The Sutter Buttes. To nearby native peoples it was, and still is, revered as Spirit Mountain. It provoked the curiosity of the first explorers and trappers who sought the promontory for its panoramic strategic value. Later researchers and educators were also drawn to the site to further their understanding of the natural world. Productive farmland around the scenic peaks brought many settlers to “Butte Mountain.” Today those who live and work in and around the Buttes feel a deep connection to the landscape. Many of their family histories are featured here, revealing a ranching and farming heritage that has been handed down for generations over the past 150 years, preserving this landmark from development. Most of the Sutter Buttes remain a vestige of California’s past.

Author Mike Hubbartt has collected images for this volume from the Community Memorial Museum of Sutter County, the Sutter County Historical Society, neighboring libraries, and many local families. The Images of America series celebrates the history of neighborhoods, towns, and cities across the country. Using archival photographs, each title presents the distinctive stories from the past that shape the character of the community today. Arcadia is proud to play a part in the preservation of local heritage, making history available to all.

As a mountain range, the Sutter Buttes of California stands apart, an island of upland in the great sea of lowland flanked by the Sierra Nevada and the Coast Ranges. Its softly rounded hills and angular pinnacles are cloaked in grasses, shrubs, and trees in patterns that reflect nature’s design, not man’s. Naturalist Walt Anderson provides an insider’s view of this special mountain, telling stories with both insight and humor. The rocks, plants, animals, and the ecosystems they collectively form are given personal faces through Walt’s insights and unabashed humor. Humans are also a part of the natural history of this place, and their roles, from prehistoric to modern, are discussed.