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The Sutter Buttes
The World's Smallest mountain Range.
Elongated and rambling in appearance, the range of peaks and ridges dominate the area and
color our sense of place: who we are and where we live. Its silhouette welcomes us back
home from trips. They are a reminder of the beauty of the natural world and they convey to
us a powerfully reassuring sense of permanence.
This striking and solitary mountainous landform in the midst of the broad flat plain of the
Sacramento Valley has always intrigued humanity. People for thousands of years, the indigenous
Maidu, knew them as Esto Yamani
and the native Patwin called
them Onolai, both names translate in our language to mean The Middle Mountains. They were regarded
as a spiritual place for renewal and sustenance rather than a place to live or build villages.
One of the most striking facts about the Buttes is that the the apparently elongated range is actually a circular
formation of andesitic extrusions from a series of volcanic eruptions that ended over a million
years ago. With this in mind, the tourist will usually gain more from a tour around the Buttes. A
series of green "Scenic Route" road signs direct visitors on the circuitous route through and
around the range.
A tour of the Sutter Buttes can yield historical markers, rock walls, the remains of old stone
corrals, building foundations, historic homes and even a circular stone-lined well right beside
the road. Pioneer settlers were resourceful in using butte rock, an abundant local building
material. Several cemeteries are scattered around the Buttes, their tombstones are like a diary
written on pages of granite and marble, telling a story of people who once lived and died there.
Pass Road, the only public route through the range, undulates over hills and dales
like a striped ribbon securing an oddly-shaped package. Along the way you pass old "grass-hopper" pumps
that have been drawing natural gas from beneath the Sutter Buttes volcano since the 1930's. For
years gas seeped out of fissures and could be ignited by the embers from a still-warm fire,
creating an eerie glow at night.
Today, a hike into the interior of the Buttes can be arranged through the
Middle Mountain Foundation. The
Community Memorial Museum of Sutter County has a permanent exhibit of the Buttes which includes a
model identifying its peaks and valleys, and an assortment of photos, hand-outs and artifacts of the
Native Cultures.