In 1846, John Sutter
sent people out from his fort on the American River to search for a place
of new lumber. One group discovered a great stand of sugar pine about
45 miles of the fort on a ridge above two creeks. By the 1850's, miners
had moved from the placer gravels of streams to the quartz ledges of the
hillsides, and until the mines were shut down by executive order in 1942
Sutter Creek was a mining town with some of the richest quartz mines in
the Mother Load. After World War II, and with the centennial of Gold
Discovery in 1949, the town quickly turned its attention to tourism, maintaining
its Gold Rush heritage and its classic Old West facade.
www.econedlink.org/
lessons/index.cfm?lesson=EM328
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