March 10, 2010

Read Our Latest Sacred Site Report, California’s Sutter Buttes

Posted by: Amberly Polidor

Rising like an island in the center of California’s Sacramento Valley, the Sutter Buttes figure prominently in the traditional creation and afterlife stories of the Maidu and Wintun peoples, whose ancestors once lived within view of this small mountain range. In the 19th century, European settlement and the imposition of private property rights severed the Native American way of life — but it is the concept of private property rights that today both preserves the Buttes and leaves them precariously open to development.

The late afternoon sun glows on South Butte in the Sutter Buttes. © 2005 Anthony Dunn

South Butte in the Sutter Buttes in early spring. © 2005 Anthony Dunn

Rice fields surround the small town of Nelson in the Sacramento Valley, with the Sutter Buttes in the distance. © 2005 Anthony Dunn

Rock walls like these are found in the Sutter Buttes and are thought to have been used as hunting blinds by local native tribes. Photo courtesy of Daniel Barth.

A clear day over the Sutter Buttes. © 2008 Samuel Ford