Sutter's Fort State Historic Park

08/15/2026

On August 15, 1846, the “Californian” newspaper was published in Monterey by Walter Colton and Robert Semple. This was the first newspaper in California and was published weekly using a wooden printing press, which was originally brought to Monterey from Mexico City by Augustín Zamorano in 1834. That press would eventually print Sacramento’s first newspaper in California, the Placer Times, by Edward Kemble beginning in April 1849.

In this video, Jared discussed the history of the newspaper and its connection to Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park. We even have a reproduction copy of that newspaper in our trade store room.

08/14/2026

In Sacramento’s infancy, the legality of land titles and property were often questioned. Newcomers to Sacramento City were displeased by John Sutter’s land claims and also the land claims of speculators who purchased property from Sutter. Many squatted on land near the city as there was often no affordable lodging. Many also thought John Sutter’s New Helvetia land grant that he received from the Mexican government in 1841 did not include the land of what would become Sacramento City, which meant those who bought from Sutter did not have proper title.

On August 14, 1850, Charles Robinson and Joseph Maloney organized a group of about 40 squatters and marched through Sacramento City in response to the court’s writ of restitution to seize the property that a squatter named John T. Madden was unlawfully occupying.

The squatters were confronted at the corner of 4th and J Streets by Mayor Hardin Bigelow and a force seeking to stop the squatters. Bigelow ordered the squatters to relinquish their fi****ms, but shots were fired instead. Hardin Bigelow was wounded along with Charles Robinson. The city’s first assessor, J.W. Woodward, was among those killed along with Joseph Maloney, Jesse Morgan, and two civilians. Sacramento’s first sheriff, Joseph McKinney, was killed the next day while attempting to break up a squatter camp near Brighton (near present-day California State University Sacramento).

Albert M. Winn, as the head of the City Council, invoked martial law and recruited 500 militiamen to keep order in the city. What became known as the Squatters’ Riots wound down soon after. Mayor Bigelow, while in a hospital in San Francisco to treat his gunshot wounds, contracted cholera and died in November 1850. Charles Robinson was arrested for orchestrating the riots and for murder. While awaiting his trial and treating his own injuries from the riot, Robinson was elected to the California State Legislature. He later became the first governor of Kansas.

Copy of a lithograph of the Squatters’ Riot on August 14, 1850 from the January 1, 1852 edition of the Illustrated Placer Times & Transcript.

08/14/2026

We are at the Crocker Art Museum this evening for the museum’s Teacher Soiree discussing upcoming events at Sutter’s Fort (next one is August 15), our school programs, and the FREE Fourth Grade Pass with CA State Parks.

08/13/2026

We’ve posted a great deal of videos pertaining to specific historical events of California history associated with Sutter’s Fort but we haven’t covered yet a general overview of the site.

In this video, Jared discussed the history of John Sutter, Sutter’s Fort, the colonial impacts of the site, and the role Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park plays as a museum today.

Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park is a California State Park located in the Midtown Sacramento, California.

08/09/2026

The blacksmith shop at Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park represents what the shop would have looked like in the mid 1840s. The items made in the shop at the time ranged from small utilitarian items such as nails and hooks to farm tools.

In this video, Marco, one of our blacksmiths, demonstrates the same blacksmithing methods available in the 1840s at the Fort to make an eye spike out of some quarter inch steel round stock.

Want to see the blacksmith shop in operation? Come visit during our next Demonstration Days on August 15th and September 12th!

Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park is a California State Park located in the Midtown Sacramento, California.

08/08/2026

Join us for an informative (and fun) Demonstration Day at Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park on August 15th from 10am to 4pm!

Experience firsthand some of the engaging activities featured in our popular school field trip programs. Participate in interactive learning stations, witness volunteer demonstrations, and attend staff-led presentations discussing the colonial legacy of 1840s Sutter’s Fort.

Activities may include:

Blacksmithing demonstrations
Cooking demonstrations
Spinning wool into yarn
Cooperage and Carpentry demonstrations
Learning about overland migration at the wagon

As an added bonus, visitors receive complimentary admission to the State Indian Museum during Demonstration Day events.

08/03/2026

Having an accident in the 1840s could be fatal. One of the most prominent injuries that is noted in the daily logbook at Sutter’s Fort was falling off of a horse and one case was deadly.

In August 1847, Major Jeremiah Huddleston Cloud, paymaster for the United States Army, was buried at the Sutter’s Fort burial grounds, later known as the New Helvetia Cemetery. On August 4th, he was traveling about a half mile from the Fort with Captain Folsom when he fell off his horse and hit his head. He died later that evening. He has the distinction of being one of the first individuals buried in the New Helvetia Cemetery.

In this video, Jared discusses Major Cloud’s tragic accident, its connection to Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park, and the history of the New Helvetia Cemetery.

07/29/2026

ATTENTION TEACHERS: Have you ever thought what it would be like to have your class spend a whole day or stay overnight at Sutter’s Fort?

We are currently taking applications, due August 15th, for school groups for next school year for the Environmental Living Program (ELP) and Environmental Studies Program (ESP). These programs focus on learning and understanding the complex history of Sutter’s Fort. Through staff-led presentations and hands-on learning stations such as baking bread in an outdoor bake oven, cooking, weaving a wool blanket, making rope, and many other activities, students will see the role Sutter’s Fort played as a catalyst of change in California in the 1840s.

For more information about the program and how to apply, please contact [email protected]

07/26/2026

07/21/2026

On July 21, 1847, John Sutter wrote in the daily logbook kept at Sutter’s Fort, “Marshall with Nerio left to the Mountains on the [American] fork, to select the site for the Saw Mill.” The site James Marshall, the head carpenter at Sutter’s Fort, and Nerio, a Miwok Native American guide, found on this week in 1847 was in the valley of Cullumah, the name given by the Yalesumney Nisenan village that inhabited the region. The location is known today as Coloma on the south fork of the American River about 40 miles east of Sutter’s Fort (located today in Midtown Sacramento).

The reason a sawmill was initiated was to help meet the demand for lumber at Sutter’s Fort and to provide lumber to build the planned town called Sutterville, where William Land Park is located in Sacramento today. The Sacramento Valley was expected to have an increase in immigration as California became a United States territory after the U.S. military seized control of California from Mexico during the Mexican-American War.

A month later, on August 27, 1847, John Bidwell wrote a contract between Sutter and Marshall to build the sawmill and construction began soon after. Using a labor force of former soldiers from the Mormon Battalion and Nisenan Native people from local villages, Marshall oversaw the construction of the sawmill which was nearing operational by mid-January 1848.

James Marshall found gold at the sawmill on January 24, 1848 leading to the California Gold Rush, which was one of the largest migrations in human history. The Gold Rush gave justification for further colonization of California and the American West. While the gold brought people from all over the world looking for opportunity and fortune, it also brought further destruction to California Native American way of life.

Copy of a lithographic print depicting Sutter’s Mill in Coloma in 1848 by F. Gleason in 1852, courtesy of the California State Library.