Eastward, in the Sacramento Valley, the Swiss adventurer John August Sutter was using the labor of Indians, Kanakas, Mexicans and American wanderers to found a feudal barony on the immense tract of land he had secured from Governor Alvarado. His fort at New Helvetia (above) had sheltered Fremont when the Pathfinder had stumbled down the western slope of the Sierra in 1844, more dead than alive.
One
of Sutter's many projects was a sawmill to supply lumber for his
principality. James W. Marshall set about building one on the south
fork of the American River. He and Sutter were to divide the profits of
the mill (below).
