USA > California > History of California, Volume I > Part 28
USA > California > History of California, Volume I > Part 28
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Of events at San Diego and San Gabriel, prior to the arrival of Fages and Serra the 16th of Septem- ber, we know nothing save the illness of Somera, Cambon, and Dumetz, the departure of the last two for the peninsula, the coming of Crespi from the north in May, the return of Dumetz accompanied by Tomás de la Peña sent up by Palou to take Cambon's place, and the arrival of the San Carlos and San Antonio in August.
As soon as the San Carlos can be unloaded the mule train is made ready and despatched for the north September 27th, in charge of Crespí and Dumetz, who go to relieve Pieras and Juncosa at San Carlos. The San Antonio is to take her cargo to Monterey, and probably does so, though we have no further notice of her movements during this trip. 13
Serra now wishes to proceed with the founding of
11 Serra had great hopes, but says he, 'let us leave time to tell the story in the progress which I hope Christianity will make among them in spite of the Enemy who already began to lash his tail (meter la cola) by means of a bad soldier, who soon after arrival they caught in actual sin with an Indian woman, a thing which greatly grieved the poor padre.' Serra, Repres. 21 de Mayo, MS., 117.
12 Yet in his report to the viceroy of April 22, 1773, he refers to a disturb- ance here between the soldiers and Indians, in which one of the latter was killed and another severely wounded. Prov. St. Pap., MS., i. 101.
13 Dec. 2, 1772, the viceroy writes to Fages reprimanding him for allowing the vessel to continue her voyage up to Monterey at this season. He should have unloaded her and forwarded her cargo by land. Prov. St. Pap., MS., i. 77-S.
190
PROGRESS OF THE NEW ESTABLISHMENTS.
San Buenaventura on the Santa Bárbara Channel, as originally planned by José de Galvez five years before. He had visited its proposed site at Asuncion on his late trip, and has formed some sanguine expectations as to its future. His enthusiasm on this occasion, as on several others, seems to impair his judgment and causes him to forget that, with the present military force, it is impossible to furnish a suitable guard for a new mission, especially for one so far from the others and in so populous a region. I suppose that Fages very properly refused to furnish a guard until more soldiers should be sent to California.14 At any rate a bitter quarrel ensued between the two, respecting the merits of which few details are known, but in the course of which the hot-headed Fages, in the right at first, may very likely have exceeded the bounds of moderation and good taste; while the president, though manifestly unjust in his prejudice against the commandant, was perhaps more politic and self-con- tained in his words and acts at the time, and has, moreover, the advantage of having left his side of the question more fully recorded than that of his antago- nist.15
11 Palou, Vida, 146, says that Serra 'consulted with comandante Fages about an escort and other assistance necessary for the founding, but he found the door closed, and that he (Fages) went on giving such directions that if they should be carried into effect, far from being able to found (the mission) they threatened the risk of losing what it had cost so much work to accom- plish. To prevent such a result, from which serious misfortunes might issue, the venerable padre used all the means suggested by his great prudence and well known skill; but in no way was he able to accomplish his purpose.' The same author in Noticias, i. 509-10, says: 'They spoke of the number of soldiers who were to remain, and of the manner in which the mission was to be man- aged, because he (Fages) had already meddled in the government of the mis- sions, already pretending that all belonged to him and not to the padres; so that the missions, instead of progressing, retrograded, and if the thing went on the reduction might be rendered impossible.'
15 Palou had alluded, in his Memorial of December 1772, to misunderstand- ings between the military and missionary authorities. March 18, 1772, the viceroy in a letter to Fages, Prov. St. Pap., MS., i. 74-5, urges him to main- tain hannony, to listen to all complaints, to aid the padres with guards and supplies, to treat converts well, and to promote the mission work in every possible way. October 2d, Serra says to Fages that the padres are unwilling to take charge of the troops' provisions, fearing quarrels, but will do it tem- porarily if military supplies be delivered in separate packages. Arch. Arzo- bispado, MS., i. 3. October Sth, Fages transcribes to Serra a communication from the viceroy, dated November 3, 1771, on the duty of president and
191
SERRA QUARRELS WITH FAGES.
The charges of the president against Fages were embodied in his Representacion of the following year. According to this document his offences were as fol- lows: Bad treatment of and haughty manners toward his men, causing them to hate him, as Serra had learned by long experience; incompetence to com- mand the cuera soldiers, since he belonged himself to another branch of the service; refusal to transfer sol- diers for bad conduct at the padres' request; meddling with mission management and the punishment of neo- phytes as he had no right to do except for delitos de sangre, or grave offences; refusal to allow the padre a soldier to serve as majordomo, the soldier being transferred as soon as he became attached to a padre, on the plea that such attachment was subversive of the military authority; irregular and delayed delivery of letters and property directed to the padres, accord- ing to his whim, thus preventing the distribution of small gifts to the Indians; insolence and constant efforts to annoy the friars, who were at his mercy; delaying mission work by retaining at the presidio the only blacksmith; opening the friars' letters, and neglect to inform them in time when mails were to start; taking away the mission mules for the use of the soldiers; and the retention under charge of the presidio of cattle intended for new missions.16 Some of these charges were doubtless unfounded, or at least exaggerated.
It was partly on account of this difficulty with Fages that Serra determined to go in person to Mex- ico, but there were other motives that made such a trip desirable. The mission work in California had now been fairly begun, and from the actual working of the system the need of some changes had become
padres to set a good example by obedience to the orders of the commandant. Id. October 12th, Serra assures Fages that neither he nor his subordinates ever have failed or ever will fail in respect to the commandant's orders. Id., 4.
16 Serra, Representacion de 13 de Marzo 1773, in Palou, Not., i. 518-34, passim. He hints that he could say much worse things about his foe if it were necessary. There is also much against Fages in Serra, Repres., de 21 de Mayo 1773, MS.
192
PROGRESS OF THE NEW ESTABLISHMENTS.
apparent, changes which the president could advocate more effectually in person than by correspondence ; and what made a visit to Mexico the more imperative in the padre's opinion was the news that a new vice- roy, presumably ignorant of northern affairs, had come to New Spain the preceding autumn to succeed Croix, and that Galvez, California's best friend, had also gone to Spain. Only the most active efforts could keep up the old enthusiasm; and at least it was well to learn of what stuff Bucareli was made.
Serra accordingly sailed on the San Carlos the 19th or 20th of October, taking with him a neophyte from Monterey who afterward received the rite of confir- mation at the hand of Archbishop Lorenzana. Of the president's doings in Mexico I shall have something to say in the next chapter.17 Shortly before the ves- sel sailed, Padre Somera had started for the penin- sula;18 a little later Fages set out overland for Mon- terey ; and in November the friars Juan Figuer and Ramon Usson arrived from the south, sent up by Palou at Serra's request for the proposed mission of San Buenaventura.
At a consultation between the Dominican vicar general and Rafael Verger the guardian of San Fer- nando College, an agreement was formed April 7, 1772, by which all the missions of the peninsula were given up by the Franciscan to the Dominican order. The long series of negotiations and intrigues which led to this result has been presented elsewhere in con- nection with the annals of the peninsula,19 and need not be repeated here. The Dominicans had worked hard for a division of the missions, which the Fran-
17 He arrived at San Blas Nov. 4th, was at Tepic Nov. 10th, had very severe and dangerous attacks of illness at Guadalajara and Querétaro, and finally arrived in Mexico in February 1773. Serra, in Bandini, Doc. Hist. Cal., NS .. 1, says he went to Mexico to plead for the extension of miscions, etc. Fages in letter of Dec. 22, 1772, affirms that the padre left for Mexico . on mission business.' Prov. St. Pap., MS., i. 86-7.
18 Possibly several months before, since he sailed from Loreto for San Blas on Oct. 19th.
29 Sce liist. North Mexican States, this series.
193
FRANCISCANS AND DOMINICANS.
ciseans had strenuously resisted. At first the new establishments of the north were hardly taken into the account by either party; but as the struggle eon- tinued, additional knowledge of the new country was constantly accumulating; and finally, when it was no longer possible to prevent a division, so flattering were the reports from Alta California that the peninsula was regarded as hardly worth the keeping, and was gladly relinquished by the guardian of the mother col- lege. The followers of Saint Dominie were pleased, for they obtained more than they had ever asked for. So far as is shown by the records Palou and Serra knew nothing of the cession until it was consummated, the latter first learning of it from retiring Franciseans whom he met at Tepic; yet it is difficult of belief that the guardian did not act on the direet advice of the two presidents, or that Padre Junípero did not know what was brewing when he left San Diego. However that may have been, all three were satisfied with their bargain, as they had every reason to be. Later the division would have been on a very different basis.
In August Palou received information of the agree- ment at Loreto. His acts in the final delivery of the missions have been noticed elsewhere. The guardian's instruetions required four friars to be assigned to duty in the north, while the rest were to return to their college. But in the mean time two, Cambon and Somera, had returned ill, two others had asked leave of absence, one was needed for the Monterey presidio, and one or two extra helpers would be convenient for emergencies. Besides, it seemed much better to send the friars up to San Diego, whenee, if not needed, they could return by sea to San Blas, than to send them back to the college to undertake, if needed in the north, a long and dangerous voyage. He wrote forth- with to Guardian Verger on the subject, and also to Serra, sending two of the padres, Usson and Figuer, up to San Diego with the letter, in September.
Paterna, acting president in Serra's absence, wrote HIST. CAL., VOL. I. 13
194
PROGRESS OF THE NEW ESTABLISHMENTS.
back that ten friars would not be too many; Serra wrote from Tepic, November 10th, that at least eight ur ten should be sent to California if it could be done without disobeying very positive orders of the guar- dian, and that he hoped to see Palou himself among the number; and finally Verger wrote approving the idea of sending eight or ten friars, but expressing cloubts as to his ability to obtain a stipend for the one destined to presidio service, and hoping that Palou would decide to come back to the college. The latter of course fixed upon the outside number, and imme- diately selected eight in addition to the two already sent north; neither could he resist the temptation to include his own name in the list.20 It was his plan to leave behind temporarily Father Campa, who was to act in his own absence as president, and to come north later with a drove of cattle, which by authority of the viceroy were to be taken from the missions of the peninsula.
Palou was also authorized to take twenty-five na- tive families from the frontier missions for the northern establishments, and during the autumn of 1772 and the spring of 1773, while occupied with the final de- tails of the transfer, he made a beginning of the work, meeting many obstacles through the lukewarmness of the Dominicans and the open hostility of Governor Barri.21 In July while at Velicatá, with six of his friars, he received information from Campa that the San Carlos had arrived at Loreto laden with supplies for San Diego, which it was proposed to unload at Loreto while the vessel returned to San Blas for re- pairs. Foreseeing that this delay was likely to cause great want in the new missions, the president resolved to suspend his recruiting and press on to San Diego immediately with all the maize his mules could carry.
20 The eight were: Francisco Palou, Pedro Benito Cambon, Gregorio Amur- rio, Fermin Francisco Lasuen, Juan Prestamero, Vicente Fuster, José Anto- nioMurguía, Miguel de la Campa y Cos.
21 Yet Barri writes to Fages Jan. 7, 1773, that he has sent up 30 horses and 40 mules, all he could collect in the peninsula. Prov. Stat. Pap., MS., i. 138.
195
PALOU'S JOURNEY TO THE NORTH.
Cambon was left in charge of Indian families, cattle, and a considerable amount of church property, re- specting which there was much subsequent difficulty, as we shall see. He wrote to Governor Barri urging him to forward to San Luis Bay as much maize as possible, for which he would send back mules from San Diego, and with the six padres and a guard of fourteen men he set out for the north the 21st of July.
As the Californian annals of 1772, beginning in the extreme north, were made to follow, so to speak, the progress of President Serra southward, so may the little that is recorded of 1773 be most conveniently attached to the march of President Palou northward from Velicatá to Monterey. On the 26th three sol- diers were sent out in advance to announce their coming, and Paterna and Peña came down far on the way to meet the travellers, with all the mules that could be spared. The only event in the journey re- quiring notice was the raising of a cross, with appro- priate ceremonies, to mark the boundary between Franciscan and Dominican territory, on the 19th of August. The cross was placed on a high rock five leagues above the Arroyo of San Juan Bautista and about fifteen leagues below San Diego.22 Arriving at the latter port on the morning of the 30th, the new- comers were welcomed with a discharge of fire-arms and with every demonstration of joy.
Palou's advance messengers had gone on to Monte- rey to obtain from Fages mules to bring up the sup- plies from Velicatá. While awaiting a reply the presi- dent busied himself in studying the condition of af- fairs and in making a temporary distribution of the new friars, since nothing could be done in the new establishments until the vessels came with supplies and soldiers.23 The native families expected from the
22 The cross bore the inscription, Division de las misiones de Nuestro Padre Santo Domingo y de Nuestro Padre San Francisco; año de 1773.
23 The missionary force after this distribution was as follows: San Diego- Luis Jaume, Vicente Fuster, and Gregorio Amurrio as supernumerary. San
196
PROGRESS OF THE NEW ESTABLISHMENTS.
south were also apportioned in advance among the missions according to their apparent need.24 Paterna, Lasuen, and Prestamero started for their stations on the 5th of September. On the 19th came a letter from Fages with all the mules that could be obtained, eighty-two in number, which were sent forward three days later under Ortega and a guard for Velicatá.25 On the 26th Palou, Murguía, and Peña started for the north, after having baptized fifteen new converts from El Rincon, a league and a half north of the mission.
The journey northward presents nothing of inter- est, Palou simply stationing his companions at their respective missions according to the plan already given, and making close observations to be utilized in his forthcoming report. At San Luis the party was met by Fages, and a league from Monterey Crespí came out to greet his old friend and school-mate. At the presidio on November 14th they were welcomed with the customary salute and ringing of bells, to which Palou replied with a plática, expressing to the soldiers his joy at seeing that they had come to serve God in so distant a land, where he hoped they would set a good example to the natives. Then they went over to San Carlos and were greeted by the ministers and Indians. Palou was very enthusiastic over his arrival at Monterey, a place which he had desired to visit ever since he read Torquemada's description of Vizcaino's voyage over twenty years ago, and a place where he was willing to devote his life to the saving of precious souls, his own included.
Gabriel-Antonio Paterna, Antonio Cruzado (both of whom had asked leave to retire), Juan Figuer, and Fermin Francisco Lasuen. San Luis Obispo- José Cavaller, Domingo Juncosa (anxious to retire), later José Antonio Mur- guía, with Juan Prestamero and Tomás de la Peña as supernumeraries. San Antonio-Miguel Pieras, Buenaventura Sitjar, and Ramon Usson as super- numerary. Sau Cárlos-Juan Crespí, Francisco Dumetz, and Francisco Palou.
24 San Diego was to have one family; San Gabriel 6 families, and most of the unmarried; aud San Luis Obispo 3 families and some solteros. It is pos- sible that these Indians came up with Palou.
23 I suppose that the 14 soldiers who had come up with Palou also returned, though there is no record of it. It is a point, moreover, of some importance in tracing the names of the earliest settlers in California.
197
VISIT TO THE TULARES.
It is recorded that some time during 1773 Co- mandante Fages, while out in search of deserters, crossed the sierra eastward and saw an immense plain covered with tulares and a great lake, whence came as he supposed the great river that had prevented him from going to Point Reyes. This may be regarded as the discovery of the Tulare Valley. Thus close the somewhat meagre annals of an uneventful year, so far as internal affairs in California are concerned, but there were measures of much moment being fomented without, to which and to a general report on the condition of the country the following chapter will be devoted.26
26 On the events of this chapter see Palou. Not., i. 180-245, 481-513; Id. Vida, 134-51.
CHAPTER IX. FIRST ANNUAL REPORT; SERRA'S LABORS IN MEXICO. 1773.
PALOU'S REPORT OF DECEMBER, AND SERRA'S IN MAY-CONDITION OF CALI- FORNIA AT CLOSE OF THE FIRST HISTORICAL PERIOD-NAMES APPLIED- PRESIDIO AND FIVE MISSIONS-BAPTISMS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS- GENTILES FRIENDLY - PRE-PASTORAL CALIFORNIAN ARCHITECTURE - PALISADE ENCLOSURES - AGRICULTURE AND STOCK - RAISING - NEW PRESIDIO REGULATIONS OF SEPTEMBER 1772-FATHER JUNÍPERO IN MEXICO - MEMORIAL OF MARCH - MEMORIAL OF APRIL-SAN BLAS ESTABLISHMENT SAVED-ACTION OF THE JUNTA-AIDS AND REFORMS- REGLAMENTO-EIGHTY SOLDIERS FOR CALIFORNIA-WAYS AND MEANS- SERRA'S REPORT -PROVISIONAL INSTRUCTIONS TO FAGES - FISCAL'S REPORT-CONDITION OF PIOUS FUND-FINAL ACTION OF THE JUNTA -- RIVERA APPOINTED TO SUCCEED FAGES-INSTRUCTIONS-PREPARATIONS OF RIVERA AND ANZA-SERRA HOMEWARD BOUND.
THE resolution of the junta de guerra y real hacienda, dated April 30, 1772, giving the missions of the peninsula to the Dominicans, required the Francis- cans to render an annual report on the condition of their new establishments; and on May 12th the viceroy had ordered such report from the president.I Therefore Palou, president in Serra's absence, gave his attention to the matter during his stay at San Diego and his trip northward, devoting himself, on arrival at Monterey in November, to the task of forming from the results of his observations a com- plete statement for the viceroy. The document was completed the 10th of December 1773, and was for- warded to Mexico overland with a letter to the
1 The first document is given in full in Palou, Not., i. 190-5; and the second is referred to in Id., ii. 9.
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199
FIRST ANNUAL REPORTS.
guardian of San Fernando.2 Under date of May 21st of the same year Serra in Mexico had included in his report to the viceroy a detailed statement of the actual condition of the missions at the time of his departure the preceding September, supplemented by information derived from later correspondence. This report3 covers substantially the same ground as that of Palou and the two combined may be regarded as one document. Later annual and biennial reports of the missions, preserved in my Library, will be utilized for the most part in local chapters and statis- tical appendices, being noticed in my text only in a general manner or for special reasons. But this first report being a very complete statement of California's condition at the end of what may be regarded as the first period of. her mission history, deserves fuller notice here. Historical items proper respecting the founding of each mission gathered from this source as from others having been given in the preceding chapters, I now invite the reader's attention to the new establishments as they were at the end of 1773, the fifth year of Spanish occupation.
The 'New Establishments,' 'Establishments of San Diego and Monterey,' the 'Missions of Monterey,' 'New California,' 'Northern California,' 'California Superior,' 'Alta California,' and the 'Peninsula' -- for all these names had been or were a little later ap- plied, and continued in use for many years-include at this time five missions and a presidio.4 These are San
2 Palou, Informe que por el mes de diciembre de 1773 se hizo al Exmo Señor Virey del estado de las cinco misiones de Monterey, in Palou, Not., ii. 11-42. Fages, in his Voyage en Cal., a report addressed to the Viceroy on Nov. 30, 1775, used this first report of Palou, to which he, however, gives the date of Nov. 24th, instead of Dec. 10th.
3 Serra, Representacion del P. Fr. Junipero Serra sobre las Misiones de la Nueva California, 21 de Mayo de 1773, MS. This report is in two parts, one respecting the needs of the country from a military point of view, and the other on the actual condition of the missions.
4 It is to be noted that Palou in his report does not name San Diego as a presidio, and there is no evidence that it was in these earliest years consideredl as such except in the sense that every post guarded by soldiers, like any of the missions, is spoken of as a presidio. San Diego had no larger regular force than some other missions. It became, however, a regular presidio in 1774 when the new reglamento went into effect.
200
SERRA'S LABORS IN MEXICO.
Diego de Alcalá at Cosoy on the port of San Diego in 32° 43', built on a hill two gunshots from the shore, and facing the entrance to the port at Point Guijarros; San Gabriel Arcángel, forty-four leagues north-west of San Diego, in the country of Los Temblores in 34° 10', on the slope of a hill half a league from the source of the Rio de San Miguel, six leagues west of the River Jesus de los Temblores, and a league and a half cast of the River Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles5 de Porciúncula; San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, about seventy lcagues from San Gabriel in 35° 38', on an eminence half a league from the Cañada de los Osos and three leagues from the Ensenada de Buchon, in the country of the Tichos; San Antonio de Pádua, twenty-three leagues above San Luis, in 36° 30', in the Cañada de los Robles of the Sierra de Santa Lucia, at first on the River San Antonio, but moved a league and a half up the cañada to the Arroyo de San Miguel; San Carlos Borromeo, on the River Carmelo, one league from Monterey and twenty-five leagues from San Antonio; and, finally, the presidio of San Carlos de Monterey on the bay and port of the same name.
The five missions are under the care of nineteen Franciscan friars of the college de propaganda fide of San Fernando in the city of Mexico, whose names and distribution have been given,6 and who are sub- ject locally to the authority of a president residing at San Carlos, the cabecera, or head mission of the five.7 The military force to which is intrusted the protection of the missions is sixty men, thirty-five soldados de cuera and twenty-five Catalan volunteers, under a commandant residing at the presidio of Mon- terey, each mission having a guard of from six to six- teen under a corporal or sergeant, while about twenty
5 This is the first application of the name Los Angeles to this region, and is doubtless the origin of the name as afterward applied to the pueblo and city. 6 See note 23, chap. viii. of this volume.
7 A full description of the mission system in all its parts and workings will be given elsewhere; also of the presidio or military system, and of civil gov- ernment.
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