Sacramento California: Encyclopedia II - Sacramento California - History

Sacramento California - History

Sacramento California - The lost frontier

Miwok, Shonommey and Maidu Indians lived in this area for perhaps thousands of years. Unlike the settlers that would eventually make Sacramento their home, these Indians left little evidence of their existence. Their diet was dominated by acorns taken from the plentiful oak trees in the region, and by fruits, bulbs, seeds, and roots gathered throughout the year.

In either 1806 or 1808 the Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga discovered and named the Sacramento Valley and the Sacramento River after the Spanish term for 'sacrament', specifically, after "the Most Holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ," referring to the Roman Catholic sacrament of the Eucharist.

Sacramento California - From pioneers to gold fever

The pioneer John Sutter arrived from Liestal, Switzerland in the Sacramento area with other settlers in August 1839 and established the trading colony and stockade Sutter's Fort (as New Helvetia or "New Switzerland") in 1840. In 1848, when gold was discovered by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma (located some 50 miles northeast of the fort), a large number of gold-seekers came to the area, increasing the population. John Sutter, Jr. then planned the City of Sacramento, against the wishes of his father, naming the city after the Sacramento River for commercial reasons. He hired topographical engineer William H. Warner to draft the official layout of the city, which included 26 lettered and 31 numbered streets (today's grid from C to Broadway and from Front to Alhambra). However, a bitterness grew between the elder Sutter and his son as Sacramento became an overnight commercial success (Sutter's Fort, Mill and the town of Sutterville, all founded by John Sutter, Sr., would eventually fail).

The part of Sacramento originally laid out by William Warner is situated just east and south of where the American River meets the Sacramento River (though over time it has grown to extend significantly north, south, and east of there). A number of directly adjacent towns or cities, such as Carmichael, Florin and Citrus Heights, extend the greater Sacramento area.

The citizens of Sacramento adopted a city charter in 1849, which was recognized by the state legislature in 1850. Sacramento is the oldest incorporated city in California. During the early 1850s the Sacramento valley was devastated by floods, fires and cholera epidemics. Despite this, because of its position just downstream from the Mother Lode in the Sierra Nevada, the newly founded city grew, quickly reaching a population of 10,000.

Sacramento California - Capital city

The California State Legislature named Sacramento as the permanent home of the state capital in 1854 by law, but the city did not physically hold that honor until January 1, 1855. Previously, the capital was located in San Jose, Vallejo, and Benicia successively.

Begun in 1869 to be reminiscent of the United States Capitol in Washington, DC, the Renaissance Revival style California State Capitol was completed in 1874.

With its new status and strategic location, Sacramento quickly prospered and became the western end of the Pony Express, and later the First Transcontinental Railroad (which began construction in Sacramento in 1863 and was financed by "The Big Four" — Mark Hopkins, Charles Crocker, Collis P. Huntington, and Leland Stanford).

The same rivers that earlier brought death and destruction began to provide increasing levels of transportation and commerce. Both the American and especially Sacramento rivers would be key elements in the economic success of the city. In fact, Sacramento effectively controlled commerce on these rivers, and public works projects were funded though taxes levied on goods unloaded from boats and loaded onto rail cars in the historic Sacramento Rail Yards.

Sacramentans raised the level of the city by landfill. The previous first floors of buildings became the basements, in an effort to control the flooding. Now both rivers are used extensively for recreation. The American River is a 5 mile-per-hour waterway for all power boats (including jet-ski and similar craft) (Source Sacramento County Parks & Recreation) and has become an international attraction for rafters and kayakers. The Sacramento River sees many boaters, who can make day trips to nearby sloughs or continue along the Delta to the Bay Area and San Francisco. The Delta King, a paddlewheel steamboat which for a long time lay on the bottom of the river, was refurbished and is now a hotel and restaurant.

Sacramento California - The modern era

The Sacramento-Yolo Port District was created in 1947, and ground was broken on the Port of Sacramento in 1949. On June 29, 1963, with 5,000 spectators waiting to welcome her, the Motor Vessel Taipei Victory arrived. The port was open for business. The Nationalist Chinese flag ship, freshly painted for the historic event, was loaded with 5,000 tons of bagged rice for Mitsui Trading Co. bound for Okinawa and 1,000 tons of logs for Japan. She was the first ocean-going vessel in Sacramento since the steamship Harpoon in 1934.

The Port of Sacramento has been plagued with operating losses in recent years and faces bankruptcy. As of 2006 the city of West Sacramento will take full responsibility for the Port of Sacramento.

The city's current charter was adopted by voters in 1920, establishing a city council-and-manager form of government, still used today. As a charter city, Sacramento is exempt from many laws and regulations passed by the state legislature.

The city of North Sacramento incorporated in 1924, and merged into the city of Sacramento in 1964.

Sacramento City and County (along with a portion of adjacent Placer County) are served by a customer-owned electric utility, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District. Sacramento voters approved the creation of SMUD in 1923. In April, 1946, after 12 years of litigation, a judge ordered Pacfic Gas & Electric to transfer title of Sacramento's electric distribution system to SMUD. SMUD today is the country's sixth-largest public electic utility, and it has a worldwide reputation for innovative programs and services, including the development of clean fuel resources such as solar power.

Despite a devolution of state government in recent years, state bureaucracy remains by far Sacramento's largest employer. The City of Sacramento expends considerable effort to keep state agencies from moving outside the city limits. In addition, many federal agencies have offices in Sacramento.

In the early 1990s, Mayor Joe Serna attempted to lure the Los Angeles Raiders football team to Sacramento, selling $50 million in bonds as earnest money. When the deal fell through, the bond proceeds were used to construct several large projects, including expanding the Convention Center and refurbishing of the Memorial Auditorium. Serna renamed a city park for controversial farm labor organizer Cesar Chavez, although he failed in an attempt to have Chavez's birthday made into an official city holiday. Sacramento has the distinction of being one of few American cities successfully sued by former employees of its police department for the practice of reverse discrimination.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Mayor Heather Fargo made several abortive attempts to provide taxpayer financing of a new stadium for the Maloof brothers, owners of the Kings NBA basketball franchise.

Mayor Fargo's tenure also saw the passing of a resolution for immediate unilateral withdrawal from the War on Terror in Iraq, and a resolution condemning the Patriot Act.

Sacramento has been involved in lengthy litigation as the defendant in lawsuits by disabled activists demanding that all City facilities, especially sidewalks, be made wheelchair accessible. Costs are estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars for these improvements.

In 2003 the City Council required City contractors to pay a "living wage" to all employees. Councilman Robbie Waters voted against the measure: “I predict that many businesses will quit doing business with Sacramento because of increased costs.”

Recently the City Council considered adopting a resolution that would regulate the operations of hospitals in the City. Of the proposed resolution, the Chamber of Commerce said it "vigorously opposed the resolution. A municipal resolution seeking to regulate hospital operations is not only redundant vis-a-vis existing federal and state law, it will likely introduce inconsistent standards to be created, applied and interpreted by persons having no particular knowledge or expertise in health care operations."

The 1980s and 1990s saw the closure of several local military bases: McClellan Air Force Base, Mather Air Force Base, and Sacramento Army Depot. As a result the U.S. armed forces have no military presence in the city except for recruiting offices.

In 1967, Governor Ronald Reagan became the last chief executive to live permanently in the city. A new executive mansion constructed for Reagan has remained vacant for nearly forty years. Many of the state offices related to the governor have since moved to Los Angeles. Likewise, the California Supreme Court normally sits in San Francisco.

In spite of major military base closures and the decline of agricultural processing, Sacramento continued to experience massive population growth in the 1990s and early 2000s. Primary sources of population growth are people migrating from the San Francisco Bay Area seeking lower housing costs, as well as immigration from Asia, Central America, Mexico, Ukraine, and the former Soviet Union. From 1990 to 2000, the population grew 14.7%. The Census Bureau estimates that in four years (2000-2004), the population of Sacramento County increased from 1,223,499 to 1,352,445.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki