USA > California > El Dorado County > Historical souvenir of El Dorado County, California : with illustrations and biographical setches of its prominent men & pioneers > Part 3
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In 1774, Captain Anza returned to Mexico to bring them the report of his success in laying out the overland route between Monterey and Mexico, with the intention of taking the same route back for the third time, so soon he would have procured the neces- sary means to found the northern missions.
The same year, on the night of November 14th, the mission of San Diego was attacked by a large and well organized body of Indians, numbering about a thou- sand. Father Palou, in his accounts of this affair, says : "That the Indians were incited to the act by the devil, who used the two apostate converts as the means, causing them to tell falsehoods to their people, in representing that the fathers intended to put an end to the gentiles by making them become Chris- tians by force." Although the proposition of force in conversion is declared, according to Father Palon, (afterwards in charge of San Francisco mission) the devil's suggestion, but it has been practiced afterwards by the fathers. The Indians were thrown back with severe loss, and of the defenders one priest and two men were killed, and most all more or less wounded. This was the last attempt the Indians have made to destroy the missions.
Up to June, 1775, there existed no knowledge, if the Bay of San Francisco had any communication with the ocean, or if it could be entered by vessel from that side, and Father Junipero, anxious to settle this point, in anticipation of Captain Auza's return, dispatched the packet San Carlos to look after, a feat
she accomplished on the above stated date; the pio- neer of the fleets that have still and yet will anchor in that harbor, being only a small vessel of about two hundred tons burden. She returned to Monterey with the report of her successful entrance into the har- bor, and further discoveries of San Pablo Bay, "into which emptied the great river of our Father St. Fran- cis, which was fed by five other rivers, all of them co- pious streams, flowing through a plain so wide that it was bounded only by the horizon." The time for ex- ecution of Father Junipero's most hearty desire drew near when Captain Anza returned from Mexico with all that could be required for the establishment of the missions on the great bay, and a packet-boat loaded with all the necessaries of the enterprise left Monterey, while the Father President started from Monterey overland on June 7, 1776, to arrive at Washerwomen's Bay on the 27th of the same month ; the vessel did not come in before August 8th, and on September 17th the Presidio of San Francisco was located. The Mission San Francisco de los Dolores was founded on the 10th of October, 1776, at San Francisco; then followed the Mission San Juan Capistrano, November Ist, and after this Mission Santa Clara, January 18, 1777. With this closes the record of establishing missions in Upper Cal- ifornia by this justly praised, indefatigable Christian missionary priest, Father Junipero. He died at the age of sixty-nine years, in the Mission of San Carlos del Carmelo, near Monterey, in 1782, after having seen the development of the tree of civilization whose seeds to plant he had spent his whole life.
Within the space of time from 1776, as the first settlement at San Francisco, to 1822, twelve more missions had been established in California, making a total of twenty-one, which after the original plan, formed a chain of occupied country to keep off all foreign' settlement. The situations of the missions were, of course, selected with reference to the soil : and where the boundary lines of one ended another began, so that the whole coast was owned by the mis- sions from La Paz to San Francisco, the interior being the storehouse from which to draw proselytes to the Catholic faith, in the beginning, in the end slaves to work the plantations. The continuation of this chain of missions north of the bay of San Francisco meanwhile had been interfered with by the Russians, who first appeared on the coast in 1807, to settle down at Bodega in 1812, but the padres, not willing to give up their plan entirely, commenced to surround the invaders by a cordon of missions, so that they might not be able to extend their possession further on. This plan brought to light the mission of San Rafael, in 1817, and San Francisco de Solano in 1823; but
9
HISTORY OF THE MISSIONS IN UPPER CALIFORNIA.
all further pursuance of this plan had to cease on account of the natural progress in political as well as social life. The system had outlived itself, and the whole institution was on the incline downward, 'to give way to the next shock.
This shock was nearer than expected, when in 1822 Mexico revolted against the Spanish regime, and after more than three hundred years' submission, declared her independence of Spain, establishing a short-lived monarchy, which she threw off again in 1824, to become a restless republic. The same year the Mex- ican congress passed a colonization act which proposed fair inducements for settlement of the country. This was the first blow towards the missions. Then the secularization was ordered four years later, and grants of land were authorized as homesteads for actual settlers. Another blow followed : The Pious Fund- being the aggregated donations of the Catholic world for the maintenance of the missions in Lower and Upper California, invested in real estate in Mexico, the interest of which amounted to about fifty thousand dollars annually, and was paid out for salaries of the padres, were withheld and appropriated by the gov- ernment, and soon after, the fund itself confiscated by the Mexican congress, which ordered it to be used
for State purposes. This was the shock that practic- ally ruined the missions. The white settlers followed the example of the government, took possession of land and stock belonging to the missions, the mission Indians having fled to the mountains in company with the wild tribes, opened a perpetual warfare against the settlers, robbing and stealing cattle and all movable goods, wives and children not excluded. Robbery and plunder and the highest degree of disorder seemed to be the order of the day, and the California Legisla- ture, in 1840, appointed administrators to take charge of the property of the missions. In 1843, General Micheltorena, the new governor, restored the property of the missions to the padres, and notwithstanding an interregnum of six years, things commenced already to improve again, when the government again inter- fered, and ordered Governor Pio Pico, in 1845, to dispose of the mission property, and whatever of this property had been left was finally sold at auction. Then the Mexican conquest broke out soon after, at the end of which the territory was fortunate enough to get embodied into the American Union.
The table annexed needs no explanation ; it gives, in the smallest space, a full statistical history of all the missions, with population and property.
MISSIONS AND TOWNS IN 1831
JURISDICTION OF SAN FRANCISCO.
LIVE STOCK.
GRAIN.
NAME.
LOCATION.
FOUNDED.
Men.
Women.
Boys.
Girls.
Total
Black Cattle.
Horses
Mules.
Sheep.
Goats.
Swine
Wheat. Bushels
Bushels
Bushels Bushels
Presidio of San Francisco .. Town of San Jose de Guada- lupe . ...
San Francisco.
Sepr. 17, 1776.
124
85
89
73
371
5,610
470
40
583
175
100
San Jose
166
145
103
IIO
524
4,443
2,386
I34
4,142
3,900
477
Sonoma. Mission of San Rafael ...... N'th of San Francisco Bay Dec, 18, 1817. Aug. 25, 1823.
285
242
88
90
705
2,500
725
4
..
5,000 2,000
50
2,927
500
60
602
Mission of San Francisco de Assis ..
Oct. 9, 1776.
146
65
13
60
1,371
780
38
7,000
6,000
150
62
Mission of San Jose ..
15 miles N. E. of San Jose June 11, 1797.
823
659
100
143
1,727
1,300
40
..
13,000
40 10, 000
2,500
308
2,750
Mission of Santa Cruz. ..
. Aug. 28, 1791.
222
94
30
20
366
940|
82
5,403
400
750
25
965
JURISDICTION OF MONTEREY.
Presidio of Monterey Town of Branciforte.
Monterey ..
[1770
311
190
IIO
97
708
5,641; 1,000 7,070
3.310 1,000
70!
1.225| 257
830
327
......
1 mile from Santa Cruz Miss'n.
52
34
27
17
130
987
401
6
I 7,017
17
2, 100
425
100
640
Mission of San Carlos del Carmelo. . ..
Near Monterey ...
June 30, 1770.
102
79
34
21
236
2,050
470
8 ...
4,400
55 .. .
500
537
Mission of Nra. Sa. de la So- Iedad ..
Salinas River.
Oct. 9, 1791.
210
81
23
20
334
6,599
1,070
I
6,358
1,345
125
607
Mission of San Antonio ...
35 m. S. of Soledad, on San. July 14, 1771. Antonio River.
394
209
51
17
671
5,000
1,060
2
10,000
55
2, 387
287
100
1,420
Mission of San Miguel .
.. Salinas River.
July 25, 1797.
349
292
61
748
950
106 28
8,999
5
60
1,498
90
23'
142
Mission of San Luis Obispo .. San Luis Obispo.
. |Sept. 1, 1772.
211
103
8
7
329
3,762 2,000
800
200 50
1,200;
24
875
150
50
50
JURISDICTION OF SANTA BARBARA.
Presido of Santa Barbara. .. |Santa Barbara ..
1780.
167
120
162
164
613
7,900
1,300
220
750
225
Town of La Reyna de Los Angeles. ...
Los Angeles.
552
421
213
201
1,388
38,624 10,500
5,208 1,000
520 160
4 7.000
30
62
345 1,750 2,000
250
50
140
Mission of Santa Inez ... Mission of Santa Barbara. . .
Dec. 4, 1786.
374
267
51
70
762
2,600
511
150
2
3,300
37
63
1,825
225
125
840
Mission of San Buenaventura. S. E. of and near Santa Barba Mar. 31, 1782. Mission of San Fernando. . . | North of and near Los Angeles Sept. 8, 1797.
383
283
66
59
791
4,000
300
60
. . .
3,100
30
8
1,750
500
400
2,000
JURISDICTION OF SAN DIEGO.
Presidio of San Diego ... Mission of San Gabriel .... Mission of San Juani Capis- trano ..
1769 .:
...
295| } 574
1,911
683
621
5.686
10,900 26,000 6,220
290 2,100 1,196
30 250
5
132 14
17,624
325
...
7,365
1,050
200
3,000
Totals.
10. 272
7.632 2.627 2. 49°123. 025 216 727 32, 201 7. 844 177 153. 455 1. 873 839 62. 860 27. 415
4, 1In 18, 523
.
Mission of San Luis Rey. .. Mission of San Diego.
Near San Diego ..
. July
1, 1769.
750
520
162
143
1,575
608 20,500
625 1,710
150' 58 120
4
13,554
76
98
350 3,500
313
13
Near Los Angeles. ... .
Sept. 8, 1771 .!
33
Bet. San Diego & Los Angeles Nov. 1, 1776. San Diego .
.
June 13, 1798.
1,138|
1 36
82
96
456
7,300
320
112
2,200
50
1,000
50
Mission of La Purisima .. .
Santa Inez River.
Dec. 8, 1787.
151
218
47
34
450
181
833
6,000|
300
60
31
3,000|
. . .
500
625
.....
5
40 50 4,800 25.500 1, 200 250
1,125
1,563
75
5,000
500
3,000
Mission of Santa Clara.
Santa Clara. .
. Jan, 18, 1777.
752
491
105
106
1,027
1,200
450
1,239
18
3,000
1,675
37
23
850
13
2 37
4,200
. .
...
1,935
325
37
980
Mission of San Juan Bautista |San Juan River.
June 24, 1797.
480
351
85
400
200 ..
3 .
HISTORY OF EL DORADO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
IO
POPULATION.
Small Beans.
Corn.
Barley
Mission of San Francisco Solano. . .
406
410
68
.
50 80
60
4,395
447
12 leagues from Santa Barbara Sept. 17, 1804.
142
249
226
1771
404
4,500
1,000
.
17
San Francisco.
9,000 12.000 3,500
Asses.
ROBERT CHALMERS.
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN CALIFORNIA UNDER SPANISH REGIME.
CHAPTER III.
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN CALIFORNIA UNDER SPANISH
REGIME.
The Military Organization of Occupation-Presidios-Castillos -Soldier's Life and Duties-Ranchos-Reglamento of 1781-Pueblos-Municipal Officers -- Plan the Missions were built after-Life in the Missions-How the Mission Indians were dressed-Mission Lands-Agricultural Imple- ments and style of Farm Work-Threshing-Amount of grain used in Upper California in 1831-Value of Field Products-Flonring Mills-Stock Raising-Amount of Stock in 1836-Gleeson on the Missions-The first Grant in California-Increase of Population-Spain's Anxiousness of her Colonies -- The Military Government Gaining Su- premacy over the Church-Earthquakes, some with Dama- ging Result-The Russians in California.
The Spanish Government fitting out an expedition, whether for exploration or occupation, used to send a number of priests of the Catholic Church along, so as to have the conquest of the country immediately con- nected and followed by the conquering of the souls for the Holy Church. Just so in California, the Gov- ernor in command of the military forces took possess- ion of the land for Spain, while the priests by making the Indians converts, who, bound by religious affinity, would become subjects to the Spanish Crown, able to defend their country against invasion of other nations. Side by side the soldier and the priest entered Califor- nia in 1769, establishing the first permanent settlement at San Diego. Seven years later, October, 1776, the Mission of San Francisco de los Dolores was founded, and the province incorporated into Spanish America, with its capital first at Arispe, afterwards at Monterey.
The country, on account of occupation, was divided into military districts, each one provided with a garri- son place and headquarters for the commandant of the district, and as such the seat of the local government. Eventually there were four of them, called Presidios, in Upper California, located at San Diego, Santa Bar- bara, Monterey and San Francisco, close to the sea- ports. In order to serve the purpose of defending the country and giving protection to the missions they There were only three pueblos in Upper California: Los Angeles, San Jose and Branciforte, the last one near Santa Cruz; San Francisco or Yerba Buena was not a pueblo. A sufficient number of settlers this way located on one place, were entitled to have an alcalde, or municipal officer, whose office duties included those of a justice of the peace. He was appointed for the first two years by the governor, thereafter elected by the community. The pueblos also were open to other settlers, but there were no extra provisions for their inducement made. Not so at the missions; the mother institutions of the whole were inhabited only were built to resemble in some way a slight fortifica- tion; the outside walls made from adobe, about twelve feet high, with small bastions at each corner, mounted with eight twelve-pounder cannons; between these walls there was a space of three hundred feet square enclosed, and occupied with soldiers' chapel, barracks, commandant and officers' quarters and store house ; two gateways communicated the intercourse, being open during the day and closed in the night. For better defence each of the presidios had outside of it a fort, called the castillo, consisting of a covered bat- tery, mounted with a few cannons ; the location of and without exception by the natives, under religious the castillos was taken with a view to command the treatment by the fathers ; no others were allowed to
harbor. For each of the military districts were as- signed two hundred and fifty soldiers, which number, however, at no time seems to be attained, there being no inducement for men to enlist as soldiers to serve in California. The force was made up out of ship- wrecks, outcasts and criminals, and, eventually, as Forbes says : "California became the Botany Bay of America." Their duties consisted in guarding the coast, accompanying the fathers when abroad, and, last, but not least, to hunt up fugitive Indians, con- verts that had been reminded of their former inde- pendent life, when roaming around the forests in dolce far niente, for which purpose a certain number of them were stationed at each mission ; but rarely they were more than half paid. Their dressing was made up from heavy buckskin, supposed to be impen- etrable to arrows. In connection with each presidio was a farm, under charge of the military commandant, called the rancho, where the soldiers were expected to spend their leisure time in growing such products as would constitute a part of their living.
Up to the year 1781 the soldiers, only in exceptional cases, with a special permission of the crown, were allowed to marry, which permission was never granted without recommendation of the priest. But this army, however small, became in time quite a severe tax on the home government, and a plan was thought of to lessen the burden. A reglamento issued in 1781, ordered that towns-pueblos-be laid out, and each ex-soldier who would stay in the country, be- coming a citizen soldier, and as such holding himself ready to take up arms in case of any emergency, be entitled to a lot of 5561/2 feet square, as'an unaliena- ble homestead; for further inducement the ex-soldier was paid a salary by the government, for a given time, be exempt from taxation for five years, and was to re- ceive an agricultural outfit, consisting of cattle, hor- ses, mules, sheep, hogs and chickens; but were obliged to sell all the surplus of their produce to the presidios at a stated price.
1 2
HISTORY OF EL DORADO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
stay at these places, except on a short visit. All of in general use throughout Spanish America. The the missions were planned alike, containing each a mode of agricultural work under management of the Fathers was still very primitive ; no improvement in any line of farming, no science to renovate the ex- hausted soil by the alternation of crops, or the utility of fallows, was either not known to them or they had no use for them. Was the soil of a certain piece of land not productive enough for a certain kind of grain it was the custom of the fathers to let it lie idle for a long time, as they thought it necessary to gain strength sufficient for another start. The same primitiveness has to be stated about the agricultural implements. The plow in use was formed out of two pieces of wood, one a crooked limb or root, had to give the shape for sole and handle both, to which the tongue beam was attached, the latter being long enough to reach the yoke of the oxen by which the plow was drawn ; a small upright piece fastened to the sole was mortised through the tongue, to be fixed with wedges church, the monastery, store houses, barracks and the Father's apartments ; these buildings were constructed out of adobe walls, two stories high, formed a regu- lar quadrangle of about six hundred feet wide each; the church in Basilica style, taking in the height of both stories, occupied three-fourth the length of one quadrangle side. The thus enclosed court- yard was ornamented with fountains and trees, after the style of convents in the mother country, and a porch or gallery ran all around, opening upon the workshops, storerooms and other apartments, one of which was the monastery, where, under the care of the matron, the Indian girls were instructed in all such branches as were necessary for their future con- dition in life, and where they had to remain until they got married. In the schools, vocal and instrumental music was taught to those children who showed suffi- cient capacity and musical talent. The entire man- in the position as the plowman needed it for deep agement of all branches in the mission was under the care of the fathers.
Six days in the week were spent in the mission in the following manner : With the ringing of the first bell at sunrise all had to attend church for morning prayers, followed by the celebration of the mass, at which they had to assist. This occupied about an hour. Then breakfast was taken and everybody went to his or her daily employment until noon. At noon two hours were spent for dinner and rest, then work was taken up again until an hour before sundown, repairing again to church for devotions in family prayers and rosary in general, adding extra devo- tional exercises on special occasions. Supper fol_ lowed, after which they indulged in innocent games and dances until bedtime. For the night the unmar- ried sexes were locked up separately, the married peo- ple occupying the barracks and small huts a short distance from the main building. These were made of adobes or rough poles, almost round or octagonal, the roof, tent-like, covered with grass. The style of dressing was something similar to that of the Indians in California or Nevada nowadays; men wore linen shirts, pants, and a blanket, this serving for an over- coat. The women got each two undergarments, a new gown and a blanket every year. After the mis- sions had grown rich and a good crop made, the Fathers distributed, as a reward for good conduct and a spur for others, money and other presents.
Each mission was in possession of a tract of land fifteen miles square, appropriated for culivation and pasturing purposes. The cultivation of grain of the different varieties embraced were, Indian corn, wheat, barley, and a small bean frijole, which was
plowing. A small iron share, equal on both sides, and thus unable to turn a furrow, completed the instru- ment. With this rude implement nobody could expect that the ground could be broken perfectly, although scratching was done, crossing and recrossing several times, requiring a great number of plows for a large field. Harrows were not known, and in their stead a bunch of brush tied together by a pole, were drawn over the ground ; in some places a heavy log was drawn over the field for the same purpose, but this log did not roll, but only dragged part of the soil over the seed. Grain was sown by hand, Indian corn dropped in furrows, about five feet apart, and by use of the foot, covered with dirt. The sowing took place from November, according to the rainy season; the grain getting ripe about midsummer, was harvested in July and August. Threshing was done in open field, on somewhat hard ground ; the grain was laid in a large circle and a band of horses chased over it, stamping it out with their feet. After the straw had been removed the grain was taken up with a shovel and removed on ox-carts ; but as there was no cleaning done, it was mixed with dirt and stones, and a consid- erable part of it broken. The ox-cart was a most primitive and clumsy affair, the wheels formed solid out of two pieces, without spokes, working on a heavy wooden axle, the upper part above the solid bottom constructed out of upright set pickets connected with another piece on top. For carrying grain it had to be made tight with canes or willows. The oxen were yoked to this cart in a manner alike described at the plow.
In 183r, the whole amount of grain raised in Upper California, according to the mission records, was
13
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN CALIFORNIA UNDER SPANISH REGIME.
46,202 fanegas (a fanega being equal to two and half English bushels). Indian corn was then worth one and a half dollars a fanega ; wheat and barley, two dollars a fanega. The mills for making flour were still on an equally unimproved style. The power in use was water, working on a horizontal wheel fixed to an upright axle and located under the building, forming a primitive kind of turbine which gave considerable power. The millstone was fastened to the upper end of the same axle with the "tub-wheel" without any transferring machinery for gaining speed, the stone making an equal number of revolutions with the tub- wheel ; the manipulation of grinding flour will be considered a very slow one.
There were three of these kind of gristmills at work in 1835, and of their possession the fathers were boast- ing as of a rare piece of machinery.
About the same year the grain raised on mission lands began to attract the attention of the European market, and was considered equally good with that produced at the Cape of Good Hope. (History of Placer Co., Cal.)
All other efforts concerning farming life concen- trated in stockraising; the unlimited tracts of land afforded an unbroken range of pasture, requiring only very little labor. The stock that the fathers had im- ported from Mexico accumulated fast, and enabled them already in early times to send big droves of young bulls to Mexico for beef, keeping the cows for With suspicion and jealousy was Spain watching the movements of other powers, always afraid for her col- onies. One instance having reference to the colonies of this coast happened in 1776, where under date of Oc- tober 23d, the viceroy of Mexico wrote to the Gover- nor of California that, "the King having received in- telligence that two armed vessels had started from London under the command of Captain Cook, bound on a voyage of discovery to the Southern Ocean, and the northern coast of California, to be on watch for Captain Cook, and not permit him to enter the ports of California." breeding. In 1836, the amount of stock on mission land is given to be three hundred thousand black cattle, thirty-two thousand horses, twenty-eight thousand mules, one hundred and fifty-three thousand sheep ; the value of which was, five dollars for a fat ox or bull, as well as cow; ten dollars for a saddle-horse, five for a mare, ten for a mule, and two dollars for a sheep. Says Gleeson in his valuable work, "History of the Catholic Church in California:" "The mis- sions were originally intended to be only temporary in duration. It was contemplated that in ten years from the time of their foundation they should cease, And thirteen years later the Governor of California as it was then supposed that within that period the wrote to the captain in charge of the presidio at San Francisco, as follows :
Indians would be sufficiently prepared to assume the position and character of citizens, and the mission settlements would become pueblos, and the mission churches parish institutions, as in older civilizations ; but having been neglected and undisturbed by the Spanish Government, they kept on in the old way for sixty years, the comfortable Fathers being in no hurry to insist on a change." The mission lands assigned for grazing and agriculture were held only in fief, and were claimed afterwards by the government-against the loud remonstration of the fathers, however.
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