USA > California > History of California, Volume I > Part 24
USA > California > History of California, Volume I > Part 24
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42
N. W.
26. 27. 28.
145
PROGRESS UP THE COAST.
by the natives to facilitate the capture of rabbits. Few of the inhabitants were met in the south, but when seen they were always friendly, and the 22d of July they permitted to be baptized two dying children, who were named María Magdalena and Margarita. About the same time two mineral deposits, of red ochre and white earth, were discovered. On the 24th the islands
Sept. 8. | S. Adriano, near the shore at mouth of | Leagues. Cañada de los Osos. The diary clearly mentions the Estero Bay and Morro Rock of modern maps ...
232
w.
9. Sta Serafina Estero, 36°, or 35° 27', after crossing eight arroyos.
10. 11.
S. Benvenuto, or Osito, 36° 2', or (35° 33') S. Nicolás, or Cantil, arroyo 35° 35', along beach.
(1)
N. W.
12. S. Vicente arroyo (Arroyada Honda), 36° 10'
2
N.W. and N.N. E.
13. Sta Umiliana arroyo [35° 45'], at foot of Sierra de Sta Lucía. In region between S. Simeon and Cape S. Martin. .
2
N.W.
16. Pié de la Sierra de Sta Lucía, up a cañada into the mts., probably N.E.
1
17. Hoya de la Sierra de Sta Lucia, or San Francisco, 36° 18' 30", up into the mts. on N. side of a cañon [slightly differ- ent route on return]. In region of the luter S. Antonio mission. Probably N.E ..
121
27. 28. 29. 1.
Oct.
Sta Delfina [Riv.], 36° 44', or 36° 53', down river to within 13 1. of beach. From this point Monterey and Carmelo bays were explored. Pt Pinos, 36° 36'; Pt Año Nuevo, 36° 4'; Carmelo Bay, 36° 36'.
5.25
N. W.
Sta Brígida, or La Grulla, passing several lagoons.
2 2
N.N. W.
Pájaro, or Sta Ana Riv. Name still re- tained.
4
N.
1
N. W.
1.5
N. W.
16.
Nr Sra del Pilar lagunas [corral], 34° 35'? Sta Teresa. Rosario del Serafin de Asculi arroyo, near Soquel.
2
N.W.
17. S. Lorenzo River-still retains the name. The camp was near Sta Cruz. 2 HIST. CAL., VOL. I. 10
W.N. W.
20.
Real de Piñones, by a mt. way over the summit, N.E.
21. 26.
S. Francisco (Rio de Truchas) ..
S. Elizario [Elcearo] Rio, or Real del Chocolate, down a cañada to a river believed to be the Carmelo, but really the Rio Salinas ..
N.E. N. W.
Real del Álamo, 36° 38', down the river .. Real Blanco, down river ..
Real de Cazadores, down river.
3.5 (3)
7. 8. 10. 15.
Course.
N.W. N.N. W.
146
EXPEDITION TO MONTEREY AND SAN FRANCISCO.
of San Clemente and Santa Catalina were sighted. Next day the natives seemed to say that inland were other white men with horses, mules, swords, and hats. On the 28th, when the governor and his followers were on the Santa Ana River, four violent shocks of earthquake frightened the Indians into a kind of prayer to the four winds, and caused the stream to be also named Jesus de los Temblores. Many more shocks were felt during the following week; yet the foreigners were delighted with the region, noting the agricultural possibilities which they and their succes- sors later realized. The 1st of August they began to kill and eat berrendos, or antelopes, and next day forded the Rio de Porciúncula on which the city of Los Angeles now stands.
From the Angeles region the route lay through the valley of Santa Catalina de los Encinos, now San Fer- nando, and thence northward through the mountain pass to the head streams of the Rio de Santa Clara, so called then and now, down whose banks the Spaniards followed to the sea again. Immediately on leaving the Porciúncula more earthquakes were felt, causing the friars to think there were volcanoes in the sierra; springs of pez brea, chapopote, or asphaltum,
Oct. 18. | Sta Cruz arroyo, and four other streams, the last being S. Lúcas, or Puentes arroyo .. La Olla (Hoya) barranca.
Leagues.
Course.
2
W.N. W.
19. 20.
S. Pedro de Alcántara, or Jumin [Jamon]. S. Luis Beltran, or Salud, arroyo, about 1 1. from Pt Año Nuevo, 37° 22', or 37° 3' [Pt in 36° 4'] ..
2.5
N. W.
1
N. W.
23. S. Juan Nepomuceno, or Casa Grande, ranchería, across a level mesa along shore ..
2
N.N. W.
San Pedro Regalado.
24. Sto Domingo, 37° 30'.
4 or 2
N.
27. S. Ibon, or Pulgas, rancheria.
2
N.
28.
S. Simon y S. Judas arroyo, or Llano de los Ánsares, in sight of a point N.N. W. with farallones-just above Half-Moon Bay, and in sight of Pt S. Pedro ...
2
30. Pt Angel Custodio, or Almejas, 37° 24', 30', 49' [37° 31']. ..
2
N. W.
To points subsequently visited, no names were applied.
147
THE SANTA BÁRBARA CHANNEL.
were also regarded as signs of volcanic action. The natives now spoke not only of bearded men who came from the east in earlier times, but said they had lately observed vessels in the channel-it will be rement- bered that the San Antonio and San Carlos had reached this latitude on their way from Cape San Lúcas to San Diego -- and one man even claimed to recognize Gomez, Fages, and Costansó whom he had seen on the vessel. Everywhere the men went naked, but from this region the women dressed more according to Euro- pean ideas, covering much of their person with skins of deer and rabbits. August 14th Portola crossed from a point near the mouth of the Santa Clara to the shore farther north, where he found the largest Indian village yet seen in California. The houses were of spherical form thatched with straw, and the natives used boats twenty-four feet long made of pine boards tied together with cords and covered with asphaltum, capable of carrying each ten fishermen. A few old
blades of knives and swords were seen. Some in- habitants of the channel islands came across to gaze at the strangers. Previously the inhabitants had bartered seeds, grass baskets, and shells for the cov- eted glass beads, but now fish and carved bits of wood were added to the limited list of commercial products. Thus more food was offered than could be eaten. This fine pueblo, the first of a long line of similar ones along the channel coast, was called Asuncion and was identical in site with the modern San Buenaventura.5
From the middle of August to the 7th of Septem- ber the Spaniards followed the coast of the Santa Bárbara Channel westward, always in sight of the islands, meeting a dense native population settled in many large towns and uniformly hospitable. Passing Point Concepcion, they turned northward to the site on which San Luis Obispo now stands. On the 18th of August they passed a village called Laguna de la Concepcion in the vicinity of what is now Santa Bar-
5 See founding of San Buenaventura in a later chapter.
148
EXPEDITION TO MONTEREY AND SAN FRANCISCO.
bara, perhaps on the exact site, since the presidio was founded later at a place said to have been called San Joaquin de la Laguna by these first explorers.6 A few leagues farther, and in several other places, there were noticed large cemeteries, those of the men and women being distinct as the gentle savages explained. Over each grave a painted pole was set up bearing the hair of the men, and those of the women being adorned with coras, or grass baskets. Large whale- bones were also a distinguishing feature of the burial- grounds. Many of these graves have been opened within the past few years, and the relics thus brought to light have created in local circles quite a flutter of archæological enthusiasm, being popularly attributed, as is the custom in such cases, to 'prehistoric' times and to races long since extinct. On the 24th a sea- gull was killed and the place called San Luis by the padres was christened La Gaviota by the soldiers- very many localities along the route being thus doubly named, whence perhaps the name Gaviota Pass of modern maps. Near Point Concepcion the natives displayed beads of European make, said to have been obtained from the north. Here a lean and worn- out mule was left to recuperate under Indian carc. Crespí's latitudes for the channel coasts were too high, varying from 34° 30' to 34° 51'. Costansó's observa- tions placed Point Concepcion in 34° 30', about 5' too far north. After turning the point the natives were poorer and less numerous, but were still friendly. On the 30th a large stream was crossed on a sand-bar at its mouth which " served as a bridge." This was the Rio Santa Inés,7 called at its discovery Santa Rosa, and on September 1st the camp was pitched at the Laguna de San Daniel, probably at the mouth of the Rio Santa María. Next day Sergeant Ortega was
6 Prov. Rec., MS., ii. 61-2.
7 There is some confusion in the description of this part of the coast, and this stream might as well be the Santa Maria, were it not for the fact that Purísima Mission was afterward built on Rio de Santa Rosa. Purísima, Lib. Mision, MS., 1; Prov. St. Pap., MS., vi. 112-13.
140
OVER THE SIERRA DE SANTA LUCÍA.
taken ill, and ten of the men began to complain of sore feet. Turning inland not far from what is now Point San Luis, they crossed the hills by a some- what winding course and on the 7th encamped in the Cañada de los Osos in the vicinity of the later San Luis Obispo. Here the soldiers engaged in a grand bear-hunt, in which one of these fierce brutes, seen here in groups of fourteen or sixteen, according to Portolá's diary, was killed after receiving nine bul- lets, one of the soldiers barely escaping with his life. The names Los Osos and El Buchon applied at this tinie are still preserved in this region.
From San Luis, instead of proceeding north and inland, which would have been the easier route, the explorers follow the Bear cañada down to the sea, where they note Estero Bay and Morro Rock, and whence they follow the coast some ten leagnes to a point located by Costansó in latitude 35° 45', and apparently not far below Cape San Martin. The sierra of Santa Lucía, so named long before, now impedes further progress, and on September 16th the travellers turn to the right and begin to climb the mountain range, "con el credo en la boca," one league per day being counted good progress in such a rough country. From the 17th to the 19th they are on the Hoya, or ravine, de la Sierra de Santa Lucía, on the head-waters of the Rio de San Antonio near where the mission of the same name is afterward founded. On the 20th the lofty range northward is ascended, and from the highest ridge, probably Santa Lucía Peak, the Spaniards gaze upon a boundless sea of mountains, "a sad spectacle for poor travellers worn out by the fatigues of so long a journey," sighs Crespí. The cold begins to be severe, and some of the men are disabled by scurvy; yet for the glory of God and with unfailing confidence in their great patron St Joseph, they press bravely on, after remaining four days in a little mountain cañon dedicated by the friars to the Llagas de San Francisco, the name San Fran-
130
EXPEDITION TO MONTEREY AND SAN FRANCISCO.
cisco proper being reserved forthat saint's 'famous port.' Wending their way down the northern slope, perhaps by way of the Arroyo Seco, on the 26th they reach a river which they name San Elizario, or Santa Del- fina, believed by the Spaniards to be the Rio del Car- melo. It is the stream, however, since known as Salinas, and down it Portolá's company march to the sea, arriving on the 30th at a point near the mouth. The natives are less hospitable in the Salinas Valley than south of there.
As the expedition draws near the sea-shore, a point of land becomes visible in the south, which is correctly judged to be Point Pinos, one of the prominent land- marks by which Monterey was to be identified. It is therefore determined to stop here for exploration. October 1st the governor, engineer, and Crespí, with five soldiers climb a hill, "from the top of which," writes the friar, "we saw the great entrance, and con- jectured that it was the one which Cabrera Bueno puts between Point Año Nuevo and Point Pinos of Monterey." That is to say, believing yet doubting they look out over the bay and harbor of Monterey in search of which they had come so far, then pass on wondering where is Monterey. Rivera with eight men explores southward, marching along the very shore of the port they are seeking; then toward Point Pinos and over to "a small bight formed between the said point and another south of it, with an arroyo flowing down from the mountains, well wooded, and a slough, into which the said stream discharges, and some little lagoons of slight extent;" but the mountains prevent further progress southward along the shore. The places thus explored are Carmelo bay, river, and point;s nevertheless Rivera returns to camp saying that no port is to be found.
The 4th of October after solemn mass in a brush-
8 Cypress Point is not noticed in this exploration; but it is certain that if the bight now visited were not Carmelo Bay, that bay would have been found and mentioned later when the attempt was made again to find a shore route southward.
151
MONTEREY NOT FOUND.
wood tent at the mouth of the Salinas River, a meet- ing of all the officers and friars is held to deliberate on what shall be done. At this meeting the com- mandant briefly calls attention to the scarcity of pro- visions, to the seventeen men on the sick-list unfit for duty, to the excessive burden of labor imposed on those who are well in sentinel duty and continual reconnoissances, and to the lateness of the season. In view of these circumstances and of the fact that the port of Monterey could not be found where it had been supposed to lie,9 each person present is called upon to express freely his opinion. The decision of officers and priests is unanimous "that the journey be continued as the only expedient remaining, in the hope of finding by the favor of God the desired port of Monterey and in it the San José to supply our needs, and that if God should permit that in the search for Monterey we all perish, we shall still have fulfilled our duty to God and men by working together to the death in the accomplishment of the enterprise on which we have been sent." Their hope rests mainly in the fact that they had not yet reached the latitude in which Vizcaino and Cabrera Bueno had placed the port.
9 ' En visto de lo dicho y de no hallar el puerto de Monterey en la altura que se presumia.' Crespi, Viage, 355. This use of the word altura is an error of the writer, sinee Cabrera Bueno, the authority on which dependence was placed, gives the latitude of Monterey as 37°, while Costansó now made it 36° 30'; but the explanation is that this was written after subsequent explor- ations further north which had an influence on Crespi's words. The Junta fra de guerra de la expedicion de tierra que pasaba en solicitud del puerto te Monterey en 4 de Octubre de 1769 is attached to the Portolá, Diarro, MS. In his opening address Portolá says 'what should be the Rio Carmelo is only an arroyo; what should be a port is only a little ensenada; what were great lakes are lagunillas;' and yet to go on and find another Sierra de Sta Lucía would take time; 11 men were sick, and only 50 costales of flour remained. Cos- tansó gave his opinion first: that they were in only 36° 42', while Monterey was in 37° or perhaps more; they should not fail to explore up to 37° 30' so as either to find the port or to be sure of its non-existence. Fages followed and also favored going on to 37° or a little more, as the port had certainly not been passed, and they had not yet reached its latitude. Then Rivera, who did not seem to think Monterey would be found, since it was not where it ought to be, but thought they should establish themselves somewhere, but not where they then were. Then Portolá decided to rest 6 days, go on as far as possible, and then select the most eligible place for a settlement if Monterey did not appear. All agreed in writing to this plan, including padres Gomez and Crespí.
152
EXPEDITION TO MONTEREY AND SAN FRANCISCO.
It is and must ever remain more or less inexpli- cable that the Spaniards should have failed at this time to identify Monterey. All that was known of that port had resulted from Vizeaino's visit, and this knowledge was in the hands of the explorers in the works of Venegas and Cabrera Bueno. The de- seription of landmarks was tolerably elear,10 and in fact these landmarks had been readily recognized by Portolá's party at their first arrival on the bay shore. Moreover, the advantages of the harbor had not been very greatly exaggerated, both Torquemada, as quoted by Venegas, and Cabrera Bueno having called Monte- rey simply a famoso puerto, the former stating that it was protected from all winds, and the latter, from all exeept north-west winds. Yet with the harbor lying at their feet, and with several landmarks so clearly defined that Vila and Serra recognized them at once from the reports at San Diego, and penetrated the truth of the matter in spite of their companions' mystification, the Spanish officers could find nothing resembling the object of their search, and even were tempted to account for the port's disappearance by the theory that since Vizeaino's time it had perhaps been filled up with sand!11
10 See chapter iii., this volume.
11 Crespi's remarks, in addition to what has been given in the preceding narrative, are as follows: 'In view of what has been said .. . and of our not finding in these regions the port of Monterey so celebrated and so praised in their time by men of character, skilful, intelligent, and practical navigators who came expressly to explore these coasts by order of the king .. . we have to say that it is not found after the most careful efforts made at cost of mueh sweat and fatigue; or it must be said that it has been filled up and destroyed with time, though we see no indications to support this opinion; and therefore I suspend my opinion on this point, but what I can say with assurance is that with all diligence on the part of comandante, officers, and soldiers no such port has been found ... At Pt Pinos there is no port, nor have we seen in all our journey a country more desolate than this, or people more rude, Se- bastian Vizcaino to the contrary notwithstanding. . . although this was easier to be misrepresented than a port so famous as was Monterey in former cen- turies.' Viage, 393-6. In a letter buried before the final return it is stated that the expedition 'sighted Pt Pinos and the ensenadas north and south of it without seeing any signs of the port of Monterey, and resolved to go on in search of it,' and again on the return 'made an effort to search for the port of Monterey within the mountain range following along the sea, in spite of its roughness, hut iu vain.' Palou, Not., i. 399-400. According to Palou, J'ida, 88, P. Crespí wrote him that he feared the port had been filled up; and
153
HOW THE ERROR OCCURRED.
There are, however, several circumstances which tend to lessen our difficulty in accounting for the error committed, and which are almost sufficient to remove the difficulty altogether, especially so far as this first visit on the northward march is concerned. First, the Rio Carmelo, seen but once when swollen by winter rains, was on the record as a "river of good water though of little depth," and in geographical discussions of the past had gradually acquired great importance. Portolá's party reaching the Salinas, the largest river in this region, naturally supposed they were on the Carmelo. If it were the Carmelo, Pt Pinos should bear north rather than south; if it were not, then not only was this large river not mentioned in the old authorities, but there was no river in the region to be identified with the Carmelo, for it never occurred to the travellers to apply that name to the creek, now nearly dry, which flowed into the en- senada to the south of the point. Second, Cabrera Bueno's description of the bays north and south of Point Pinos as fine ports, the latter protected from all winds and the former from all but those from the north-west, was exaggerated, perhaps very much so; yet it was not Cabrera's or Vizcaino's exaggerations that
Serra mentioned in one of his letters the same opinion founded on the great sand dunes found where the port ought to be. Id., 92. Fages says: 'We knew not if the place where we were was that of our destination; still after having carefully examined it and compared it with the relations of the ancient voyagers, we resolved to continue our march; for after having taken the lati- tude, we found that we were only in 36° 44', while, according to the reports of the pilot, Cabrera Bueno, Monterey should be in 37°, and so serious an error was not supposable on the part of a man of well known skill. The con- figuration of the coast did not agree cither with the relations which served us as a guide.' Voy. cn Cal., 328-9. Rivera simply says: 'We went in the ex- pedition by land to San Diego and Monterey, and having failed to recognize the latter we proceeded in search of it till we came to San Francisco, whence for want of provisions we returned and the whole expedition slept two nights in Monterey itself and encamped several days on the Rio Carmelo.' St. Pap., Miss. and Colon., MS., i. 52-3. According to Ortega, 'On October 5th or 6th we reached Pt Pinos, and according to the indications of Capt. Vizcaino and the piloto Cabrera Bueno-and our latitude as well-we should have thought ourselves already at Monterey; but not finding the shelter and pro- tection ascribed by them to the port caused us to doubt, since we saw a bight over twelve leagues aeross with no shelter except for small craft at the point, although the said bight is large enough to hold thousands of vessels, but with little protection from some winds.' Fragmento, MS., 52.
154
EXPEDITION TO MONTEREY AND SAN FRANCISCO.
misled Portolá. Monterey had been much talked and written about during the past century and a half in connection with the fables of Northern Mystery, and while its waters lay undisturbed by foreign keel its importance as a harbor had been constantly growing in the minds of Spanish officials and missionaries. It was not the piloto's comparatively modest description so much as the grand popular ideal which supported the expectations of the governor and his companions, and of which the reality fell so far short. Third, the very different impressions of storm-tossed mariners anchoring in the bay when its shores were brightened and refreshed by winter rains, and of travellers arriv- ing at the end of the dry season from the sunny clime, large villages, and hospitable population of the Santa Bárbara Channel must be taken into consideration. Fourth, the Spaniards had no boats in which to make soundings and test the anchorage capacities of the harbor. Fifth, Cabrera's latitude was thirty minutes higher than that resulting from Costansó's observa- tions.
To these considerations should be added two other theories respecting the failure to find Monterey. One is that favored by Palou,12 who like some of his com- panions was disposed to regard the concealment of the port as a miraculous interposition of God at the intercession and in the interests of St Francis; for on starting from the peninsula after completing ar- rangements for the new establishments, Father Juni- pero had asked Galvez-"and for Our Father San Francisco is there to be no mission?" to which the visitador had replied-"if San Francisco wants a mission let him cause his port to be found and it will be put there;" and the saint did show his port and left St Charles to do as much at Monterey later. The
12 ' Luego que leí esta noticia atribuí a disposicion divina el que no hallando la expedicion el puerto de Monterey en el parage que lo señalaba el antiguo derrotero, siguiese hasta llegar al Puerto de N. P. S. Francisco.' Fida de Junipero Serra, SS. Gleeson, Hist. Cath. Ch., ii. 35-8, accepts the view that it was a miraele.
155
SANTA CRUZ REGION.
other theory is one that was somewhat prevalent among the descendants of the first Spanish soldiers and settlers in later years, namely, that the explorers had secret orders from 'Galvez not to find Monterey, but to go on to San Francisco.13 Neither this view of the matter nor that involving supernatural agencies seems to demand much comment. It would be very difficult to prove the inaccuracy of either.
It having been determined to proceed, Ortega and a few men advance October 6th to make a rconnois- sance which seems to favor former conclusions, since he saw another river and thought he saw another wooded point, which might be the veritable Rio Car- melo and Point Pinos. Next day.the whole company set out and in twenty-three days march up the coast to Point Angel Custodio, since called Point San Pedro. Eleven men have to be carried in litters,14 and progress is slow. On the 8th the Pájaro River is erossed and named by the soldiers from a stuffed bird found among the natives. A week later in the vicinity of Soquel the palo colorado, or redwood, begins to be seen. On the 17th they cross and name the Rio de San Lorenzo, at the site of the present Santa Cruz; and on the 23d Point Año Nuevo is passed. Vegetables soon give out as had meat long ago, and rations are reduced to five tortillas of bran and flour a day. Portolá and Rivera are added to the sick list. On the 28th the rains begin, and the men are attacked by diarrhea, which seems to relieve the seurvy. The 30th they reach a point with detached rocks, or farallones, located by Costansó in 37° 31',
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