The original
residents of California were not the spaniards,
mexicans or gold rush miners, they were the
Nisenan, a branch of the Maidu tribe of Native
Americans. They inhabited the valley for
thousands of years before settlements from
others occurred. It was in 1808 that Lieutenant
Gabriel Moraga and his party of Spanish soldiers
came to discover the Sacramento and American
Rivers. At the time, the Sacramento River was
called Jesus Maria and the Feather River was
call the
 Sacramento.
No real settlement took place for quite a few
years. In 1827-28, Jedediah Smith and other fur
trappers passed through along with more trappers
during the 1930's. Early in the 1930's, a major
smallpox epidemic spread through the area,
killing around 20,000 of the Indians in the
valley. Finally in 1839, John Augustus Sutter
received a 48,000 acre land grant from then
governor, Alvarado. He came from Switzerland in
1834 and went west, making it to Sacramento on
12 August 1839. He didn't come directly,
however. He came via New York, St. Louis, Hawaii
and Alaska, in that order. While in Hawaii, he
became friends with King Kamehameha who gave
Sutter eight men to help him reach his
destination safely. Sutter originally hoped to
create a haven for European emigrants by
creating a new community which he named New
Helvetia or New Switzerland. He moved inland
about one mile from where he landed to build his
trading post. Sutter hired James Marshall to
build a sawmill on the American River about
thirty miles east of the fort. This is the place
where gold was discovered by Marshall on 24
January 1848 kicking off the now famous Gold
Rush.. In those days, news traveled rather
slowly and even when the news reached San
Francisco, it warranted only an item on the back
page of the newspaper. The real gold fever
didn't strike yet. This happened after Sam
Brannan, a local merchant, gathered up some
nuggets and put them in a bottle. He then rode
through San Francisco shouting out the fact that
there was gold in "them thar hills."
It didn't take long for the fever to attack the
entire city and quickly became virtually
deserted. The rest of the nation heard of the
news when President Polk announced the fact in
Congress. With the throngs of people coming
west, there was ample opportunity for new
business in California and many grew rich
through their insight. Sutter, whose name is
always remembered in conjunction with the gold
rush, did not fare so well. His workers deserted
his sawmill and his creditors demanded their
money. Sutter's son arrived soon afterward from
Switzerland and was able to help his father by
dividing up some of the land holdings there and
auctioning them off. Sam Brannan, who helped
John Sutter, Jr., is credited for the naming of
Sacramento. The county, of course, bears the
same name. John Sutter, Sr., later left the area
after selling his properties and died in 1860 in
Washington, D.C.
Though Sutter had
his problems, Sacramento and the area did not
suffer the same fate. In 1850, California was
admitted to the Union and Sacramento was named
the state capital in 1854. Along with the
building of the capitol building, many of the
new millionaires of the gold rush began to build
their large mansions here and the city of
Sacramento became one of the fastest growing
cities in the country.
Sacramento became
the State Capital in 1854.
Sacramento is the county seat and also the site
of the state government for California. It is
also the largest city in the county.
Population:
2000
- 1,230,700
Sacramento County is the eighth most populous
county in California.
Location:
The County is
bordered by Contra Costa and San Joaquin
Counties on the south, Amador and El Dorado
Counties on the east, Placer and Sutter Counties
on the north, and Yolo and Solano Counties on
the west.
Geography:
Total area - 990.01 sq. miles
size of unincorporated area: 813.25 sq. miles
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