We visited Sutter's Fort in Sacramento.  It was built by John Sutter, on land from two land grants from Mexico in 1840.  He owned over 70,000 sq. miles and raised sheep, wheat and cattle.  When gold was discovered at his mill in Coloma, many of his workers left to look for gold.  To learn more about Sutter, you can visit the City of San Francisco Museum Web page, John A. Sutter.

Jeremy takes a GPS reading at the canon.  Although there are several canon at the fort, Sutter seldom had to use them.

This is the blacksmith.  He builds his fire every morning.  To make a fire, he uses bits of wood, coal, flint and metal, and a small piece of rope which he unravels and charcloth.

Thierry takes a GPS reading at the well.  The well was the main source of water for the fort.  Even the blacksmith used it to cool off his tools.

We also talked to the trapper, who had some beaver hides.  Beaver was used for hats and sometimes for saddles.  The trapper showed us an underwater trap, used to catch beavers.  In the Museum, you can see a gold nugget and a very small doll that was from the Donner Party.  A good web site to see a map of Sutter's fort and take a tour of the fort is Sutter's Fort Virtual Tour.  More information about John Sutter is on the PBS web site.

Here is our table of GPS readings, that we took around the fort:

Location

Latitude

Longitude

Entrance

N38°34'19.7"

W121°28'16.5"

Trapper

N38°34'14.8"

W121°28'

Canon

N38°34'20.6"

W121°28'14.8"

Blacksmith

N38°34'19.8"

W121°28'17.7"

Well (in decimals, not seconds)

N38°34.335' 

W121°28.287'

Sutter's Office

N38°24'20.9"

W121°28'19.7"
Mrs. Zalom got an $18 parking ticket because she wouldn't let Thierry put another quarter in the meter.

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