Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-10-08
OR|G|NALFORTY-
MarshaIPs Discovery of Gold.
Incidents That Followed.
HISTORY OF SUFFERS FORT
Swiss Army officer Who Reigned in
Ducal State.
RUIN FOLLOWS LUCKY FIND
Lands and Property Wrested From
Him by Hordes Of New
Settlers.
RUIN FOLLOWS LUCKY FIND
BY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS.

Special Correspondence of The Star ana the
Chicago Record Herald.
SACRAMENTO. Cal. September %. 1909.
In the center of the residence portion
Of Sacramento is BLOCK of ground In
closed by an old adote wall. we'll pre-
served and carefully protected. strip of
lawn surrounding it like moat, border
ing the roadside planted to shrubs and
flowers and velvet turf
There are two entrances. Within Is
group of buildings of various sizes-of-
fees warehouses. messrooms. dormito-
ries stables. armorieS and stores.
Two ancient stage coaches built at Con-
cord. y. H. three-quarters of century
ago and much worse for wear. stand In
the courtyard. In the upper room of one
building is a collection of relics of early
days in California--of the golden age. of
intense interest to all pioneers on the Pa
ci1c coast.
A custodian shows people around and
explains things But there ought to be
printed history and description of the
place for the benefit of visitors. for this
is the famous Suffers Fort, the first white
settlement In the northern part of Call
fornia, closely associated with the dis
covery of gold. and the scene of much
exciting history In connection with Ere
mont's explorations: the rescue of the
Pacific slope from the Mexicans and the
Story of Suffers Fort.
John Augustus Suffer was a Swiss, born
in 1903. educated in France at military
college and a captain in the French army
until he was thirty-three years old. Then
he resigned his commission and, with a
number of Swiss friends and relations.
organized colony to emigrate to the
United States.
vance and to select a location. He ar
rived in New York upon his errand in
July. 1884. went to Missouri selected
place purchased lumber. supplies and ip-
plements. and shipped them up the MIS-
souri, upon a boat which struck a snag
and sunk, proving a total loss.
thoroughly disheartened. Suffer Joined
party of hunters and trappers, and
spent several years in the mountains
and on the Pacific coast. He succeeded
In obtaining a grant of eleven square
leagues of land from the Mexican gov
eminent at the junction Of the American
and Sacramento rivers.
He loaded a schooner with lumber and
stores With six white men, Adventures
from various parts of the worlds and
eight friendly Indians. he sailed up the
Sacramento river. and built what is now
known as Suffers Fort. which he called
New Helvetia in honor of his native
country.
The colony grew I'm numbers Suffer be-
came the most important man In all that
part of the country. The remote situa-
tion his enormous area of land, the ex-
ecutive ability and strong character of
Capt. Suffer, gave him an Importance
and influence such as few men have ever
exercised on the American continent
His ranch was a stronghold. protected
from the Indians by high wall and
battery of artillery. He lived and reign
ed like feudal duke.
Suffers Fort was the rendezvous of all
the white people in northern California.
the head of navigation on the river; the
hrst point reached by immigrants; the
trading post for hunters and trappers,
and the source of supplies for the scat
tered Inhabitants OF great empire.
s STste er..1 had oao -four mill. a sawmil.
eral thousand sheep and hogs. and sew
eral thousand acres of land under culti-
vation from which he sold oats to trav-
elers, and harvested the wheat that was
ground into flour at his mill. He had
vineyards and orchards and .carpenter
and blacksmith shops.
Everything that was needed by the set
aiers could De obtained at Suffers Fort.
as well as protection from hostile In
dams and Mexicans, who were enyious
or Suffers power and popularity, and
alarmed at the American invasion.
Marshall Discovers Gold.
Among Suffers employees was a wagon
builder and wheelwright named James Will
son Marshall, who was born in Hunter
den county. n. j., in 1872. and went out
Il the Pacific coast in Is44. After spend
ing the winter in Oregon he drifted down
TO Suffers Fort, and became an imoor-
tant member Of that little colony because
of his mechanical skill
In May. lS41. he was sent from the fort
10 build a sawmill near what is now the
village Of Coloma, Eidorado county,
about thirty miles from Sacramento, and
finished the job in January. ls4s. 1t was
I'm a mi nf civ
kind. with a mill race forty or fifty reds
long, and sluice gate to control the
flow of water.
On the afternoon>of Monday. January
-. 1s4s. while inspecting this mill race
which had been somewhat injured By
heavy rains. Marshall noticed yellow par
ticles in the soil. His curiosity being
aroused, he sent for a tin pan. with which
he washed out teaspoonful Of fine gold.
At the mess table that night he said to
his COMPANIONS:
Boys, / believe have found a gold
mins.'
mo such luck" they responded.
The next morning, however, he made a
closer examination and found a small
simple tests within his power. Convinced
1t was gold. he FASTENED to Suffers Fort
to inform his employer OF his discovery:
Suffer went to the mill with him, the
race was carefully examined. Suffer him
self secured enough gold dust to make
heavy ring, which he wore all the rest
If his life. / believe the ring is now in
some California museum.
Further examination disclosed gold in
the sands of the American river and
along the course Of all the tributary
creeks and rivulets.
Everybody went crazy Suffer lost con-
troll of his men. the fort was absolutely
deserted for the river His harvest was
never gathered: his oxen, sheep, hogs,
cattle horses and mules were stolen by
the horde OF adventures who came rush
ing into the valley.
Sauatters seized his land and could not
he elected. Within the next year he was
robbed OF everything he had and became
practically destitute. while more than ten
millions in gold was washed out of the
beds of creeks upon his property. He had
nothing left but hfs fort which was prac-
tica!ly OF value.
Suffer Granted Pension.
II is said that Suffer paid $125OOO in
lawyers fees without recovering any of
his property. In 1870 more than forty
million dollars was taken out in gold In
1850 about fifty million dollars In 1853,
sixty-five millions. and during the re-
mainder of his life an average of twenty
millions year, from which he never re-
ceived cent.
He was finally granted a pension Of $3.50