Rise, Ruin, & Restoration: A History of Sutter’s Fort

In its heyday Sutter’s Fort was a remote frontier outpost, a trading center, a Mecca for 1840s overlanders who trundled West in covered wagons. Ruined in the aftermath of the 1848 gold discovery, the structure was restored in the 1890s as a monument to those pioneers. Every year, it attracts more than 100,000 visitors from all over the world, and occasionally the very famous come. Queen Elizabeth II scheduled Sutter’s Fort as a must-see during her 1983 tour of California. Rise, Ruin & Restoration presents the facts about a world-famous place whose very existence contributed to the acquisition of California by the United States.