Thank Q.
I am so excited to have found this link on the Sutter Kanakas...
www.oha.org/pdf/kwo04/0406/15.pdf found on page 16 of a yahoo search for kanaka indians in california... a very different version of his settling where he did is presented there with his Kanakas playing even more of an important role, and no confrontation with his cannons (that sounded like bullshistory)! This writer has done his research.
One reference claims Sutter had Kanaka wives, including a gift from the Kind of Hawaii. He seems to have had a good working relationship with his Kanakas, and acknowledged that he could not have made it without them.

A Hawaiians in the Fur trade timeline states 'Bolduc claims there are 500 Hawaiians on the Northwest Coast' around 1842-4.

As Q so rightly states, we will never know the whole story but it is fun sharing some of the many details.