Editing John Sutter (section)

===Beginning of the Gold Rush===
{{Main|California Gold Rush}}
[[Image:Sutters Mill.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Sutter's Mill in 1850.]]

In 1848, gold was discovered at [[Sutter's Mill]], by one of Sutter's employees, [[James W. Marshall]]. It started when Sutter hired Marshall, a [[New Jersey]] native who had served with [[John C. Frémont]] in the [[California Republic|Bear Flag Revolt]], to build a water-driven [[sawmill]] in [[Coloma, California|Coloma]], along the [[American River]]. Sutter was intent on building a city on his property (not yet named {{lang|es|Sacramento}}), including housing and a wharf on the [[Sacramento River]], and needed lumber for the construction. One morning, as Marshall inspected the tailrace for silt and debris, he noticed some gold nuggets and brought them to Sutter's attention. Together, they read an encyclopedia entry on gold and performed primitive tests to confirm whether it was precious metal. Sutter concluded that it was, in fact, gold, but he was very anxious that the discovery not disrupt his plans for construction and farming. At the same time, he set about gaining legitimate title to as much land near the discovery as possible.

Sutter's attempt at keeping the gold discovery quiet failed when merchant and newspaper publisher [[Samuel Brannan]] returned from Sutter's Mill to San Francisco with gold he had acquired there and began publicizing the find. Large crowds of people overran the land and destroyed nearly everything Sutter had worked for. To avoid losing everything, Sutter deeded his remaining land to his eldest son, [[John Augustus Sutter Jr.]], who had come from Switzerland to join his father in September 1848.

When Sutter Jr. arrived, Sutter Sr. asked his fellow Swiss majordomo Heinrich Lienhard to lend him his half of the gold he had mined, so that the elder Sutter could impress his son with a large amount of the precious metal. However, when Lienhard later went to the Fort, Sutter Jr., having taken charge of his father's debt-ridden business, was unable to return his share of the gold to Lienhard, who finally accepted Sutter's flock of sheep as payment.

The younger Sutter saw the commercial possibilities of the land and promptly started plans for building a new town he named [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]], after the [[Sacramento River]]. The elder Sutter deeply resented this; he had wanted the town named Sutterville (for both of them) and for it to be built near New Helvetia.

Sutter gave up New Helvetia to pay the last of his debts. He rejoined his family and lived on [[Sutter Hock Farm|Hock Farm]] (north of Sacramento along the [[Feather River]]).

[[File:Portrait of John A. Sutter at the Oakland Museum of California.jpg|thumb|1856 portrait of John A. Sutter in his California Militia uniform at the [[Oakland Museum of California]]]]
In 1853, the California legislature made Sutter a major general in the [[California Militia]].<ref>{{cite web |last= Dayton |first= Dello G. |title= History of California State Military Forces |date= February 8, 2016 |accessdate= 2022-10-31 |website= [[California Military Department]] |url= http://www.militarymuseum.org/MilitiaHistory.html |quote= Sutter was made a Major General in the California Militia by legislative action on February 16, 1853.}}</ref>