Sacramento, California

=== Mexican period ===
[[File:Sutterfort (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|In 1839, [[John Augustus Sutter]] established [[Sutter's Fort]], which he called [[New Helvetia|Nueva Helvetia]]. In 1841, he was officially granted the land by Governor [[Juan Bautista Alvarado]].]]

[[John Sutter|John Sutter Sr.]] first arrived in the area on August 13, 1839, at the confluence of the American and Sacramento Rivers with a Mexican land grant of {{convert|50,000|acre|ha}}. The next year, he and his party established Sutter's Fort, a massive adobe structure with walls {{convert|18|ft|m}} high and {{convert|3|ft|m|spell=in}} thick.<ref name="legendsofamerica.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ca-oldsacramento.html|title=Old Sacramento, California – Walking on History|publisher=Legends of America|access-date=October 2, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525050816/http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ca-oldsacramento.html|archive-date=May 25, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

Representing Mexico, Sutter Sr. called his colony New [[Helvetia]], a Swiss-inspired name, and was the political authority and dispenser of justice in the new settlement. Soon, the colony began to grow as more and more pioneers headed west. Within just a few short years, Sutter Sr. had become a grand success, owning a {{convert|10|acre|ha|adj=on}} orchard and a herd of 13,000 cattle. Fort Sutter became a regular stop for the increasing number of immigrants coming through the valley. In 1847, Sutter Sr. received 2,000 fruit trees, which started the agriculture industry in the Sacramento Valley. Later that year, Sutter Sr. hired James Marshall to build a [[sawmill]] so he could continue to expand his empire,<ref name="legendsofamerica.com" /> but unbeknownst to many, Sutter Sr.'s "empire" had been built on thin margins of credit.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/johnsutterlifeon00hurt/page/83 <!-- quote=his father's loose business habits. --> John Sutter: A Life on the North American Frontier] By Albert L. Hurtado. University of Oklahoma Press, 2006. p. 236. Retrieved September 10, 2017.</ref>