1,000 hogs. He called his place New Helvetia, built a fort upon it to protect it from savages or revolutionists, opened his doors to all comers with hearty hospitality, and became the patriarch of the Pacific and the leader of its American population. ifornia. His experience as a soldier, the presence of his well stocked fort and granaries on the Sacramento, his great wealth, his hospitality, his fondness for adventure, his strong partiality for the American Government-all these circumstances combined to render his aid and influence in this connection of great importance. This is the principal event in Sutter's life, the one that invests it with the highest historical interest. The next one was the discovery of gold. The last one was the ungrateful act of the nation in depriving him of his property, in | 1844. Then it was that Fremont came to New refusing him either restitution or compensation, and in permitting him to die in penury. Sutter was born at Kandern, Baden, on the frontier of Switzerland, February 3, 1803. At the age of twenty he was graduated at the military academy of Berne, and entered the Swiss Guard of the French army as a lieutenant. He served in the Spanish campaign of 1823-4, and with Charles X., in the disastrous revolution of July, 1830. After the fall of the Bourbons he returned to Switzerland, and served a term of four years in the Swiss army, in which he rose to the rank of captain. In 1834 he emigrated to the United States, and settled at St. Louis; thence, in 1835, he removed to West Point, Missouri, in which State he became an American citizen. He remained there several years, driving a frontier trade in cattle. During one of his journeys to Santa Fé he heard such wonderful accounts of the Western Coast as rendered, to one of his roving and adventurous spirit, a further stay at West Point unendurable. In 1838 he set out with a trappers' party to the Rocky Mountains, whence, with six men, he crossed more than a thousand miles of deserts, tenanted only by wandering savages and wild beasts. Before the end of the year he had reached the upper Columbia, where Lewis and Clark struck it in 1805, and descended the river to Fort Vancouver. After resting from his long journey he made some efforts to proceed to Alta California, but he was diverted from this project by the promised advantage of a trip to Honolulu. Arriving at this place, he proceeded thence, on another commercial adventure, to Sitka, and finally to San Francisco, Alta California, where he arrived July 2, 1839. Sutter soon after established himself on the Sacramento River, near where the capital of the State now stands. With a liberal grant of land from the Mexican Government, and sufficient capital to stock it with animals, farm implements, seed, grain, and laborers, Sutter soon became a wealthy ranchero. His possessions included many thousand acres of land, of which 1,000 acres were in wheat; he had 8,000 head of cattle, 2,000 sheep, 2,000 horses and mules, and Barring some arrogance from Castro, a revolutionary Governor-whose pretensions Sutter had opposed, having vainly enlisted and led a company of two hundred men in favor of Micheltorena-he continued his patriarchal life until Helvetia, upon whose ramparts he and Sutter afterward raised the flag of the United States. Sutter had fondly hoped that this event would secure to him the possession of his vast domain under a strong and permanent government. It had precisely the opposite effect. It invited the emigration of Americans-that is to say, of men as well informed and as enterprising as himself. This weakened his influence, and from the lofty position of a patriarch among the Mexicans and Indians he fell to that of a mere landholder among the Americans. The envy and hostility which this position engendered ultimately led to the loss of his lands. But this was neither his first nor his only misfortune. During the years 1845 to 1847, Sutter's principal occupation was the cultivation of his estates, which, for miles and miles along the Sacramento River, constituted one vast field of grain. His workmen were domesticated Indians; his overseers Americans and Europeans, squads of whom were now constantly attracted from the States to Sutter's Fort, the rallying point of emigrants to California. From this industry his gains were enormous. He sold grain to the Mexicans at San Francisco, to the Russians at Sitka, to the English at Columbia and Hudson's Bay Territory, to the Americans marching into the country from all directions. Sutter was rapidly becoming a millionaire, when, all at once, a great and singular misfortune happened to him. In 1847, after the Americans, under Fremont and Sloat, had deposed the Mexican authorities, Sutter had sent a party of men, under an overseer named Marshall, to explore the South Fork of the American River, and locate and build upon it a saw-mill. For the purpose in view this party had selected a nook in the mountains some fifty miles east of Sacramento, where timber was abundant, and the flow of water insured an adequate power. The land did not belong to Sutter's party-they had merely "squatted" upon it. All lands in California without specific titles now belonged to the United States. In this nook, which afterward received the name of Coloma, Marshall had thrown up a few rude dwellings, and commenced the construction of a mill and mill-race. For this purpose he had need to fell but a few trees in the vicinity. The remainder were reserved for the work of the mill. The village, the mill, the mill-race, the neighboring trees, have since all been destroyed-even the ground itself has been so torn and disfigured that to recognize it now is impossible. Man, in his search for gold, has no pity even for the earth that bore him. A single memento remains of this interesting spot; and if the citizens of California retain a spark of public spirit, this memento will never be permitted to leave the State. I allude to the late Charles Nahl's painting of Sutter's Mill, now in the possession of Mr. Julius Jacobs, of San Francisco. The mill and mill-race, the latter banked up with heavy timbers, is seen in the foreground. Near the mill in the background, is the home of Marshall, the overseer whom Sutter employed to construct the mill; to the left lies the village, interspersed with oak and pine trees; between the mill and the village lies a stream and clearing; and, behind all, rise the grand old hills that still slumber above this historic spot. The artist has turned every feature of the landscape to advantage, and his rare skill in grouping and coloring has lent it an attractiveness which is felt even when disassociated with the remarkable event that it commemorates. I have talked with a dozen old pioneers, some of whom were with Marshall or Sutter at the time (Marshall was at Coloma, and Sutter at New Helvetia), and have endeavored to learn the true secret of the Find, but without success. Some of them say that Marshall found the first piece of gold; others that his little daughter found it; others, that Mrs. Wimmer, who provided meals for the workmen at the mill, found it; and others, again, that Mrs. Wimmer's son found it. General Sutter himself once told me that Marshall was the finder, and, although Sutter was not on the spot at the time, I am inclined to believe this the true story; for, while still fresh, it must have been related to Sutter with great minuteness. It is, however, agreed on all hands, that, if Mrs. Wimmer did not find the gold, she was the first to determine its charac In from Mexico in 1537, and secured some small quantities of the precious metal. In Alta California, gold was discovered by Drake in 1577-79. It is mentioned of this region by Loyola Cavello, a priest of the mission of San José, previous to 1690. Captain Shelvocke noticed it in 1721. Antonia de Alcedo speaks of large nuggets found previous to 1786-89. In 1837 a California priest endeavored to obtain English capital for working the placers. Some years afterward, Professor Dana noticed the gold indicæ. April, 1847, Mr. Sloat communicated an article on the subject to Hunt's Merchant Magazine. Early in January, 1849, gold was found on Mormon Island, near Folsom.* But all these were either disconnected finds or mere indications. To suspect or find stray deposits of gold is one thing; to find it in such quantities that it will afford the basis of a vast industry is another. This is what Marshall found. His first nuggett was not alone. There were millions of others near it, and tons of gold dust beside. A flask of the latter was secured and sent to Captain Sutter, at New Helvetia. While the Captain turned this momentous flask over in his hand, and, perhaps, innocently thanked God for this new stroke of good fortune, his workmen, who had caught an inkling of its significance, threw down their farming tools, stole his horses and cattle, and fled to Coloma. The Indians. began to follow them, and before the good Captain had ceased turning over his golden flask, his estates had been robbed and abandoned. Scarcely two hundred Indians were left. The news which came from the diggings every few days began to render Sutter's affairs somewhat critical. Gold had become more and more plentiful. The whole country was swarming into the placers. It was evident that his men would never return. Still he had enough of them left to harvest a very large crop, and it is the opinion of Mr. Huefner, who was his man of business on the ranch at the time, that, had Sutter gone on with his farm work, the | subsequent high prices of grain would have secured him a princely fortune. But this was not to be. Sutter, too, had caught the gold fever; and his remaining Indians were sent in charge of Mr. Huefner to dig for gold on the American River.§ Mr. Huefner informs me that this was * For other references to early discoveries of gold in California, consult Del Mar's History of Precious Metals, pp. 164-5, and the authorities therein cited. of people. Among others it affected Captaint It weighed about an ounce, and is still in the possession of Sutter, for it made him a beggar. The presence of gold in California had been suspected from very early times. Its existence in Lower California was known to Cortez, who fitted out a California gold-hunting expedition Mrs. Wimmer, who recently offered it to the Pioneers' Society for $2,000. The absence of documentary evidence of its authenticity decided the Society not to entertain the offer. Recently expressed to me for the purpose of this article. § See for an instance of superior foresight on the part of Louis Peralta, of San José, Del Mar's History of Precious Metals, p. 306. a losing enterprise. The Indians did not succeed in finding enough gold, or else, as he suspects, they embezzled a considerable proportion of the production. At all events, the cost of implements, provisions, and superintendence greatly exceeded the value of the gold obtained. Meanwhile Sutter's vast fields of grain grew up, ripened, withered, rotted, and died. There was nobody left to garner them. The ranches were deserted. The fort began to fall into that decay which, to the disgrace of the State, marks it to-day. Once the patriarch of the Pacific, the possessor of a ducal domain, and an income that princes might have envied, Captain Sutter was rapidly traveling the road to indigence. He was robbed again and again. In 1849-50 a party of miners stole $60,000 worth of stock from him. Others cut down his timber and grass, and his lands were subsequently seized upon by claimants under new laws and new circumstances. Cities were built upon them. Pushing men had need of them, and in the race for wealth the claims of Captain Sutter to his own property were disregarded. His prior discovery and settlement; his title from the Mexican Government; his indispensable assistance in acquiring the whole territory for the United States; his princely hospitality which had fed thousands of colonists; his peculiar misfortune in having been the means of discovering the gold, and then of having lost, through this discovery, his mill, his workmen on the ranches, his animals, and his crops-all these things were forgotten. Selfishness and cupidity, under the euphemism of modern enterprise, had come to squat, like a poisoned toad, upon the patriarch's domain, and to efface the heroic deeds, the noble qualities, the rightful claims of Sutter. His after life was uneventful. To say that he ran on the Whig ticket for Governor of the State in 1851, and afterward accepted from it the poor compliment of an appointment as General of Militia, is only to prove that he had fallen into a condition of extreme dejection and humility. He retired to his Hock farm, a small and undisputed possession on the west bank of the Feather River, and there for many years watched the wheat stalk and the vine as they annually blossomed and decayed, all to no purpose, as he thought, and directed the movements of his lawyers in a vain effort to recover his estates. It is needless to say that he did not succeed. The State, with a penuriousness that strangely contrasted with the tons of gold that it now annually threw upon the markets of the world, voted Sutter a pension of $250 a month; and so long as this was continued the brave old pioneer preserved his fortitude and sustained his hopes of restitution. When it was stopped he cursed the ingratitude which had pursued him, and left the State, as it proved, forever. This occurred in 1868. From California Sutter repaired to Washington, there to sound in the cold ears of a distant government the ofttold story of his wrongs and his losses. It was here that I knew him-know him only to love and respect him. His was a character at once grand and simple, at once enterprising and ingenuous. He continued a petitioner of the Government for twelve years—a petitioner whom people soon came to look upon as a celebrated somebody, from somewhere, who had a grievance which dated back into forgotten times; but what its merits were few ever knew or cared to inquire. The age-the miserably dishonest age-turned its back upon him and snubbed him. Disappointment and contumely, at length, did its work, and in the month of June, 1880, Captain Sutter, who was a Livingstone, a Cameron, and a Stanley combined, sank beneath his overwhelming burdens. ALEXANDER DEL MAR. A VALLEY OF VINEYARDS. Standing upon an elevation above Napa Val-, ley, and looking down upon the vine-clad hills and broad acres of waving wheat, we scarce can realize that only half a century has elapsed since the first white settler, George C. Yount, here located his claim. The land which now yields such abundant harvests, which to-day pours untold wealth into our coffers, was fifty years ago in the possession of the "red man." Valley and hillside were then alike one unbroken forest, a magnificent deer-park, dedicated to the use and abuse of the traditional Indian. Throughout the length and breadth of this fair land, the sole representatives of the "pale face" to be found were the Jesuits, who here and there established Catholic missions. The object of these missions was the conversion and education of the Indians. That success did not Napa Valley, beautiful in itself, is rendered yet more so by its magnificent background. Nature has placed this "gem of the Pacific" in a rare setting. Completely encircled by mountains, it forms a natural amphitheater. Had Johnson selected this locality for his Happy Valley, even his genius would have failed to have imbued in Rasselas the spirit of discontent. Facing the valley as you enter it is Mount St. Helena, supposed to be an extinct volcano, four thousand three hundred and fortythree feet above the level of the sea. From an address delivered by General Vallejo several years ago, in Santa Rosa, we cite the following incident: "In 1845, Governor Rotscheff advanced with a party of Russians to Mount Mayacamos, on the summit of which he affixed a brass plate, bearing an inscription in his own language. He named the mountain St. Helena, for his wife, the Princess de Gagarin. The beauty of this lady excited so ardent a passion in the breast of Prince Solano, chief of all the Indians about Sonoma, that he formed a plan to capture by force or stratagem the object of his love; and he might very likely have succeeded had I not heard of his intention in time to prevent its execution." crown these labors, that this attempt to introduce civilization was frustrated by the want of appreciation on the part of the recipient of this benevolence, is hardly to be wondered at. At the date of Mr. Yount's advent among them (1831), it was estimated that there were from three thousand to five thousand Indians in Napa Valley. They were divided into six tribes: The Mayacamos, occupying the land near Calistoga; the Callajomans, on the Bale rancho, in the vicinity of St. Helena; the Caymus, on the Yount grant; the Napa, from which tribe the valley derived its name, occupying that land between Napa River and the city of that name; the Ulcas, east of Napa River, near Napa City; and the Soscol, in that locality yet known as the Soscol grant, now owned by Mr. Thompson. Of these six tribes there could not be counted in the valley to-day two score of representatives. They have been utterly, and, it must be confessed, shamefully, put to rout. However, we do not here propose to enter upon a discussion of the wrongs of the "poor Indian." The palpable injustice of the White Man must be forgiven, overlooked, forgotten, in virtue of the material benefit which has accrued therefrom to the world. The Indians throughout Napa Mount St. Helena is the pride of the valley, Valley were commonly known as Digger In- and well it may be. At sunset it presents a dians. The name was probably derived from gorgeous panorama of shifting color, a bewilthe means adopted by them of obtaining suste-dering maze of brilliant effects. Like a magnet, nance. They lived upon the lowest possible grade of food, which they dug out of the earth. Why they should have resorted to this is a mystery, since that region abounded in food which might readily have tempted our nicer palatesgame of various kinds, fish, wild berries, and fruits. No wonder that the Indian was constitutionally averse to labor, since Nature had so bountifully supplied him with all needful food and clothing. More fortunate than are we, he could liken himself, did he perceive the anal-ered with magnificent foliage-trees of numberogy, unto the "lilies of the field." its proudly lifted crest attracts to itself all the wealth of color with which Napa skies are so richly endowed. Through the greater part of the winter this mountain is snow-capped. Napa is but one of the many valleys through the county. The mountains, which form its boundary line on the east and west, are intersected by cañons, which have been rendered very productive. The mountain land greatly enhances the beauty of the scenery. It is cov less varieties. Among them are conspicuous the oak, madroño, cedar, fir, and pine. The banks of all the mountain streams are fringed with the willow, the ash, gigantic brakes, flowering manzanita, and the California laurel. Descending into the valley we find an infinite variety of oaks, and here and there clumps of the stately madroño. These primeval beauties will not long be left to us, however, for the giant has been conquered by the dwarf-ignominiously put to route. Where the vintner plants his foot the woodman's ax is too surely heard. Napa was settled, as was every other county in California, by people of every nationality under the sun. Across the Sierra they cameenterprising men, who saw before them a new Canaan, "a land flowing with milk and honey." Some fell under the trials of pioneer life; some attained wealth and power, only to see it wrested from them; some bequeathed to their children the lands of which they became possessed too late for their own enjoyment; but few, very few, are they who are alive to-day to tell the tale of the past. Our forefathers foresaw, in a measure, the results which must crown their labors, but little dreamed they of the glorious fut-perceptibly proceeding upward. ure which now dawns upon this valley. They could not predict the mine of wealth which has been developed by industry and perseverance. Napa Valley is thirty-five miles long, and five miles wide-this at its widest point. It narrows Napa River follows the line of the foothills on the east. This stream, while extending the entire length, is, in certain localities, so extremely narrow that it seems presumptuous to claim for it the dignified appellation, river. It is by means of this river, and the copious mountain streams which traverse not only the main valley, but all the little ravines and cañons, that the land is irrigated. The county is small, but the fertility of its soil is unsurpassed. It boasts of sixtyour thousand one hundred and seventy-five acres under cultivation, thirty thousand five hundred and sixty-five of which are in wheat. The rich, arable lands of the valley are best adapted to the cereal crops, while the more gravelly soil of the foothills is reserved, though by no means exclusively, to the grape; but of this latter, more anon. insure its crops almost beyond the question of a doubt. Of course they are variable, but utter failure never occurs. Of its varied features, all its manifold interests, it is impossible to treat in the space allotted to one article. The subject of Napa Valley-the history of its past, speculations as to its future-would fill a vol ume. Let us turn to the interest at present paramount-grape culture. This is a subject of more than passing interest to the world at large, for the day is not distant when California will claim her right to stand upon an equal footing with the European wine States. She will undoubtedly rival, in maturity, those with whom she now, in infancy, competes. In proof of this statement, we recall an item, mentioned some months ago, regarding the shipment to Germany of a cargo of wine, amounting to one hundred thousand gallons, purchased in San Francisco by a Bremen firm. Of this amount a large proportion came from Napa Valley, the red wines of that valley having acquired a reputation unsurpassed by those of any other county. cepted as a standard throughout the United States. In St. Helena we see the Gironde of America. The superiority of this locality for vine growing purposes is generally conceded. This district comprises about two thousand acres of vineyard, producing an average of three and one-half tons of grapes, or five hundred and twenty-five gallons of wine, to the acre. These wines are celebrated for their variety, their remarkable perfection, and at present for the high prices they command; also, for the extensive trade which they are now attaining in the Atlantic and Gulf States. It is estimated that one million five hundred thousand gallons of wine are made annually in Napa County. Last year's statistics will carry their own weight without any comment: At first it was supposed that these hill lands were of no actual agricultural value. The mountainous belt, which has since been productive of enormous crops, was at one time only considered available for pasture land. "Further and further into new fields of utility the plow was pushed." Up the mountain sides sprung, as if by magic, orchards, vineyards, and even here and there a wheat field, until now the mountain lands are converted into beautiful homes-To-day the Zinfandel wine of St. Helena is achomes secured to their owners by unremitting toil, by perseverance and self-denial. We are constrained to say that in eight cases out of ten the men who have earned them are foreigners-Germans, Swiss, Italians-not native born Americans, and, in many cases, not even naturalized citizens. With their industry, their simple, frugal habits, they are wresting from our grasp the choicest gifts which God has given to man. We Americans do not understand the principle of economy, and, what is yet worse, we do not profit by the lesson taught us by our foreign brother. Here are men who, ten years ago, received laborers' wages at the cellars which they could to-day buy, did they choose. This suggests a query: Why do not our unemployed desert the sand-lot, and go to the vineyards? In this field there is no lack of work. In the St. Helena district alone, within a circuit of fifteen miles, there are twenty-three wine cellars and distilleries, some of these the most extensive in the State. Here the white man finds no Chinese rival. The work of winemaking is not intrusted to Chinamen. They are employed during the vintage to gather the grapes, and earlier in the season to do the hoeing and to burn brush; but the pruning, and plowing, and the wine-making itself, are done almost exclusively by white labor, which, in this district, commands from forty to sixty dollars per month. Napa County rightly claims precedence for its agricultural advantages. Its peculiarly salubrious climate, and the adaptability of its soil, Wine Crop of Napa County for 1879, in Gallons. L. Kortum. CALISTOGA. C. T. McEachran.. 20,000 ST. HELENA, 3,500 12,000 3,500 40,000 50,000 175,000 75,000 6,000 4,000 12,000 4,000 500 F. H. Rosenbaum. 4,000 120,000 |