orig. Johann August Suter
born Feb. 15, 1803, Kandern, Baden
died June 18, 1880, Washington, D.C., U.S.
German-born U.S. pioneer.
Fleeing financial failures, he left his family in Switzerland and arrived in the U.S. in 1834. He obtained a land grant from the Mexican governor and established the colony of Nueva Helvetia (later Sacramento , Calif.). On the American River he built Sutter's Fort, a frontier trading post, in 1841. When gold was found there in 1848, he tried to keep it a secret. In the resulting gold rush , squatters and gold seekers invaded his land and stole his goods and livestock. U.S. courts denied his claim to his Mexican land grant, and Sutter was bankrupt by 1852.