Rancho New Helvetia (also called "Nueva Helvetia") was a 48,839-acre (197.64 km2) Mexican land grant in present day Sacramento County, Sutter County and Yuba County, California given in 1841 by Governor Juan Alvarado to John Sutter.[1] The name means "new Switzerland" after Sutter's home country. The grant extended roughly from near present day Marysville south along the Feather River, to the confluence of the Sacramento River and American River near present day Sacramento.[2]
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By 1840, the settlements in Mexican California were limited for the most part to lands near coastal waters, and the Californios were worried about encroachments by foreigners, especially by Americans.[3] To serve as a buffer "against the invasion of the Indians and marauding bands of hunters and trappers",[4] Governor Alvarado granted eleven square leagues of land (the maximum under Mexican law) in the Sacramento Valley to John Sutter (1803–1880), a German-Swiss immigrant. Part of Sutter's mandate was to encourage settlers, and he made numerous grants of parcels of land; however, these grants far exceeded the quantity ultimately awarded to him.[5]
With the cession of California to the United States following the Mexican-American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, in 1852 Sutter filed a claim with the Public Land Commission for the eleven square leagues granted by Alvarado in 1841. In 1853 Sutter amended his petition, and claimed an additional twenty-two square league "Sobrante", granted to him and his son, John A. Sutter Jr., by Governor Manuel Micheltorena in 1845.
Both grants (New Helvetia and Sobrante) were confirmed by the US District Court in 1857; but the US Attorney General filed an appeal and took the case to the US Supreme Court. Although Sutter could not produce the original records of his grant, the Supreme Court accepted the 1841 Alvarado grant (New Helvetia); but sent the 1845 Micheltorena grant (Sobrante) back to the district court.[6] In 1864, the US Supreme Court rejected the 1845 Micheltorena grant (Sobrante).[7] The eleven square league Alvarado grant was patented to John A. Sutter in 1866.[8][9]
A claim for part of Rancho New Helvetia was filed by Charles Covillaud, J. M. Ramírez, W. H. Sampson, R. B. Buchanan, and G. N. Sweazy with the Land Commission in 1852.[10] Known as Covillaud & Co., the partners bought Cordua's Rancho Honcut, and also bought Cordua's leased land on Rancho New Helvetia from Sutter. A claim for Rancho New Helvetia was filed by Roland Gelston with the Land Commission in 1852.[11] Roland Gelston, a San Francisco merchant owned considerable property there and in Sacramento. A claim for part of Rancho New Helvetia as filed by Hiram Grimes, who owned Rancho Del Paso, with the Land Commission in 1853.[12][13]
With the California Gold Rush, Sutter's workers abandoned him to seek their fortune in the gold fields. Later, squatters occupied his land. By 1852, Sutter was bankrupt. For fifteen years following the 1864 US Supreme Court rejection of the Sobrante grant, Sutter tried to obtain reimbursement from Congress for his help in colonizing California. But little was done, and in 1880, Sutter died in a Washington, D.C. hotel.[3][14]
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