Swiss American Historical Society Review Volume 56 Number 1 Article 8 2020 A History Of The Swiss In California Richard Hacken Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_review Part of the European History Commons, and the European Languages and Societies Commons Recommended Citation Hacken, Richard (2020) "A History Of The Swiss In California," Swiss American Historical Society Review: Vol. 56 : No. 1 , Article 8. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_review/vol56/iss1/8 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Swiss American Historical Society Review by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact
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[email protected]. Hacken: A History Of The Swiss In California A History of the Swiss in California by Richard Hacken1 In 1848, the same year that Switzerland’s political structure took on its present constitutional form as a modern nation-state, a Swiss settler-entrepreneur named John Sutter became aware of gold deposits at his mill in Alta California. This led directly to the California Gold Rush. Two years later, in 1850, the United States accepted the fresh- ly acquired and promising region now known as “California” into the Union as a state. Swiss immigrants enhanced the development of Cali- fornia from its very inception. Sutter, the charismatic chameleon-adventurer,2 had marketed himself at times to prospective clients and business partners as “Captain John Sutter of the Swiss Guards.”3 His contribution to the development of California, which was transitioning from being part of a sparsely populated Mexican province to a booming American state, was signifi- cant.