Early California Heroes and the Gold Rush

Early California Heroes and the Gold Rush. . Marker One: , Kit Carson: 1809-1868 , American mountain man, trapper, and scout, Carson led Captain John Charles Fremont on his first explorations of the American West in the 1840's. He lived among and married into the Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes, and entered the Napa Valley on a hunting trip in 1829. , Johann Augustus Sutter: 1803-1880 , Swiss Pioneer who built Sutter's Fort at present day Sacramento. A true friend to Americans who made their way over the Sierras in the early 1840's, his dream of an inland empire was ruined when gold was discovered at his newly built lumber mill on the American River on January 24, 1848. He grew grapes and made wine, but it was the peach schnapps he distilled that often caused him to sell certain properties on more than one occasion. , James Marshall: 1810 - 1885 , American carpenter who found a pea-sized nugget of gold while building the lumber mill for Capt. Sutter. He made more money from the vineyard he planted in the Sierra foothills in the 1860's than he ever did with the gold he discovered., Marker Two , History Hill. , As you make the short walk to our historic winery, you will observe historic figures nestled into our green hillside of the Mayacamas Mountains. The Count of Buena Vista dug into the living rock of those volcanic mountains to make the first wine cellars and stone winery buildings in California, thereby enduring his place in wine history., It is with a profound respect and admiration for important people in history that we present their images upon our hillside., The groupings we present may spark connections… indeed, many themes exist herein: the story of wine from ancient times to the present, the discovery of the New World, revolutionary heroes in politics and science, the building and creating of the American West, and California wine heroes., We hope that considering these groupings may bring forth conversations best resolved with a glass of delicious Buena Vista wine. Please enjoy… the journey of wine is the journey of life itself!