At the time of the American occupation of California, and for some time previous, the present site of this city was called the "Embarcadero;" that is, in Spanish, simply "the wharf, or the landing-place," though it strictly means the shipping-place.
Gen. Jno. A. Sutter came from New Mexico and settled here in August, 1839. The next year the Mexican Government granted him the land on which he had "located." He accordingly built a fort and gave himself to stock raising, agriculture, and trade. Thenceforward for several years the place was known only as "Sutter's Fort." In July, 1845, Gen. Sutter engaged the service of Jas. W. Marshall, as a sort of agent, or manager. This man became the discoverer of gold in the following accidental manner: In September, 1847, he went up some fifty miles from the fort, upon the south fork of the American river, to construct a sawmill, which, in due time, with one single, most fortunate blunder, he accomplished. The blunder was this: when the water was let on, the tail-race proved too narrow and too shallow. To widen and deepen it in the quickest and cheapest way, he let through a strong current of water, which swept a mass of mud and gravel down to and beyond the lower end.
January 19th, 1848, the birth-day of the "Golden Age" in California, Marshall noticed several yellowish particles shining out from this mud and gravel. He was, naturally, curious enough to collect and examine them. He called five carpenters who were at work on the mill, to join their judgments with his. They talked over the possibility of its being gold, but seem to have thought it so little probable, that they quietly returned to their usual work. Among the larger pieces of "yellow stuff" which Marshall picked up that day, was a pebble weighing six pennyweights and eleven grains. He gave it to the nearest housekeeper, Mrs. Weimer, and asked her to boil it in saleratus water and see what would come of it. She was making soap at the time, and thinking the lye would prove stronger than simple saleratus water, she immediately pitched it into the soap kettle, from which it was fished out the next day, and found all the brighter for its long boiling.
Two weeks later, Marshall brought the specimens down to the fort and gave them to Sutter to have them tested. Before the General had quite made up his mind as to whether they were certainly gold or not, he went up to the mill, and, with Marshall, made a treaty with the Indians, buying their titles to all the surrounding country. The little circle that knew it, tried to keep the matter secret, but it soon leaked out, and though not sure of its real nature, several began to hunt the yellow stuff that might prove the king of metals.
The next month, February, one of the party carried some of the dust down to Yerba Buena (San Francisco). Here he providentially met Isaac Humphrey, an old Georgia gold miner, who, upon his first look at the specimens, said they were gold, and that the diggings must be rich. He tried to persuade some of his friends to go up to the mill with him, but they thought it only a crazy expedition, and let him go alone. Mr. Humphrey reached the mill March 7th. Only a few were lazily hunting for gold; there was no excitement; the most of the men were working in the mill as usual. Next day he began "prospecting," and quickly satisfied himself that he had "struck it rich." He returned to the mill, made a "rocker," and immediately commenced placer mining in dead earnest.
A few days later, Baptiste, a Frenchman, who had mined in Mexico, left the lumber he was sawing for Sutter, at Weber's, ten miles east of Coloma, and came over to the mill. He agreed with Humphrey that the region was rich, furnished himself with rocker and pan, and forthwith began to develop the shining wealth, beside which mills, lumber, ranches, flocks, and crops were of small account. So these two men, Humphrey and Baptiste, became the pioneer gold-miners of California, and the first practical teachers of placer mining. The lumbermen around crowded in to see how they did it. The process was simple, the teachers were obliging, the lesson easy, the result sure and speedy wealth.
They soon located "claims" all about, began to hoard their "piles," and Sutter's Fort, as the place through which all new comers passed, began a rapid growth, which proved the origin and nucleus of the present capital of California.
The Sacramento of to-day stands on the east bank of the Sacramento River, about one mile below the junction of the American River, and at the head of tide navigation.
Next to San Francisco, it is the largest city in the State, having a population of twenty thousand.
It owes its importance chiefly to four things: