Brief
History:
Sacramento County was one
of the original counties of California,
which were created in 1850 at the time
of statehood. The
county was named after the
Sacramento River, which forms its
western border. The river was named by
Spanish cavalry
officer Gabriel Moraga for the
Santisimo Sacramento (Most Holy
Sacrament), referring to the Catholic
Eucharist. Its county
seat is Sacramento.
Native Americans, including the
Miwok and Maidu tribes, were the first
residents of Sacramento County. The
first European
to explore the Sacramento area was
Gabriel Moraga, an officer in the
Spanish Army. He is credited with naming
the river and
valley Sacramento, from the
Spanish phrase Santisimo Sacramento
meaning Most Holy Sacrament. The county
was named
after the Sacramento River, which
forms its western border.
John Sutter, born in Switzerland
in 1803, came to California in 1839 and
settled in the Sacramento Valley.
Sacramento was
part of Mexico at the time, and,
after becoming a Mexican citizen, Sutter
was given a land grant by Governor Juan
Bautista
Alvarado in the valley. At the
confluence of the American and
Sacramento rivers, Sutter built Fort
Sutter.
As a result of the Mexican War of
1846-1848, California was ceded to the
United States. In 1849, gold was
discovered at
Sutter's mill in what is now El
Dorado County, and the Sacramento Valley
was flooded with people coming to find
gold. In
1850, California became a state,
and Sacramento County was established as
one of its original counties. The city
of
Sacramento was named the state
capital in 1854.
Alexander Hamilton Willard, a
member of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition, is buried in the old
Franklin Cemetery.
One of the largest counties in the
state at 1026 square miles. In 1884, the
county was noted for Agriculture, and
mining with
a population of about 40,000.
The 1900 Sacramento Directory
states the county is comprised of
640,000 acres. The city of Sacramento is
fourth in
population in the state, second in
commercial importance. There are four
(4) rivers in the county, The
Sacramento, American,
Comsumnes, and Mokelumne.
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