JOHN A. SUTTER. 59 



Discharged with his comrades by the victorious nation, 

 the young officer went to seek his fortune in the New World. 

 First he resided in the State of Missouri (United States), and 

 adopted the American nationality. Then he went west, 

 traversed the American Continent to Oregon, and from there 

 to Sitka, from which place he embarked for the Sandwich 

 Islands. In 1839 he came back to California, and with the 

 permission of the Government of that territory he settled 

 there. 



For several days he explored the bay of San Francisco, 

 searching for the mouth of Sacramento River. Having found 

 it and explored the course of that river, and its two affluents 

 known now-a-days as Feather and American Rivers, he built 

 a farm at the junction of Sacramento and American Rivers. 

 What amount of resolution, perseverance, and daring he must 

 have had to accomplish this, with a small number of followers, 

 cannot be easily conceived w r hen we think of the difficulties 

 standing in his way, against making a permanent establishment 

 in the midst of the hostile Indians, with whom he had to 

 fight ; but he was more than equal to this arduous task, and 

 not only was he successful jjuxepell ing successfully the un 

 remitting attacks of the Indians, but he subjugated them 

 entirely, and after this he never had better and more peaceful 

 labourers than these same Indians. The narration of all the 

 perils to which he was exposed daily would fill a volume, and 

 no one better than himself could write it, and that was what 

 he was doing when I lived in California, but I do not know if 

 it has appeared in print. At one time he was constantly 

 fighting against the Indians, at another, scarcity or provisions 

 compelled him and his followers to feed on wild roots. What 

 energy and capability he must have possessed to escape from 

 all these dangers is one of those problems which are not easy 

 to solve, and which look more like fictions than realities. Around 

 his farm he built a high and thick wall with adobes (very large 

 dried mud bricks), which made it impregnable to the military 

 art of the wild Indians. He named it in memory of his native 

 country, New Helvetia. Of the Indians whom he subjugated, 

 partly by might, partly~t)y persuasion, some he made 

 labourers, others he educated and disciplined as soldiers. He 

 cultivated immense tracts of land, and soon acquired thousands 

 of horses and cattle. To avoid attacks from the Indians, he made 

 now and then military~~expeditions against the hostile Indians, 

 and made himself fearedand respected among all the neighbour 

 ing tribes. On one occasion he shot nine Indians who had 



