bezig met het transporteeren van grond, Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0).