The Sacramento Valley from the American River to Butte Creek

Cartographer: Lieutenant George H. Derby, Topographical Engineers (surveyed under orders of Gen. Bennet Riley)

Year: 1849

Drawn in September and October 1849, this Gold-Rush-era map traces the Sacramento, Feather, and Yuba Rivers from Sutter’s Fort north to Butte Creek. Derby marks wagon roads, ferries, rancho boundaries, and several “Indian Rancherias,” capturing settlement patterns just months after the first gold strike. Shaded hachures on the right reveal the abrupt rise of the Sierra Nevada, while lighter contours on the left hint at Coast Range foothills. Notes such as “Plains usually overflowed in winter” and “Large herds of Wild Cattle” document seasonal flooding and wildlife. Sacramento City appears as a nascent street grid at the river confluence, surrounded by undeveloped prairie. This sheet offers an invaluable baseline for studying later levee building, railroad surveys, and agricultural reclamation across Northern California.