Sutter Creek

Town=20 History

- Gold = Discovery, Early=20 Citizenry, Legends

Historic = Sites - Local Ruins, Relics, Buildings = &=20 Scenery
      =95 Bellot= ti=20 Inn
      =95 Brigno= le=20 Building
      =95 Sutter= =20 Creek Grammar School
      =95 Wildma= n=20 Mine Ruins
      =95 United= =20 Methodist Church

Travelers'= =20 Tips - Directions, = Museums,=20 Lodging, &c=20

Town=20 History

      The town takes its = name from=20 the creek; the creek takes its name from John A. Sutter. Unable to = stop=20 the tide of gold-seekers flowing over and destroying his lands, = Sutter=20 decided to follow the call of gold, trying in vain to recoup what = the Gold=20 Rush had taken. He arrived here in 1848 with a band of Kanakas and = Indians, and upon finding a likely spot began mining along the=20 creek.
      A small settlement = began to=20 grow, centered around a cloth tent where the miners met on rainy = Sundays=20 when they couldn=92t go to Drytown or Jackson. The place = eventually took the=20 name of its most prominent citizen, and was called Sutter=92s = Creek, Sutter,=20 Sutterville, and finally, plain old Sutter Creek. But Sutter = wasn=92t a=20 miner, and many of the other miners in the area didn=92t much = approve of his=20 using servants to dig for gold. He left the area a short while = later,=20 returning with his men to Sutter=92s Fort. He never mined=20 again.
      The camp appeared to = be on=20 the verge of disappearing by 1850, due to the poor placers and the = better=20 diggings to be found elsewhere. This changed dramatically in 1851 = when=20 rich quartz deposits were discovered near the camp. With the = advent of=20 quartz mining, Sutter Creek became firmly established as an = important=20 quartz mining center as well as a foundry center and supply point = for the=20 neighboring quartz mines and=20 towns.
      The post office came = to town=20 in 1852, with Dwight Crandall serving as the first postmaster. = Other=20 businesses included an Adams Express office, stores, saloons, = hotels,=20 bakeries and restaurants, doctors, lawyers, blacksmith, barber and = numerous other professions, sordid and mundane. In September of = 1854,=20 Sutter Creek incorporated as a town which shows there were at = least two=20 hundred inhabitants at that time, as that was the required number = for=20 incorporation. >From that point on the town never looked back, = enjoying=20 immense prosperity for years to come due to its location, in the = midst of=20 some of the most active and profitable deep quartz mines in the = Gold=20 Country. Mines such as the Central Eureka, the Old Eureka, the = Lincoln,=20 the Wildman, the Mahoney, and the Hayward produced millions of = dollars in=20 gold. The famous mines attracted and helped create famous people, = such as=20 Leland Stanford, Alvinza Hayward, and the =93Witch of = Wallstreet,=94 Hetty=20 Green.
      Receiving an = interest in the=20 Union Mine as payment for a merchant=92s debt, Leland Stanford = left his=20 grocery business in Sacramento to travel to Sutter Creek when news = of the=20 mine=92s losses reached him in the late 1850=92s. By this time the = mine had=20 been renamed the Lincoln, and after working the claim for a while = with=20 poor results, Stanford decided to sell the mine for $5,000, = provided he=20 could find a buyer. Robert Downs, the mine foreman, persuaded = Stanford to=20 give the mine one last chance and as fortune would have it, the = chance=20 payed out. Within a year the rich vein was re-discovered, = producing $2.2=20 million in gold between 1860 and 1873. Stanford eventually sold = his=20 interests for $400,000 and later became famous with his partners=20 Huntington, Crocker, and Hopkins by building the Central Pacific=20 transcontinental railroad. Oh yes, he also went on to become = governor of=20 California, a U.S. Senator, and the founder of Stanford=20 University.
      Fires in 1862, = 1865,=20 1870, 1875, 1877, and 1888 took turns destroying portions of = Sutter Creek,=20 the last one wiping out most of the downtown business section. The = damage=20 was always quickly repaired; however, because gold never sleeps. = It=92s=20 always working, or creating work, causing things to happen. It = caused this=20 town to boom, to build, to prosper and to last. It=92s responsible = for the=20 many buildings and homes here that have survived from the = 1800=92s. They=20 were built well, built to last, because they thought the gold = would last.=20 And as it turned out, it did, although in a slightly different = form.=20 Lumbering, and more recently, tourism, now provide Sutter Creek = and much=20 of the Mother Lode with its gold today.

Travelers'=20 Tips
      =95 Lodging
&nb= sp;     =95 Town=20 Map
      =95 Curre= nt=20 = Weather


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