Amateur n 1848, when gold was discovered by James W. Marshall at Sutter’s
Amateur Mill in Coloma (some 50 mi (80.5 km) northeast of the fort), a large number
of gold-seekers came to the area, increasing the population. In August 1848,
Sutter Sr.’s son, John Sutter Jr., arrived in the area to assist his father in
relieving his indebtedness. Now compounding the problem of his father’s
indebtedness, was the additional strain placed on the Sutters by the ongoing
arrival of thousands of new gold miners and prospectors in the area, many
quite content to squat on unwatched portions of the vast Sutter lands, or to
abscond with various unattended Sutter properties or belongings if they
could. In Sutter’s case, rather than being a ‘boon’ for Sutter, his employee’s
discovery of gold in the area turned out to be more of a personal ‘bane’ for him.
By December 1848, John Sutter Jr., in association with Sam Brannan, began
laying out the City of Sacramento, 2 miles south of his father’s settlement of
New Helvetia. This venture was undertaken against the wishes of Sutter Sr.,
but the father, being deeply in debt, was in no position to stop the venture.
For commercial reasons, the new city was named “Sacramento City” after
the Sacramento River. Sutter Jr. and Brannon hired topographical engineer
William H. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for 400
miles (640 km) before reaching the Sacramento–San Joaquin River
Delta and San Francisco Bay. The river drains about 26,500 square miles
(69,000 km2) in 19 California counties, mostly within the fertile agricultural
region bounded by the Coast Ranges and
