Page:History of California (Bancroft) volume 6.djvu/33



The fort  is  evidently  reserved  for  a  manor-seat,  de- spite its bustle;  for  early  in  1846  Sutter  had  laid out the  town  of  Sutterville,  three  miles  below  on  the Sacramento. This has  now  several  houses,^*  having received a  great  impulse  from  the  location  there,  in 1847,  of  two  companies  of  troops  under  Major  Kings- bury. It shares  in  the  traffic  regularly  maintained with San  Francisco  by  means  of  a  twenty-ton  sloop, the Amelia f  belonging  to  Sutter  and  manned  by  half a dozen  savages. It is  supported  during  the  busy season by  two  other  vessels,  which  make  trips  far  up the  Sacramento  and  San  Joaquin. The ferry  at  the fort landing  is  merely  a  canoe  handled  by  an  Indian, but a  large  boat  is  a-building.^*^

Six miles  up  the  American  River,  so  called  by  Sut- ter as the  pathway  for  American  immigration,  the Mormons are  constructing  a  flour-mill  for  him,^  and another party  are  in  like  manner  engaged  on  a  saw- mill building and  race  at  Coloma  Valley,  forty  miles above, on  the  south  fork. Opposite Sutter's  Fort,  on the  north  bank  of  the  American,  John  Sinclair,  the alcalde, holds  the  large  El  Paso  rancho,^  and  above him stretches  the  San  Juan  rancho  of  Joel  P.  Ded- mond, facing  the  Leidesdorff  grant  on  the  southern bank.^ There  is  more  land  than  men;  instead  of 100  acres,  the  neighbors  do  not  regard  100,000  acres as out  of  the  way. Sutter's confirmed  grant  of  eleven leases in  due  Irime  is  scattered  in  different  direc- tions, owing to  documentary  and  other  irregularities. A portion  is  made  to  cover  Hock  Farm  on  Feather

being the  first  real  brick  building  erected  in  the  country. Morse, Ilist. Scu:., places the  founding  in  1S44.
 * Sntter built  the  first  honse,  Hadel  and  Zins  followed  the  example,  Zins'

MS., 7«
 * As well  as  one  for  Montezuma.  Cal.  Star,  Oct.  23,  1847;  Oregson'a  StcU,,

dam had  b^n  constructed,  with  a  four-mile  race. Description and  progress in Id,;  Bigler'a  Diary,  MS.,  5C-7;  Sutter's  Pers. Rem., MS.,  159. Brighton has now  risen  on  the  site.
 * With four  pairs  of  stones,  which  was  fast  approaching  completion.  A

"Of some  44,000  acres,  chiefly  for  his  Hawaiian  patron,  E.  Grimes.

" Of  35,500  acre' ;  Ji<Hl'noii(l's»  was  20,000.  Leidesdorff  had  erected  a  house In  1846,  at  the  prescui  liuuUcr'y.