Sutter Buttes

Last updated
Sutter Buttes
Sutter Buttes Bird's eye view.jpg
Bird's eye view of the Sutter Buttes, rising over the town of Yuba City, California
Highest point
PeakSouth Butte
Elevation 2,122 ft (647 m)
Prominence 2,050 ft (625 m)
Listing California county high points 56th
Coordinates 39°12′21″N121°49′13″W / 39.2057239°N 121.8202495°W / 39.2057239; -121.8202495 [1]
Geography
Relief map of California.png
Red triangle with thick white border.svg
Sutter Buttes
Location Sutter County, California, U.S.
Region Sacramento Valley
Topo map USGS  Sutter Buttes
Geology
Type of rock volcanic neck
Marysville Buttes (Sutter Buttes) Gas Field Geologic map MarysvilleButtesGasFieldGeologicMap.png
Marysville Buttes (Sutter Buttes) Gas Field Geologic map
Marysville Buttes (Sutter Buttes) Gas Field Geologic Cross Section with 3x vertical exaggeration MarysvilleButtesGasFieldGeologicCrossSection.png
Marysville Buttes (Sutter Buttes) Gas Field Geologic Cross Section with 3x vertical exaggeration

The Sutter Buttes (Maidu: Histum Yani or Esto Yamani, Wintun: Olonai-Tol, Nisenan: Estom Yanim) are a small circular complex of eroded volcanic lava domes which rise as buttes above the flat plains of the Sacramento Valley in Sutter County, northern California. They are situated just outside Yuba City in the northern part of the state's Central Valley.

Contents

Referred to as the world's smallest mountain range, [2] the Sutter Buttes have as their highest point the summit of South Butte, at 2,122 ft (647 m), which is also the highest point in Sutter County. [3]

At the base of the mountain is the small town of Sutter. Both the town and the buttes are named for John Sutter, who received a large land grant in the area from the Mexican government. [2]

Geography

The small range forms a rough circle approximately 10 mi (16 km) from north to south and east to west. [2]

Geology

The Sutter Buttes lie within the Central Valley of California. [4]

They were formed about 1.6 million years ago in the early Pleistocene Epoch [4] by volcanic activity. They are the remnants of a volcano that has been dormant [5] for about 1.4 million years. [6] Some geological references suggest that the volcano represents the southernmost boundary of the Cascade Volcanoes, but there are significant differences in age and form compared to the other volcanoes in that range. [7] Others suggest that its age places it with the volcanic elements of the California Coast Ranges; its composition is closer to that range but does have significant differences. [8]

Exploration of natural gas leaks was first undertaken at South Butte by Dexter Cook in 1864, when he dug a 65 ft (20 m) shaft. [6] Sutter Buttes Oil Company drilled a well in 1927 to a depth of 2,900 ft (880 m), and other wells were drilled on the western margin. Buttes Oilfields, Inc., drilled a well in 1932, but it wasn't until June 1935 though that it drilled the first of four gas wells in the area of T. 15 N., R 1 E. [9]

Soils and vegetation

The rugged central part of the Buttes has a stony, brown sandy loam of variable depth and good-to-somewhat-excessive drainage. The smoother perimeter has more variable soil, with clay or silt loam areas among the sandy loams. These soils support grassland or oak woodland. [10] The Sutter Buttes contain many species of flora and fauna. Wildflowers are represented by numerous taxa; included in these many wildflowers is the yellow mariposa lily, Calochortus luteus . [11]

History

Sutter Buttes Terrain Sutter Buttes.jpg
Sutter Buttes Terrain
Sutter Buttes Terrain in 1841 SutterButtesUSEE1841.png
Sutter Buttes Terrain in 1841

Indigenous era

The Sutter Buttes figure prominently in the creation stories and other traditions of the indigenous Nisenan, Maidu, and Wintun peoples. The Nisenan lived on the East side of the Buttes, while the Patwin Wintun lived on the West side. The Nisenan name for the Buttes is Estom Yanim. [12] The Maidu name for the Sutter Buttes is Histum Yani (middle mountains of the Valley) or Esto Yamani, [13] while the Wintun name for the Sutter Buttes is Onolai-Tol. [14] All of these names roughly mean "The Middle Mountains".

There were seasonal encampments in the Buttes, and all these tribes visited the Buttes regularly to gather acorns and other foods or to hunt game. The Buttes were also a center of regional Native American religion. According to anthropologist Alfred Kroeber, the Patwin village where the city of Colusa now stands was the “hotbed” where the Kuksu Cult was established. This religion spread through much of Northern California. Ceremonies were performed in earthen dance lodges where spirit impersonators would re-enact ancient mythological events.

In the Maidu and Nisenan religions, the Sutter Buttes is the place where dying people came to ascend to the afterlife. [8]

Spanish & Mexican periods

The Spaniard Gabriel Moraga was the first European to see the Sutter Buttes in 1806. In 1817, the Californio Luis Antonio Argüello named it "los tres picos" [15] (the three peaks, name that appears on the Mexican land grant made to Captain John Sutter). In 1843, John C. Frémont called them "The Three Buttes." James Dwight Dana explored the buttes on 16 Oct. 1841, while part of the United States Exploring Expedition. [6] In June 1846, John C. Frémont, on a massacre spree since April, stopped at the Sutter Buttes. Fearing an attack from the local Indians, Frémont led a preemptive attack which killed many Indians and led the others to flee the area. It remains known as the Sutter Buttes massacre. [16]

American period

Under the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago at the end of the war with Mexico the United States acquired California. Under the treaty the United States agreed to respect titles conveyed by Mexico. John Sutter claimed ownership of the Sutter Buttes under his New Helvetia grant. The United States Land Commission and the courts determined that Sutter's New Helvetia Grant did not include the Buttes. No land title in the Buttes arises under a Spanish or Mexican Grant, all title to land in the Buttes derives from the federal government. [17] [18] [ full citation needed ] During the Gold Rush, the Buttes were called the "Marysville Buttes". [19] In 1920, the state of California failed to purchase the Marysville Buttes, [8] which finally became the "Sutter Buttes" in 1949.

Howel Williams further investigated the geology of the buttes in 1929. Williams teamed up with Garniss Curtis in 1977 to include radiometric dating of the area. [6]

In 2003, the California Department of Parks and Recreation purchased 1,784.5 acres (7.222 km2) in Peace Valley, on the north side of the Sutter Buttes, for $3 million with the intent to develop it as a state park. In 2005 the Parks Commission determined that the property would be a state park. The land was served by a road easement at the time it was purchased by the state. An underlying landowner sued asserting that the easement was insufficient to permit park visitor travel between Pennington Road and the park, and lost. The court determined that the easement was sufficient to allow visitor use. [20] [21] [8] This land will continue to sit unused for the foreseeable future. The Parks agency has indicated that persons who can access the park from adjoining private lands may enter and use the park.[ citation needed ] The only access to the property is an easement 20 ft (6.1 m) wide running about 2 mi (3.2 km) from North Butte Road. The route crosses private lands and has not been prepared for regular public access.

Titan missile silos and U-2 crash

Between 1960 and 1962, the US Air Force built a Titan 1 ICBM missile launch complex at the north side of the Sutter Buttes, the Pennington Missile Base. A part of the 851st Strategic Missile Squadron headquartered at nearby Beale Air Force Base, the site was designated "851-B." The companion 851-A and 851-C launch sites were located near Lincoln, California and Chico, California. [22] Designed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers to survive a nuclear attack, the Titan 1 complexes were the largest and most hardened of the first-generation ICBM facilities. The sites were composed of three underground missile silos interconnected to support and command bunkers by a network of tunnels. [23] The facility was active between 1962 and 1965. In January 1965, the Titan 1 ICBM was phased out by the US Department of Defense. All missiles were removed from the site by February 1965. [24] The facilities were then decommissioned and the land subsequently sold back into private ownership. [25] [26] The site has been host to many vandals and trespassers since the early 1980s to the present. [27]

In September 2016, a US Air Force Lockheed U-2 from the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron crashed in the Sutter Buttes during a training mission, killing one of the two pilots. [28] [29]

Public access

Before 1960, the land was private, but accessible to the public. In 1960, a fire spread on the Buttes and the ranchers decided to close its access to the public. Since the state acquired some of the Buttes, it intends to redevelop its public access but the neighboring ranchers are highly hostile to that idea. [8] The state park land came with an easement running between the park and Pennington Road to the north. An underlying land owner sued the state asserting that the easement was not sufficient to allow park visitor use. The underlying landowner lost and the court determined that the state could permit visitor access to and from the park over the easement. [30]

Public access to the Sutter Buttes is limited. Almost all of the land is privately held by ranchers and farmers, but an important exception is a 200 acres (0.81 km2) parcel encompassing most of North Butte, donated by deed from the McClatchy Company to the Sutter Buttes Regional Land Trust. [31] The terms of the deed of conveyance include the stipulation that the donated land be used for supervised public educational access, not for private use. The deed further stipulates that if these terms of conveyance are violated the land can revert to McClatchy ownership.[ citation needed ] A few naturalists and local organizations, including Middle Mountain Interpretive Hikes, [32] and the Sutter County Historical Society, [33] lead hikes through some areas. Since 1929, the State of California had considered purchasing the land for protection and a state park. [34]

Park Access

The State acquired access to the park property at the time it purchased the property. There are two basic theories supporting public access to the park: That the road is a dedicated public road, [35] and that the road is on a road easement purchased by the owner of the park property from the owners of the burdened land. The road running between the park and North Butte Road may be a public road by dedication.

All of the land in the Sutter Buttes became federal land under the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago. Before this land was conveyed out of federal ownership it was surveyed and maps were prepared and adopted by the federal General Land Office. The survey notes and approved maps show a road running between what is now North Butte Road and the northwest corner of the park property before the land was conveyed out. Under the federal mining act of 1866, the federal government offered roads established on the federal land to the people. This offer could be and apparently was accepted by use. The road today is not in the exact place it was on the federal maps but is the functional equivalent and so appears to be a public road. [36] [37]

The purchased road easement

In 1928 T.J. Brady, then the owner of the property that became the park, purchased a road easement from Richard Campbell Sr. and Lee and Allie Ballard, then the owners of land between what became the park property and North Butte Road, to provide access to his property. Richard Campbell Jr. sued the state when the park was established, claiming that the existing easement was not sufficient to permit the state to allow park visitors to use the road. Campbell and his co-plaintiffs lost: The courts determined that the state could use the easement for visitor access to the park. [38]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sacramento River</span> River in Northern and Central California, United States

The Sacramento River is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for 400 miles (640 km) before reaching the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and San Francisco Bay. The river drains about 26,500 square miles (69,000 km2) in 19 California counties, mostly within the fertile agricultural region bounded by the Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada known as the Sacramento Valley, but also extending as far as the volcanic plateaus of Northeastern California. Historically, its watershed has reached as far north as south-central Oregon where the now, primarily, endorheic (closed) Goose Lake rarely experiences southerly outflow into the Pit River, the most northerly tributary of the Sacramento.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Butte County, California</span> County in California, United States

Butte County is a county located in the northern part of the U.S. state of California. In the 2020 census, its population was 211,632. The county seat is Oroville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plumas County, California</span> County in California, United States

Plumas County is a county in the Sierra Nevada of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 19,790. The county seat is Quincy, and the only incorporated city is Portola. The largest community in the county is East Quincy. The county was named for the Spanish Río de las Plumas, which flows through it. The county itself is also the namesake of a native moth species, Hadena plumasata.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sutter County, California</span> County in California, United States

Sutter County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 99,633. The county seat is Yuba City. Sutter County is included in the Yuba City, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the Sacramento-Roseville, CA Combined Statistical Area. The county is located along the Sacramento River in the Sacramento Valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yuba County, California</span> County in California, United States

Yuba County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 81,575. The county seat is Marysville. Yuba County is included in the Yuba City metropolitan statistical area, which is also included in the Sacramento–Roseville combined statistical area. The county is in the Central Valley region along the Feather River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yuba City, California</span> City in California, United States

Yuba City is a city in Northern California and the county seat of Sutter County, California, United States. The population was 70,117 at the 2020 census. Yuba City is the principal city of the Yuba City Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Sutter County and Yuba County. The metro area's population is 164,138. It is the 21st largest metropolitan area in California, ranked behind Redding and Chico. Its metropolitan statistical area is part of the Greater Sacramento CSA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern California</span> American geographic and cultural region

Northern California is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers include the San Francisco Bay Area, the Greater Sacramento area, the Redding, California, area south of the Cascade Range, and the Metropolitan Fresno area. Northern California also contains redwood forests, along with most of the Sierra Nevada, including Yosemite Valley and part of Lake Tahoe, Mount Shasta, and most of the Central Valley, one of the world's most productive agricultural regions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Bay Regional Park District</span>

The East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) is a special district operating in Alameda County and Contra Costa County, California, within the East Bay area of the San Francisco Bay Area. It maintains and operates a system of regional parks which is the largest urban regional park district in the United States. The administrative office is located in Oakland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maidu</span> Native American people of northern California

The Maidu are a Native American people of northern California. They reside in the central Sierra Nevada, in the watershed area of the Feather and American Rivers and in Humbug Valley. In Maiduan languages, maidu means "man".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Oroville</span> Reservoir in Butte County, California, U.S.

Lake Oroville is a reservoir formed by the Oroville Dam impounding the Feather River, located in Butte County, northern California. The lake is situated 5 miles (8 km) northeast of the city of Oroville, within the Lake Oroville State Recreation Area, in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Known as the second-largest reservoir in California, Lake Oroville is treated as a keystone facility within the California State Water Project by storing water, providing flood control, recreation, freshwater releases to assist in controlling the salinity intrusion into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and protecting fish and wildlife.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yuba River</span> Waterway in Northern California

The Yuba River is a tributary of the Feather River in the Sierra Nevada and eastern Sacramento Valley, in the U.S. state of California. The main stem of the river is about 40 miles (64 km) long, and its headwaters are split into three major forks. The Yuba River proper is formed at the North Yuba and Middle Yuba rivers' confluence, with the South Yuba joining a short distance downstream. Measured to the head of the North Yuba River, the Yuba River is just over 100 miles (160 km) long.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area code 530</span> Area code in northern California

Area code 530 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) in northeastern and Northern California. It was created in 1997 in an area code split of 916.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nisenan</span>

The Nisenan are a group of Native Americans and an Indigenous people of California from the Yuba River and American River watersheds in Northern California and the California Central Valley. The Nisenan people are classified as part of the larger group of Native Americans known as the Maidu, though some dispute the accuracy of this relationship. They have been delineated by their geographical location, and so in many texts they are further subcategorized as the Valley Nisenan, Hill Nisenan, and Mountain Nisenan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yuba–Sutter area</span> Metropolitan statistical area in California, United States

The Yuba–Sutter area, or Yuba City Metropolitan Statistical Area, is a smaller metropolitan community including Yuba and Sutter Counties in Northern California's Central Valley within the Greater Sacramento area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Community Memorial Museum of Sutter County</span>

The Sutter County Museum,, established in 1975 is the showplace and storehouse for many Yuba-Sutter history treasures and memories. The museum has Nisenan artifacts as well as many from early settlers around the time of the California Gold Rush. The Museum is run as a department of local government by Sutter County, and is located at 1333 Butte House Road, Yuba City, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Chico, California</span> Aspect of history

The history of Chico, California, begins with the original inhabitants, the Mechoopda Maidu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bear River (Feather River tributary)</span> River in California, United States

The Bear River is a tributary of the Feather River in the Sierra Nevada, winding through four California counties: Yuba, Sutter, Placer, and Nevada. About 73 miles (117 km) long, the river flows generally southwest through the Sierra then west through the Central Valley, draining a narrow, rugged watershed of 295 square miles (760 km2).

Browns Valley is an unincorporated community in Yuba County, California. Browns Valley is located 12 miles (19 km) northeast of Marysville and is near Collins Lake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hager Mountain</span>

Hager Mountain is a volcanic peak in Oregon in the northwest corner of the Basin and Range Province in the United States. The mountain is located south of the small unincorporated community of Silver Lake in south-central Oregon, and it is in the Fremont–Winema National Forest. On the summit, there is a fire lookout operated during the summer and fall by the United States Forest Service. There are several hiking trails that lead to the lookout station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nisipowinan Village</span> Historical Landmark in Sacramento, United States

Nisipowinan Village, also spelled Nisenan Village was a major Nisenan Native American tribe Village that is a historical site in Sacramento, California. The Nisipowinan Village in Sacramento is a California Historical Landmark No. 900 listed on June 16, 1976. The Sacramento Nisipowinan Village was located on the north banks of the American River just east of the now Interstate 5 Freeway in the Sacramento Discovery Park. The Nisenan tribe was part of the Maidu tribe. I the 1840s Nisenan tribe traded and worked in peace with people in and around Sutter's Fort, founded by John Sutter in 1839, was located on the south bank of the American River.

References

  1. "Sutter Buttes". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  2. 1 2 3 Stienstra, Tom (2004-03-18). "State buys parcel in Sutter Buttes But public access to Peace Valley could take years". San Francisco Chronicle . p. B-1. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
  3. "South Butte, California". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 2014-02-21.
  4. 1 2 State of California, ‘’California Geologic Provinces,’’ Note 36, page 2 Archived 2016-12-22 at the Wayback Machine
  5. "Yuba City's Sutter Buttes". Archived from the original on 2013-08-01. Retrieved 2014-03-04.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Hausback, Brian P.; Muffler, L.J. Patrick; Clynne, Michael A. (March 2011). "Sutter Buttes—The Lone Volcano in California's Great Valley" (PDF). U.S. Geological Survey.
  7. Charles A. Wood. 1990
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Don Knapp, A Chance to Hike California’s Hidden Buttes (Maybe), Nytimes.com, 16 March 2007
  9. Johnson, Harry (1943). Marysville Buttes (Sutter Buttes) Gas Field, in Geologic Formations and Economic Development of the Oil and Gas Fields of California. San Francisco: State of California Dept. of Natural Resources Division of Mines, Bulletin 118. p. 610.
  10. Soil Survey of Sutter County, California. United States Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, 1988
  11. C. Michael Hogan. 2009
  12. "Nisenan".
  13. "Sutter Buttes: Maidu's Spirit Mountain". California Department of Parks and Recreation. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  14. "Sutter Buttes: Maidu's Spirit Mountain" . Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  15. Yuba City's Sutter Buttes Archived 2018-02-14 at the Wayback Machine , Syix.com
  16. Frémont, John Charles (1887). Memoirs of My Life, By John Charles Frémont. Chicago: Belford, Clark. ISBN   9780665141270.
  17. For the European history of Sutter Count and the Buttes prior to 1879, see Thompson; West (1879). Pictorial History of Sutter County.
  18. Hendricks, Louise. Land of Histum Yani.
  19. Delay, Peter J. (1924). History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, California. Los Angeles: Historic Record Company. p. 224. OCLC   6061103.
  20. Campbell v. State (2015) Sutter County Superior Court CVCS 08-2421, Court of Appeal C070369
  21. For a discussion of the property and the park process see "Sutter Buttes Park Project Naming and Classification Document," from 2005. The California Department of Parks and Recreation lists the park's name as unofficial and its current status as closed to the public as of 2017. "California Department of Parks and Recreation page for Sutter Buttes" . Retrieved 2017-02-01.
  22. "BEALE AFB". www.siloworld.net. Retrieved 2019-03-31.
  23. "Missile Bases, Communication Bunkers, & Underground Properties". missilebases. Retrieved 2019-03-31.
  24. "851st Strategic Missile Squadron", Wikipedia, 2018-11-17, retrieved 2019-03-31
  25. Beale Air Force Base Titan Complex 4B, Militarymuseum.org
  26. Beale AFB, Titan I, missile base construction, Siloworld.net
  27. "Titan 1". California Cold War Museum & Memorial. Archived from the original on 2011-01-24. Retrieved 2008-12-12.
  28. 1 Pilot Dead, Another Injured in California Spy Plane Crash, Voanews.com, 20 September 2016
  29. 1 pilot dead following U2 spy plane crash into Sutter Buttes, Dailydemocrat.com
  30. See Campbell v. State, Sutter County Superior Court CVCS08-2421, California Court of Appeal C070369, March 16, 2015.
  31. "Sutter Buttes Regional Land Trust - Our History" . Retrieved 2015-02-26.
  32. "Middle Mountain Interpretive Hikes" . Retrieved 2015-02-26.
  33. "Sutter County Historical Society". Archived from the original on 2015-02-27. Retrieved 2015-02-26.
  34. Project Naming and Classification Document (PDF) (Report). Sutter Buttes (2nd ed.). California State Parks. 8 March 2005.
    Interim Operational Guidelines. Northern Buttes District, Valley Sector (Report). Sutter Buttes. California State Parks. 1 March 2005. Approved by PPPC
    Bischoff, Matt C., Historian II (February 2007). Cultural Landscape Report. Northern Service Center (Report). Sutter Buttes State Park, Sutter County, California. Sacramento, California: California Department of Parks and Recreation.{{cite report}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
    Cultural Resources Inventory of the Sutter Buttes. Northern Buttes District (Report). Sutter Buttes State Park, Sutter County, California (revised ed.). Oroville, CA: California Department of Parks and Recreation. 2011 [2007].
  35. public road status under the law is discussed in Western Aggregates, Inc. v. County of Yuba.
  36. General Land Office field notes and maps are viewable on the Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records website, https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx.
  37. The legal theory that the federal mining act serves as an offer which may be accepted by use is discussed in Western Aggregates, Inc. v. County of Yuba (2002) 101 Cal. App. 4th 278.
  38. Ruling on Motion for Summary Judgement and/or Adjudication in Richard Campbell v. State of California, Superior Court, County of Sutter CVCS 08-2421; California Court of Appeal, 3rd DCA C070369 (March 16, 2015).

Sources