The daily gazette., 1879-05-14
FIRST EDITION.
Gold in California.
remarkable Career Of GEN. JOhu A..
Sutler, the lsiOmeer-.-The sierras
g Pemmsylyamia---A Romance iss
ReAl Life, with Lights and Shades
Of Frontier Experiences.
Philadelphia Times.1

In the quaint little MOravian village
OF Lifiz, Lancaster county, Pa, lives
John A. Sutter, known throughout this
and other countries as the discoverer Of
gold In California. Few men have ever
experienced such extremes of fortune,
achieved so much against equal disadvan-
tages, or suffered as great measure Of
injustice as General Sutter. The record
of his life would read more like a thrill
ling and highly improbable romance
than the actual experiences of flesh and
blood hero, and while he remains with us
the details of his very remarkable career
should he gathered from his own lips and
put In permanent form for the informa-
tion Of posterity. Nothing is intended
by the present sketch but to give the
barest outline of the old herO's wander
ings, llardships and notable achievements
by virtue Of which he is justly entitled
to be accounted a national bencfactor.
A representative of the Times lately
invaded the hallowed precincts Of old
Litiz in search Of this pioneer of civilz-
alton, and found him living with his wife
In neat but modest little house Just
opposite the principal hotel of the village.
He Is short and stout, little lame with
rheumatism, but erect and quite frisky
yet, in spite of the weight of more than
three-score years upon his shoulders
His head Is bald, save patches of snowy
hair on either side, and his face is adorned
with side whiskers, military moustache
and goatee of the same color. lie enter
tains strangers in courtly way, is hospit-
able to the very limit of his restricted
means, and talks California as long as
there is a listener within ear-shOt. The
following facts in his history are collatcd
from the conversation had during the
call alluded to.
General Sutter is by birth Swiss. In
1880 he was an officer i'm the French
army of Charles X, but after the revo-
luton In July Of that year he emigratcd
TO America, apparently in quest of ad-
venture, fame and fortune. He first set
tied in the western Missouri, but, find
ing that part of the country too tame,
moved further west, and, in 1889, reach
ed California, then under Mexican do
ininion. Two years later, in accordance
with the Mexican laws regulating the Oc-
cupatiOn and settlement of lands, he re-
ceived formal grant Of eleven LEAGUES
near the junction of the the Sacramento
| and American rivers. In 1S45 further
grant of twenty-five leagues was made,
in consideration of valuable civil and
military services rendered by this most
entcrprising settler to the Mexican gov
crnment. These services were evidently
Of high value. lie had been commits
stoned TO guard the northern frontier
and to represent the government in af-
fording security and protection to its in
habtants against the incursions of In
dians and marauding bands of hunters
and trappers who visited the valleys for
the purposes of plumber. For his own
protection and carry to out the spirit oflis
instructions he built, at his own expense
a fort on the first grant, surrounded it
with high wall and mounted cannon
upon it. New Helvetia was the name
he gave to the original eleven leagues
which he settled, and upon which he
built Fort Sutter, and the further grant
of twenty-five leagues, adjoining the first
named tract, was called Sobrdnte (sur-
plus).
Between 1916 and 1s4S this child OF
fortune reached the summit Of his power
aud glory. He was the military com
mander of his district and the Indian
agent ofthe terrtory-literally monarch
OF all he surveyed. His landed estate
comprised, in round numbers, 1906 NJ
acres. He had subjugated wild Indians
and peopled the wilderness with faithful
adherents and sturdy workmen. AT the
magic of his commanding voice houses
shops, mills ard other evidences Of civil
zation had sprung up about him. His
growing crops spread up and down the
Sacramento valley for miles and miles
and his horses and cattle, sheep and
swine covered thousand hills. Con
trast this ruler of an empire all his owl
with the humble deniZen of Litix; say
that the discovery of gold in California
in 1S4S was the direct cause of so sad 6
downfall; and that the monlentous event
occurred on Suffers own land, and thai
one of his hired workmen was the prime
factor in that event-and you have the
skeleton plot of this rare romance in rea
life. .
In May, 184S, the general was con
structing an extensive mill-race for q
saw-mill and had man named Marshall
experimenting the work. Some chill
dren picked out of the race few shining
particles and showed them to Marshall
who, being an old miner from Georgia,
recognized them as gold. The influence
of this discovery upon the world it would
be difficult to compute; but that IL work
ed the utter financial ruin of the man by
whose enterprise alone it was made, is
quite easy OF demonstration. The news
of Marshalls discovery spread like wild
fire through the colony and, naturally
enough, carried Generalization with it.
Mechanic and other laborers deserted
Sutter and went hunting for placers. All
building was suspended, and the mills in
operation became dead loss.
No labor could be had to plant, ma
ture and garner the crops. In the fall Of
1S4S the first newspaper report of the
great discovery was made and, as Is well.
known, the tide of emigration shortly af
ter set in westward carrying with it the
adventurous spirit Of the United States
The objective point of the earlier emf.
grants was Suffers fort, and not 49er
lives who reached that promised land
and will not testify to the extraordinary
kindness and hospitality of the command.
er, Suffers domain became the camp
ing ground of the thrOng that took the
gold fever first, and it is q matter of re
cord that they led liberal notions of the
rights of property. They drove off hosses
and cattle by the herd, one party of five
men disposing in this manner of $6O,OOC
worth of these movable articles of com.
merce, and in three short years they had
not only stripped him of the bulk Of his
| noroopoI nrOne,fy hut. under Dret9ncf