page_title: New Helvetia
section_title: Gold Rush
hierarchical_section_title: New Helvetia / Rancho New Helvetia / Gold Rush
caption_attribution_description: English: Sutter's Fort in California — in 1849. With U.S. flag in center; covered wagon and pack mule in foreground. Print on paper: lithograph, hand colored 14 x 21.7 cm.
context_page_description: New Helvetia, meaning "New Switzerland", was a 19th-century Alta California settlement and rancho, centered in present-day Sacramento, California.
context_section_description: In January 1848 James W. Marshall found gold at Sutter's Mill on the rancho, starting the California Gold Rush. Sutter was forced to abandon his business ventures at the settlement after that, when the area was overrun by large numbers of gold-seekers. Sutter's Fort is preserved as a California State Historic Park.  With the gold rush, Sutter's workers abandoned him to seek their fortune in the gold fields. Later, squatters occupied his land.  By 1852, Sutter was bankrupt.
caption: An engraving of New Helvetia made in 1849
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