1899 Land Promotion Booklet RESOURCES OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY California

DESCRIPTION: Original1899 Land Promotion Pamphlet [Booklet, brochure], RESOURCES OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY California; Sacramento  Chamber Of Commerce; paper wraps [Color Covers]; stapled 24 numbered pages; approximately 6 by 9 inches; Photographic illustrations; Land promotion for home seekers, weather charts; statistical farming charts, resources.

[One of the most beautiful pre-1900 Color lithographed covers for a Sacramento area booklet]

CONDITION: NEAR FINE [if not fine] Collectable Condition with no mentionable defects [Please see scans]

HISTORY: 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 50,000 acres. The next year, he and his party established Sutter's Fort, a massive adobe structure with walls 18 feet high and three feet thick.

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 10-acre 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, but unbeknownst to many, Sutter Sr.'s "empire" had been built on thin margins of credit.

In 1848, when James W. Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's Mill in Coloma (some 50 mi  northeast of the fort), numerous gold-seekers came to the area, increasing the population. In August 1848, Sutter Sr.'s son, John Sutter Jr., arrived to assist his father in reducing his debt. The Sutters struggled to contain the effects of thousands of new gold miners and prospectors in the area, many of whom squatted on unwatched portions of the vast Sutter lands or stole various unattended Sutter properties or belongings. For Sutter, his employee's discovery of gold in the area turned out to be a bane.

By December 1848, John Sutter Jr., in association with Samuel Brannan, began laying out the City of Sacramento, 2 miles  south of his father's settlement of New Helvetia. This venture was undertaken against the wishes of Sutter Sr., but the father, being deeply in debt, was unable to stop it. For commercial reasons, the new city was named "Sacramento City" after the Sacramento River. Relations between Sutter and his son became embittered after Sacramento became an overnight commercial success. (Sutter's Fort, Mill, and the town of Sutterville, all founded by John Sutter Sr., eventually failed).

[Please email with any questions] (All items are original unless stated otherwise)

SHIPPING: All paper items [broadsides, labels, pamphlets, brochures, photos, etc.] and small thin objects that are 1/4 of an inch thick or less are shipped inside an eBay stiff hardboard sleeve with 1 additional stiff hardboard card inside by USPS Ground Advantage Insured To $100.00 [unless other arrangements have been made with seller].
[MN – B2 – S4 (code to locate the item)]