Page:The Tourist's California by Wood, Ruth Kedzie.djvu/192

 158 THE TOURIST'S CALIFORNIA Like San Francisco, Sacramento drew its first sustenance from a golden spoon. Sutter had chosen a domain upon a navigable river for pur- poses of trade. It was this river which consti- tuted the main highway of transportation when the expanse to the northeast, hitherto barren of population, suddenly teemed with a multitude of men. At the behest of Sutter the town was laid out by three young army officers in the employ of the Government. One of the three was William Te- cumseh Sherman. There was not a house on the plain of present Sacramento in 1847. Eighteen months later, several thousand people had taken up residence there. Three other towns were made the seat of State administration before Sacramento was named as the final choice in 1854. The first gov- ernor, Peter H. Burnett, was elected in December, 1849. John Sutter was one of several defeated candidates. In 1867 the capitol was completed. Writers of the period proclaimed it " the most beautiful pub- lic building in the United States." Though we cannot to-day subscribe to this extravagant eulo- gium, every visitor admits the impressiveness of the well-proportioned dome, as, sheathed in gold, it lifts its stately height above a splendid botan- ical park. Here trees from every land flourish as