General Plan Policy Document (Adopted 7-11 ... - City of Wheatland

GENERAL PLAN SUMMARYWHEATLAND’SHISTORICALDEVELOPMENTEarlyEuropeanSettlementline. The larger Study Area encompasses approximately 24,300 acresof land in which information has been collected for the General PlanUpdate. Figure 2 shows the boundaries of the Planning Area andStudy Area.The General Plan’s Study Area lies within the territory once claimedby the Valley Nisenan (or Southern Maidu) which are a Penutianspeakingcentral California group. Their traditional homelands onceincluded the lower drainages of the American, Yuba, and Bear Rivers,and the lower reaches of the Feather River.Few villages occupied the valley plain between the Sacramento Riverand the foothills. Although both the valley and foothill people huntedand gathered there, the resource focus was along the edges of richecotones, either the rivers and the valley floor, or the valley floor andthe foothills. The plains surrounding Wheatland fall in between thesetwo rich ecotones, and consist of exposed terrain. It is not likely thatNative Americans would have spent an appreciable amount of time inthe Wheatland area, instead they would have resided in villages alongthe Yuba River to the north and the hills to the east.Early European settlement in the Wheatland area came withexpeditions led by Gabriel Moraga in 1808 and Luis Arguello in 1821,both of whom crossed portions of present day Yuba County.Throughout the 1820s and 1830s, Yuba County was visited by trappersfrom the Hudson’s Bay Company and American Fur Company, whoexploited beaver and other fur resources.In 1822 California came under Mexican rule when Mexico becameindependent of Spain. As British and Americans were allowed tobecome Mexican citizens, they acquired large tracts of land granted tothem by Mexico and initially dominated the business and commercialaffairs of the region. John Sutter established land holdings thatincluded much of what is now Yuba County. Sutter owned more thanMexican law permitted; therefore, he sublet parts of his estate to othersettlers. In 1844, a Mexican who had been in the employ of Sutter, DonPablo Guttierez, obtained a grant of five leagues on the north side ofBear River, now known as the Johnson Grant. The land grant, datedDecember 22, 1844, was first known as Rancho de Pablo, for PabloGuttierez, the grantee. Wheatland falls within the center of this landgrant.By 1849 there were a number of settlements along Bear Riverestablished by people engaged in mining, the livestock trade, tradingpost, sawmills, hotels, cutting hay, and raising cattle. Johnson’s Ranchprovided a way station for teams engaging in hauling freight fromSacramento to the northern mines. It also became a stopping place fortrappers, explorers, and travelers.Wheatland General Plan Policy Document, Part I 4July 11, 2006