To build his colony, John Sutter secured a 50,000-acre land grant in the Central Valley from the
Mexican governor. The main building of the fort, a two-story
adobe structure built between 1841 and 1843, was constructed using
Indigenous forced labor. It is the only original surviving structure at the reconstructed Sutter's Fort State Historic Park. On January 28, 1848,
James Marshall met privately with John Sutter inside this building to show him the
gold found during the construction of
Sutter's Mill along the
American River four days earlier. Sutter built the original fort with walls thick and between 15 and high.
Decline After gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill (also owned by John Sutter) in
Coloma on January 24, 1848, the fort was abandoned.
Preservation 's desk, photographed at Sutter's Fort State Historic Park In 1891, the
Native Sons of the Golden West, who sought to safeguard many of the landmarks of California's pioneer days, purchased and rehabilitated Sutter's Fort when the City of Sacramento sought to demolish it. Repair efforts were completed in 1893 and the fort was given by the Native Sons of the Golden West to the State of California. In 1947, the fort was transferred to the authority of
California State Parks as '''Sutter's Fort State Historic Park'''. Most of the original neighborhood structures were initially built in the late 1930s as residences, many of which have been converted to commercial uses such as private medical practices. The history of the neighborhood is largely residential. ==Geography and hydrology==