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Description

Sutter Island is a small island off the coast of California, the largest island north of the Channel Islands. The origins of the island are rather confusing, given that its granitic geology makes it very different from its surroundings. It wasn't until research in the 1980s confirmed that the island is in fact part of the Sierra Nevada Batholith, which 93 million years ago had part of its mass near what is now San Diego sheared off as the Pacific Plate began to grind against California in a northwestern direction. In layman's terms, Sutter Island is effectively a very displaced "mountain" of the Sierra Nevadas that has been heavily eroded in the years since its detaching from the North American Craton, leaving large parts of the island submerged as the many shoals that surround the island. In the present day, Sutter Island is located 20 miles (30 km) directly west from Point Reyes, and roughly as far northwest of the Farallon Islands, which themselves have a similar origin to Sutter Island but are much smaller.

Human presence on the island and its associated islets begins in the very earliest period of migration into North America, with a number of archaeological sites dating as far back as 15 or 16,000 years and unconfirmed sites as early as 20,000 BCE, which helps provide strong evidence for the "Coastal Migration Route" hypothesis. By the time of the Spanish arrival, the island had been thoroughly settled and was home to as many as 10 villages of the Miwok people, who knew the island as Helwai, a name which means "Western Shore". Although often presented as being isolated from the mainland, based on perceptions of Native American naval capabilities and cultural attitudes towards the Farallon Islands to the south, further reevaluation has shown that the Miwok of Helwai frequently crossed back and forth between the island and the mainland, evidenced by both genetic studies and a deeper appreciation for the capacity of Native canoes to cross the channel between Sutter Island and Point Reyes.

The arrival of the Spanish did devastate most of the native population, but by and large the Spanish left the island to its own devices. The most attention given to the island was the proposal that the island's forests could be harvested to supply Spanish settlements on the mainland in the San Francisco Bay. The proposal was never put forwards and at most a small fortress was operated on the island between 1756 and 1821, but the most presence that the island had for the Spanish was by those ho knew it as Isla Esqueleto, "Skeleton Island". The dominant urban legend is that so many Spanish had been killed by the natives that the beaches were lined with skeletons, but this was only partially the truth. The coasts of the island are notoriously dangerous for ships, and the "skeletons" being referred to were were the wrecks of ships that had crashed on the reefs and shoals and been washed up onto the shores. By then, of course, the political situation had changed.

When Spain's empire collapsed Sutter Island passed into Mexican control, and in that same period the fort that had been built there was sold by Mexican authorities to the Russian American Company, followed shortly thereafter by the sale of the whole of the island. In this context many present the island as a possession of Russia, but the practical reality was that it was simply Mexican land owned by a Russian company. Under the Russians it gained the name Zemlya Rezanova, named for RAC founder Nikolai Rezanov. The Russian presence on the island was similarly light, restricted to an effort to create a source of food to supply Alaska and overhunting otters for fur that would leave the otters almost wholly extirpated from the island. This effort at creating a supply base for Alaska went hand-in-hand with Fort Ross on the mainland, but when the effort proved fruitless the fort was abandoned in 1848, and the next year sold to John Sutter, of gold discovery fame.

It was from Sutter that the island gained its most common name in the Anglosphere, as although Sutter's son was highly successful business-wise, Sutter himself was much less so and retired from active business in 1870, building a home at Point Linden and recouping some losses by selling large parts of Sutter Island to Marin County (of which the island was and is part) to open for settlement. In that period, a number of new settlers moved to the island and collected in the town of Kulupai. Although isolated and difficult to access, the island was heavily promoted by Sutter Jr. in much the same way that he had done for the city of Sacramento. Given its remote location, though, the island grew much more slowly and only reached a population of 1000 people by 1920, and then only reaching 2000 by 1960. Then as now, the only incorporated city on the island is Kulupai itself with four other unincorporated communities: Sadako Bay, Point Linden, Oyomi, and Diablo Bay.

Sutter Islanders rarely see themselves as being tied to most mainland affairs, and in fact most islanders identify with their "Island of Four Nations" more strongly than California or even the United States as a whole. Although more serious proposals have historically involved creating Sutter Island as a separate county from Marin, in 1987 a running joke was born when local eccentric Howard Mandelbrot declared the "independence" of Sutter Island from the United States and put a notice to that effect in the San Francisco Chronicle, as a protest against the policies of then-incumbent President Reagan. By his account, the United States "recognized" its independence when cruisers didn't show up off the coast to enforce a military occupation of the island. Although no one took the matter seriously at first, in 1990 the cause of an "independent" Sutter Island was taken up by celebrations of the new decade and a flag was created, and ever since has been largely promoted for the purposes of tourism. So committed to this "joke" are the islanders that visitors at the dock in Kulupai are given "entry visas".

Islands often have their own unusual identities based on a combination of their history and the attitudes of the locals towards the world at-large, and Sutter Island is no exception for being a sleepy, rural island that is equal parts expensive to live on and still largely affordable owing to aggressive rent-control measures which have also had the effect of severely discouraging further development on the island, though as far as most are concerned this is a desirable outcome. In fact, Sutter Island has in recent years made an active effort to avoid the kinds of development which have overrun the nearby Bay Area. In 2013, this was further underscored by the International Dark-Sky Association as its second Dark Sky Island (after Sark in 2011), and although cars are not banned on the island common practice avoids their use for private transport. In an increasingly uncertain age where topics of the environment, sustainability, and economic strains dominate the national consciousness, Sutter Island proudly proclaims itself as far ahead of the curve.

Description

Sutter Island is a small island off the coast of California, the largest island north of the Channel Islands. The origins of the island are rather confusing, given that its granitic geology makes it very different from its surroundings. It wasn't until research in the 1980s confirmed that the island is in fact part of the Sierra Nevada Batholith, which 93 million years ago had part of its mass near what is now San Diego sheared off as the Pacific Plate began to grind against California in a northwestern direction. In layman's terms, Sutter Island is effectively a very displaced "mountain" of the Sierra Nevadas that has been heavily eroded in the years since its detaching from the North American Craton, leaving large parts of the island submerged as the many shoals that surround the island. In the present day, Sutter Island is located 20 miles (30 km) directly west from Point Reyes, and roughly as far northwest of the Farallon Islands, which themselves have a similar origin to Sutter Island but are much smaller.

Human presence on the island and its associated islets begins in the very earliest period of migration into North America, with a number of archaeological sites dating as far back as 15 or 16,000 years and unconfirmed sites as early as 20,000 BCE, which helps provide strong evidence for the "Coastal Migration Route" hypothesis. By the time of the Spanish arrival, the island had been thoroughly settled and was home to as many as 10 villages of the Miwok people, who knew the island as Helwai, a name which means "Western Shore". Although often presented as being isolated from the mainland, based on perceptions of Native American naval capabilities and cultural attitudes towards the Farallon Islands to the south, further reevaluation has shown that the Miwok of Helwai frequently crossed back and forth between the island and the mainland, evidenced by both genetic studies and a deeper appreciation for the capacity of Native canoes to cross the channel between Sutter Island and Point Reyes.

The arrival of the Spanish did devastate most of the native population, but by and large the Spanish left the island to its own devices. The most attention given to the island was the proposal that the island's forests could be harvested to supply Spanish settlements on the mainland in the San Francisco Bay. The proposal was never put forwards and at most a small fortress was operated on the island between 1756 and 1821, but the most presence that the island had for the Spanish was by those ho knew it as Isla Esqueleto, "Skeleton Island". The dominant urban legend is that so many Spanish had been killed by the natives that the beaches were lined with skeletons, but this was only partially the truth. The coasts of the island are notoriously dangerous for ships, and the "skeletons" being referred to were were the wrecks of ships that had crashed on the reefs and shoals and been washed up onto the shores. By then, of course, the political situation had changed.

When Spain's empire collapsed Sutter Island passed into Mexican control, and in that same period the fort that had been built there was sold by Mexican authorities to the Russian American Company, followed shortly thereafter by the sale of the whole of the island. In this context many present the island as a possession of Russia, but the practical reality was that it was simply Mexican land owned by a Russian company. Under the Russians it gained the name Zemlya Rezanova, named for RAC founder Nikolai Rezanov. The Russian presence on the island was similarly light, restricted to an effort to create a source of food to supply Alaska and overhunting otters for fur that would leave the otters almost wholly extirpated from the island. This effort at creating a supply base for Alaska went hand-in-hand with Fort Ross on the mainland, but when the effort proved fruitless the fort was abandoned in 1848, and the next year sold to John Sutter, of gold discovery fame.

It was from Sutter that the island gained its most common name in the Anglosphere, as although Sutter's son was highly successful business-wise, Sutter himself was much less so and retired from active business in 1870, building a home at Point Linden and recouping some losses by selling large parts of Sutter Island to Marin County (of which the island was and is part) to open for settlement. In that period, a number of new settlers moved to the island and collected in the town of Kulupai. Although isolated and difficult to access, the island was heavily promoted by Sutter Jr. in much the same way that he had done for the city of Sacramento. Given its remote location, though, the island grew much more slowly and only reached a population of 1000 people by 1920, and then only reaching 2000 by 1960. Then as now, the only incorporated city on the island is Kulupai itself with four other unincorporated communities: Sadako Bay, Point Linden, Oyomi, and Diablo Bay.

Sutter Islanders rarely see themselves as being tied to most mainland affairs, and in fact most islanders identify with their "Island of Four Nations" more strongly than California or even the United States as a whole. Although more serious proposals have historically involved creating Sutter Island as a separate county from Marin, in 1987 a running joke was born when local eccentric Howard Mandelbrot declared the "independence" of Sutter Island from the United States and put a notice to that effect in the San Francisco Chronicle, as a protest against the policies of then-incumbent President Reagan. By his account, the United States "recognized" its independence when cruisers didn't show up off the coast to enforce a military occupation of the island. Although no one took the matter seriously at first, in 1990 the cause of an "independent" Sutter Island was taken up by celebrations of the new decade and a flag was created, and ever since has been largely promoted for the purposes of tourism. So committed to this "joke" are the islanders that visitors at the dock in Kulupai are given "entry visas".

Islands often have their own unusual identities based on a combination of their history and the attitudes of the locals towards the world at-large, and Sutter Island is no exception for being a sleepy, rural island that is equal parts expensive to live on and still largely affordable owing to aggressive rent-control measures which have also had the effect of severely discouraging further development on the island, though as far as most are concerned this is a desirable outcome. In fact, Sutter Island has in recent years made an active effort to avoid the kinds of development which have overrun the nearby Bay Area. In 2013, this was further underscored by the International Dark-Sky Association as its second Dark Sky Island (after Sark in 2011), and although cars are not banned on the island common practice avoids their use for private transport. In an increasingly uncertain age where topics of the environment, sustainability, and economic strains dominate the national consciousness, Sutter Island proudly proclaims itself as far ahead of the curve.