Sutter, John

Sutter, John (Augustus)

 orig. Johann August Suter

(born Feb. 15, 1803, Kandern, Baden—died June 18, 1880, Washington, D.C., U.S.) German-born U.S. pioneer. Fleeing financial failures, he left his family in Switzerland and arrived in the U.S. in 1834. He obtained a land grant from the Mexican governor and established the colony of Nueva Helvetia (later Sacramento, Calif.). On the American River he built Sutter's Fort, a frontier trading post, in 1841. When gold was found there in 1848, he tried to keep it a secret. In the resulting gold rush, squatters and gold seekers invaded his land and stole his goods and livestock. U.S. courts denied his claim to his Mexican land grant, and Sutter was bankrupt by 1852.