At the end of December 1848, John Sutter Jr. and Samuel Brannan hired Captain William H. Warner, Lieutenant William Tecumseh Sherman, and Lieutenant Edward O. Ord to survey the land from Sacramento River to just east of Sutter’s Fort for the future site of Sacramento City. Warner, Sherman, and Ord were all officers in the U.S. Army’s Corps of Topographical Engineers. Warner had previously surveyed Alcatraz Island and the Presidio in San Francisco. In July 1848, Sherman and Ord surveyed the site of Coloma and the American River from its confluence with the Sacramento River to locations gold had been found. Their experience with map making in the region made them great candidates for surveying the future city. Warner, Sherman, and Ord created a simple grid system for the streets of Sacramento, a street grid that still exists today. The original survey included numbered streets parallel with the Sacramento River from the waterfront at Front Street to 31st Street and letter streets perpe...