Sutter Creek Tutors

About Sutter Creek

Sutter Creek, famous in California history for its role in the Gold Rush, is a sleepy town outside of Sacramento. Named for John Sutter, one of the original discoverers of gold in California in modern-day Coloma, Sutter Creek was an important outpost in the mid-nineteenth century, with several gold mines in operation until the 1940s. In addition to Sutter Creek’s role during the Gold Rush, this small town has another claim to fame: Leland Stanford was one of its historical residents.

Stanford is an important player in United States history, particularly for California. Attracted to the state from the east coast when gold was discovered Stanford found enormous success in the mining industry, the booming railroad expansion, and in state politics. Stanford is a controversial figure, historically, and is often portrayed as a robber baron of the nineteenth century alongside the likes of Rockefeller and Carnegie. His disdain for Asian American presence in California is well-documented, and his willingness to exploit them for labor on the railroad certainly exposes a measure of his hypocrisy. These facts notwithstanding, Carnegie is an example of how a larger-than-life personality can grow out of humble beginnings. Sutter Creek is a perfect metaphor for how Stanford found success.

Growing up on a farm on the east coast, Stanford and his siblings pursued lives of financial prosperity through entrepreneurial endeavors and education. Stanford was raised on family farms in New York, had a basic education, and then sought upward mobility by going to law school at Cazenovia Seminary in his native state. After being admitted to the bar, Stanford was able to move, and continue pushing westward, while he practiced law. Following the loss of his law library in a fire, however, Stanford decided to follow his siblings to California in the middle of the Gold Rush. Without the setback, arguably, Stanford would not have been exposed to the same levels of potential success that he found in California. He invested in and presided over the expansion of the transcontinental railroad, managed a mercantile business, and made his way into state politics. He served a term as California’s governor, as well as opened an insurance business in his later life. These various pursuits, of course, resulted in massive wealth thanks to the material boom that the Gold Rush gave to the nation. He and his wife also founded a number of charities with the wealth, and founded Stanford University, now considered an Ivy League school of the west coast.

All in all, Stanford’s life was full and prosperous. The key to this success, students in Sutter Creek should note, came from pursuing an education and high levels of motivation to bounce back after a devastating setback. Tutors for Grade Potential are well-trained and ready to motivate their clients to go beyond their current circumstances and push for academic progression, even if students are at a current low with their grades. Stanford’s story teaches us that it’s never too late to pursue your dreams and that hard work pays off eventually.