Sutter Creek, CA; rich in Gold Rush history

Two years before gold was discovered at Coloma in 1848, John Sutter sent out a party from Sacramento in search of timber. They found a grove rich in sugar pine and named one of the nearby streams Sutter’s Creek. Soon placer mining was in full swing, quite a village had sprung up and deep rock mining of rich ore deposits soon followed.

Photos, from top down: Hotel Sutter/Bellotti Hotel, Knight's Foundry, Methodist Church, one of many old homes surrounding downtown Sutter Creek, and Main Street looking southeast.

Incorporated in 1854, Sutter Creek was home to several hotels, saloons, dry-goods shops and churches. Today, just off Highway 49 and north of Jackson, Sutter Creek is one of the best-preserved of the California Gold Rush towns. Quaint Main Street (part of Highway 49 until a bypass skirted traffic around the city five years ago) offers a walkable stretch with a wealth of historic buildings dating from the 1850s.

Some of the more impressive include the Hotel Sutter/Bellotti Inn. Opened in 1860, it is one of the oldest hotels still in continuous operation in the state. The American Exchange Hotel preceded the Bellotti on this site, opening in 1858 and soon replaced by the Bellotti.

Two blocks south, Sutter Creek Methodist Church was constructed 1861, under leadership of Rev. I. B. Fish, and incorporated in 1862; the steeple was added in 1976 (church located at the corner of Main and Church). Main Street offers scores of historic edifices, many of them marked by plaques offering historical anecdotes – all of them home to busy shops, restaurants and wine-tasting rooms.

Just three blocks east of Main on Eureka is the old Knight Foundry. It was the only water-powered foundry in the US, that, until a few years ago, was in continuous operation since 1873. Sam Knight designed the water wheel which was used world-wide, often powering early hydroelectric plants throughout California, Utah and Oregon.

Seven-foot versions of the Knight water wheel powered the big stamp mills in gold mining days. The 42 inch model, used on Sutter Creek on the south side of the foundry, helped in manufacture of the heavy dredge buckets used on the San Francisco Bay, San Joaquin Delta and Seattle harbors, then hauled by freight wagon and mule teams to the railroad and shipped to their destination.

Sutter Creek is home to a baker’s dozen of bed and breakfasts and motels, with scores of quaint shops and restaurants.  For a great resource, go to www.suttercreek.org; the site also offers a host of annual events, such as the November 9 Winefest on historic Main Street! Take a day or weekend trip to Sutter Creek soon and revel in Gold Rush history!  For other quaint California and western getaways, go to http://littleplacesiknow.blogspot.com/.