USA > California > History of California, Volume I > Part 30
USA > California > History of California, Volume I > Part 30
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212
SERRA'S LABORS IN MEXICO.
ised by the king in his order of September 10, 1772; $25,000, estimated yield of the salt-works near San Blas, which had, it seems, been assigned to the Cali- fornias; and a probable net revenue of $10,000 from the pious fund, still leaving a balance of $22,476 to be paid from the royal treasury.
Echeveste added to his plan seventeen puntos in- structivos, suggestive and explanatory, from which it appears that in the author's judgment, the state of the treasury and pious fund did not warrant the grant- ing of other aid than that provided, which must there- fore suffice for new missions if any were to be founded; that the sailors enlisted as mission laborers, according to the recommendation of the junta, should be paid sailor's wages for two years and receive rations for five years; that instead of the previous system by which each mission received a stipend of $700 and certain supplies it would be better to give a stipend of $800, being $400 for each minister, and double rations for five years to all the friars, including those waiting for the foundation of new missions, the double rations amounting to $1,779 being charged to the pious fund as an addition to the stipend; that the commissary at San Blas should buy maize and meat instead of raising it, selling the rancho and sending the mule train to Loreto or San Diego; and finally, in addition to some suggestions about minor details of business manage- ment, that Echeveste's successor28 should be allowed a salary of $2,000, thus raising the amount to come out of the treasruy to $24,476.
On the 21st of May Serra presented, as required, a full report on the California missions, giving the history of each from its foundation and its condition in September 1772, the date of the writer's depart- ure. The substance of this statement has been already presented to the reader. The writer included, however, an argument respecting the number of soldiers needed in California. In article 10 of his
25 Exactly what Echeveste's office was does not appear.
213
DISTRIBUTION OF FORCES.
original petition he had demanded one hundred men; but that number had seemed too great to the junta, which had reserved its decision and called for more information. Echeveste, as we have seen, reduced the number to eighty, and now Serra, by giving up the proposed mission of Santa Clara29 and reducing the guard of San Buenaventura, assented to the reduction in the aggregate; but objected to the distribution. Echeveste had assigned twenty-five men to each of the two presidios and a guard of six men to each of the five missions, or of five to each of six missions ;30 but Serra would assign to Monterey fifteen men, to San Buenaventura fifteen, to San Diego thirteen, to San Carlos seven, and to each of the other missions ten. He argued that in a country of so many inhabi- tants with missions so far apart, a guard of five men was not sufficient for adequate protection. The wily friar's policy-or rather, perhaps, the enthusiastic missionary's hope-was by securing a double guard to be enabled to double the number of his missions without being obliged to ask the presidio commanders for soldiers allowed them by the regulation.31
On May 26th the viceroy addressed to Fages a series of instructions, provisional in their nature, pend- ing the final approval of the regulations. These instructions covered the same ground as the decision of the junta on May 6th, but also granted two addi- tional requests of Serra by authorizing Fages to issue a pardon to all deserters in California; and to replace with new men such soldiers as had families far away, from whom they had been long separated.33
29 It is to be noticed that no mention is made of San Francisco in any of these calculations.
30 The idea of moving San Diego mission was doubtless already entertained, though nothing is said of it here.
31 Serra, Repres. de 21 de Mayo, MS. Also translated by Taylor, and printed in Cal. Farmer, Sept., Oct. 1865, and pasted in Taylor's Discov. and Found., ii. 49. This Representacion with that of April 22d was referred to the fiscal on June 10th.
32 Bucareli, Providencias de 26 de Mayo 1773, MS. Serra had asked for leave of absence in behalf of eight soldiers either on account of long separa- tion from their wives, or unfitness for duty. From several of these he brought
214
SERRA'S LABORS IN MEXICO.
Bucareli referred Echeveste's regulation on May 24th to his legal adviser, Areche, who in his opinion of June 14th repeats all the articles of the document with a general approval. He calls attention, however, to the fact that no provision is made for the expense of ammunition, nor for the surgeon promised by the junta. He also suggests a doubt as to the ability of the pious fund to pay the $11,779 required of it in addition to the large sum expended in the mission- aries' stipends; and he recommends a reference of the matter to the director of the fund before its final con- sideration by the junta.33
In accordance with Areche's suggestion, Fernando J. Mangino, director of the pious fund, was called upon for a report, which he made on June 19th, show- ing that the available product of the fund was $20,687, though a large part of that amount being the yield of sheep ranchos, was subject to some variation; that the present liability for missionary stipends was $14,879; and that there would remain but $5,808 with which to pay the $11,779 called for; though the amount might be increased by $2,662 if the colleges were obliged to pay five per cent on loans.34
On the 8th of July the board met to finally decide on the whole matter. The decision was to put Eche- veste's plan in force from January 1, 1774, the only changes being an order that the. San Blas mule train be sold and not transferred to California; a recom- mendation that the four extra vessels at San Blas be sold and not used in the gulf; and some suggestions
petitions which are given in Prov. St. Pap., MS., i. 87. These instructions probably went up on the San Carlos to Loreto and were carried to San Diego by Palou, reaching Fages in September 1773.
33 Areche, Parecer sobre Reglam. de Cal. 14 de Junio 1773, MS .; also in Palou, Not., i. 572-80. Areehe made a supplementary report June 30th on Serra's representaciones of April 22d and May 21st; but adds nothing to the subjects treated, beyond expressing regret that the mission work in America does not prosper as in days of old, and suggesting that it would be better if the California missions were not so far apart. Areche, Respuesta Fiscal de 30 de Junio 1773, MS.
34 Mangino, Respuesta sobre Fondo Piadoso, 19 de Junio 1773, MS .; and also less accurately in Palou, Not., i. 580-6. The report contains much additional information about the pious fund which will be utilized elsewhere.
215
FINAL RESULTS.
respecting minor details of business management. As to the ways and means, however, in view of Man- gino's report, the pious fund was to furnish from moneys on hand $10,000 for the first year only, and the remaining expense, $59,476, would be borne by the treasury, aided by the San Blas salt-works.35 The surgeon's salary was also to be paid; but nothing was said about the expense of ammunition. On July 23d the viceroy decreed the execution of the decision, ordered nine certified copies made, thanked Echeveste for his services, and directed him to hunt up a sur- geon.
Three points of Serra's original memorial, on which a decision had been reserved, were settled by the board's last action. These were a petition that routes be explored to California from Sonora and New Mex- ico, not acted on by the junta but granted by the viceroy; a demand for one hundred soldiers, eighty of whom were granted by the regulation; and a request for Spanish or Indian families from California denied by non-action. Four other points had been left to be settled by the reglamento; the establishment of a storehouse at Monterey, the right of each mission to a soldier acting as a kind of majordomo, a demand for mules, and a reward in live-stock to persons mar- rying native women. The first was practically granted by the appointment of store-keepers at Monterey and San Diego, while the third was practically denied by the order to sell the mule train at San Blas.36 The others do not seem to have been acted upon.
One important matter was still in abeyance, and this was now settled by Bucareli in accordance with Serra's wishes, by the removal of Fages and the appointment of another officer to succeed him. In selecting a new commander, however, the president's
33 Reglamento, Determinacion de 8 de Julio 1773, in Palou, Not., i. 589-94. 36 Yet the viceroy soon ordered 100 mules to be distributed among the missions, and ordered Captain Anza to open communication by land between Tubac and Monterey.
216
SERRA'S LABORS IN MEXICO.
choice was not followed, since Ortega, his favorite for the place, was not deemed of sufficiently high military rank, and Captain Rivera y Moncada was named as California's new ruler.87 Ortega was brevetted lieuten- ant and put in command of San Diego, which was now to be a regular presidio.
The exact date of Rivera's appointment I do not know, but it probably preceded by only a few days that of his instructions, which were issued on the 17th of August. These instructions in forty-two articles are long and complete,88 and some portions will be given more fully elsewhere when I come to treat of the institutions to which they refer. The purport of the document is as follows:
Copies of the regulations and action of the board are enclosed. Great confidence is felt in Rivera's ability, and knowledge gained by long experience, which experience must have taught him how impor- tant it is to preserve perfect harmony, so that both commander and friars may devote themselves exclu- sively to their respective duties. The first object is of course the conversion of the natives; but next in importance is their gathering in mission towns for purposes of civilization. These little towns may be- come great cities; hence the necessity of avoiding defects in the beginning, of care in the selection of sites, in the assignment of lands, laying out of streets, etc.
The commander is authorized to assign lands to communities, and also to such individuals as are dis- posed to work; but all must dwell in the pueblo or mission, and all grants must be made with due regard to the formalities of law. Missions may be converted
37 In a letter to Serra dated Nov. 8, 1774, the guardian warns him not to quarrel with the new governor, who doubtless had secret instructions and would cause any contraricties to react upon the padres. Scrra's weakness was not unknown to his superiors. Arch. Sta Barbara, MS., xi. 191-2.
38 Bucareli, Instruccion que debe observar el C'omandante nombrado para los Establecimientos de San Diego y Monterey, 1773, MS., also copy from the original in Mayer, MS., No. 18. Translated extracts chiefly on pueblos and colonization in llalleck's Report, 133; Dwinelle's Colon. Ilist. Add., 2.
217
INSTRUCTIONS TO THE NEW RULER.
into pueblos when sufficiently advanced, retaining the name of the patron saint. New missions may be founded by the commander, acting in accord with the president, whenever it can be done without risk to the old ones. Rivera is to report to the viceroy on needs of the royal service in his province.
The captain is charged with recruiting soldiers to complete the full number. Married recruits must take their families, and unmarried ones the papers to prove that they are single. The Catalan volunteers are to return with their lieutenant by the first vessel. Strict discipline and good conduct must be enforced among soldiers, employés, and civilians, vicious and incorrigible persons being sent back to San Blas. The commandant must be subordinate to the governor at Loreto only to the extent of reporting to him and maintaining harmonious relations. Communication with the peninsula by land should be frequent. Good faith must be kept with the Indians, and the control, education, and correction of neophytes are to be left exclusively to the friars, acting in the capacity of fathers toward children.
No vessels are to be admitted to Californian ports except the San Blas transports and the Philippine vessels, and no trade with either foreign or Spanish vessels is to be permitted. The captains of the trans- ports are not to be interfered with in the management of their vessels, but they cannot admit on board or take away any person without a written request from the commandant, who is to grant such requests only for urgent reasons. San Francisco should be explored as soon as practicable, and the mission of San Diego may be moved if it be deemed best. A complete diary of all events and measures must be kept in a book, and literal copies forwarded to the superior government as often as opportunity occurs. Three complete inventories are to be made on taking pos- session of government property, one for the viceroy, one for Fages, and one to be kept by Rivera. All
218
SERRA'S LABORS IN MEXICO.
records and archives to be carefully cared for, and finally these instructions to be kept profoundly secret.
These instructions, with the regulations that precede and similar instructions of the next year to the gov- ernor, constituted the law of California for many years. Rivera was in Guadalajara when appointed, though it does not appear from therecord when he had come down from San Diego. He went to Mexico to receive his instructions in person and then hastened to Sinaloa to recruit soldiers and families for his command, finishing his task and arriving with fifty-one persons, great and small, in March 1774 at Loreto, whence he soon started northward overland.39 At about the same time that Rivera received his orders, that is in August, Bucareli also authorized Captain Juan Bau- tista de Anza to attempt the overland route from Sonora to Monterey, and that officer after some delays began his march from Tubac in the following January. Early in September, after Rivera and Anza had re- ceived their instructions, the viceroy wrote to Fages, announcing the appointment of Rivera, and ordering him to give up the command, and to return by the first vessel with his company of Catalan volunteers to join his regiment at the Real de Pachuca. 40
And now Father Serra, having successfully com- pleted his task in Mexico, is ready to return home- ward to utilize the aid and put in practice the reforms for which he has toiled. Kissing the feet of every friar at the college, begging their pardon for any bad example he has set, and bidding them farewell for- ever, the good friar, with Padre Pablo Mugártegui, sets out in September for the west coast. At Tepic he waits until the new vessel, the Santiago or Nueva Galicia, is ready for sea, which is not until January 24, 1774. In addition to the articles granted by the gov-
39 Letter of Rivera to viceroy, dated Loreto, March 25th, in Arch. Sta Bár- bara, MS., xi. 378-9; Palou, Not., i. 609-10.
40 Bucareli to Fages, Sept. 7, 1773, in Prov. St. Pap., MS., i. 140.
219
FATHER JUNÍPERO HOMEWARD BOUND.
ernment Padre Junípero has obtained from the vice- roy a liberal limosna, or alms, of supplies for the exclusive use of the missions,41 invoiced separately to gratify the friar's pride and avoid complications with Fages who is still in command. The regular supplies for the northern missions, with a part of the pittance, are taken by the Santiago, Captain Perez, who has orders to undertake explorations to the north of Mon- terey. Supplies for San Diego and the southern missions are left for the San Antonio, to sail later.42
11 The articles officially granted were: 3 cases of vestments for San Gabriel, San Antonio, and San Luis, 5 nests, or sets, of measures, 6 in each, one forge with appurtenances, and 5 quintals, 3 arrobas of iron. The limosna to suffice for 5 years was 5 packages of cloths for Indians as follows: 107 blankets, 29 pieces manta poblana, 488 yds striped sackcloth, 389 yds blue baize, 10 lbs blue maguey cloth for little girls; also 4 reams fine paper, 5 bales red pepper, 100 arrobas tasajo, 16 boxes panocha, 4 boxes beads, 10 boxes hams, 6 boxes chocolate, 3 bbls lard, 9 bales lentils, 1 bale and 9 jugs olive-oil, 4 bbls Cas- tilian wine, 3 bbls brandy, 9 bales chickpeas, 6 hales rice, 160 bales flour, 900 fanegas maize, 250 fanegas beans. Palou, Not., i. 603-5.
12 Respecting Serra's work in Mexico in addition to the authorities cited, see Palou, Vida, 150-9. It is related that when Serra arrived in San Blas from California and saw the Santiago in the dock-yard, he remarked that he would return in her, a remark that excited some ridicule, because everybody thought the San Blas establishment on the point of being abandoned.
CHAPTER X.
RECORD OF EVENTS.
1774.
WANT IN THE MISSIONS-ANZA'S FIRST EXPEDITION-THE OVERLAND ROUTE FROM SONORA-RETURN OF PADRE JUNÍPERO-RIVERA ASSUMES THE COMMAND-DEPARTURE OF FAGES-EXPLORING VOYAGE OF PEREZ TO THE NORTHERN COAST-SAN DIEGO MISSION MOVED FROM COSOY TO NIPAGUAY-COMINO OF SOLDIERS AND THEIR FAMILIES-THIRD EXPLO- RATION OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY-A MISSION SITE SELECTED-FIRST DRIVE ON THE BEACH TO THE CLIFF AND SEAL ROCKS-TROUBLES BETWEEN THE FRANCISCANS AND GOVERNOR BARRI IN THE PENINSULA-MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING-FELIPE DE NEVE APPOINTED GOVERNOR TO SUCCEED BARRI-SECOND ANNUAL REPORT ON MISSION PROGRESS.
WE have seen that Anza from Sonora, Serra from Mexico via Jalisco, and Rivera from Sinaloa via the peninsula were all en route for Monterey under vice- regal orders in the spring of 1774. California annals for that year may be most clearly presented by fol- lowing those expeditions, in the order named, as a thread to which may be attached all recorded events. Previous to their arrival there is nothing known of matters in the north, save that great want was ex- perienced through the non-appearance of the vessels due the year before.1
When Galvez was preparing the first expeditions to the north in 1769, Captain Juan Bautista de Anza, commander of the Tubac presidio in Sonora, a brave officer like his father, as we have seen in the annals
1 A 'cruelísima hambre,' Palou calls it, l'ida, 153, 159-60, the greatest ever experienced. No bread, no chocolate, only milk and herbs 'salted by tears.' Milk had to be eaten by all from the commandant down. They had some very strange ideas of what constituted a famine, Soup of peas or beans took the place of tortillas, and coffee had to do instead of chocolate. The natives all left the mission to seek for food. Id., Not., i. 608.
{ 220)
221
ANZA'S FIRST EXPEDITION.
of Pimería, became interested in the scheme, and offered to make the trip by land at his own expense to meet the sea expedition. The route up to the Colorado and Gila junction had often been traversed, and it had long been a favorite plan, especially among the old Jesuit pioneers, to reach the northern coasts from this direction; but for some reason not explained the visitador declined the offer. Anza, however, re- newed his proposition later, when San Diego and Monterey had been occupied, and finally Bucareli, authorized by the king to pay the expense from the royal coffers,2 and urged by Father Junípero in his memorial of March 1773-in which he also urged the exploration of a route from New Mexico-gave the required license, probably in September 1773.
Anza obtained twenty soldiers and had nearly completed his preparations for departure, when the Apaches made one of their characteristic raids, steal- ing his horses and killing some of his men. This caused delay and obliged the captain to start with less force than he had intended; but as a compensa- tion he unexpectedly obtained a guide. This was a Baja California neophyte, Sebastian by name, who had deserted from San Gabriel in August, and, keep- ing far to the east to avoid meeting soldiers,- had reached the Colorado River rancherías and had been brought by the natives to Altar, thus entitling him- self to the honor of having been the first Christian to make the overland trip.3 Under his guidance Anza set out from Tubac January 8, 1774, with Francisco Garcés and Juan Diaz, Franciscan friars from the Querétaro college. There were in all 34 men with 140 horses and 65 cattle.
In a month they had reached the Gila, by way of Sonoita through Papaguería. Palma, a famous Yuma
2 Ortega in a letter to Rivera, dated San Diego, May 5, 1775, says that Anza's expedition cost from 25,000 to 30,000 pesos. Prov. St. Pap., MS., i. 162-3.
8 According to one of the two chief authorities Sebastian had started from San Gabriel with his parents and wife, all of whom had perished.
222
RECORD OF EVENTS.
chief, entertained the Spaniards at his ranchería at San Dionisio, Isla de Trinidad, a kind of island formed by a double channel of the Gila at its junction with the Colorado,4 and received from Anza a badge of office under Spain. He accompanied the explorers across the Colorado and some eight or nine leagues south-westward to the lagoon of Santa Olaya. To this lagoon the whole party was obliged to return on the 19th of February, after having wandered for six days through a country destitute of grass and water.5 But they started again on the 2d of March, leaving with Palma a large part of the animals in charge of three soldiers, three muleteers, and three Indian ser- vants. The route through the country of the Cojat, Cajuenches, and Danzarines, cannot be traced exactly ; but as this was the first exploration of this region and of the great route into California, I append the de- tails, confusing as they are, in a note.6 Anza would
+ One of the channels no longer carries water, and perhaps did so then only at high water. In Kino's map of 1701 San Dionisio is not represented as an- island. Emory, Notes, 95-6, in 1846 noted that the Gila once flowed to the south of its present channel, and says: 'During freshets it is probable the rivers now discharge their surplus waters through these old channels.' An- other discovery of Anza is less intelligible. In a letter of Fob. 9th from San Dionisio to the viceroy, Prov. St. Pap., MS., iii. 190-1, he says he had crossed the Colorado and Gila, and had found a branch of the former extending north and west, and entering probably the South Sea-perhaps at San Francisco Bay.
5 Padre Garcés claimed to have been in this region, the north-east section of Baja California, in 1771; but the narrative of his trip in that year, in Arricivita, Cron. Seráf., 420 et seq., does not show clearly that he crossed the Colorado at all.
6 The most complete, and indeed the only, authority in print is Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, 450 et seq .; but it is very unsatisfactory. The best account of the expedition seems to be Anza, Descubrimiento de Sonora a Californias año de 1774, MS. This appears to be an abridged copy of the original diary made soon after the date of the expedition by some one who did not accom- pany it. The route was as follows, items from the return march being in brackets: Feb. 9th. At junction of the Gila and Colorado, near the site of the later Concepcion. Feb. 10th to 12th. 5 1. w. N. (s.) w. and 4.5 1. s. w. and s. to Laguna de Sta Olaya, formed by the Colorado in time of flood. Lat. 32° 34'. [According to the return trip Sta Olaya was 4 1. w. of the river aud 8 1. w. s. w. of S. Dionisio, or Isla de Trinidad.] Feb. 13th to 19th. Off into the desert and back to Sta Olaya. March 2d. 4 1. w. s. w. to Laguna del Predicador. Mar. 3d to 5th. 31. w. s. w .; 6.5 1. W. N. W .; 61. W. N. W. with low sierra on left; 3 1. N. w. across the hills; 21. w .; 1.5 l. N. and N. w., in sight of an estero, to Pozos de San Eusebio. Mar. 6th. 4 1. w. to Sto Tomás, in middle of sierra. Mar. 7th and Sth. 4 1. N. w. and I l. N. E. to Pozos de Sta Rosa de las Lajas (18 1. in a direct line from Sta Olaya). Mar. 9th and 10th.
223
ANZA FROM SONORA.
seem at first to have kept far to the south of the modern railroad route, but to have returned to it be- fore reaching the San Gorgonio Pass, which he named San Carlos. He crossed the Santa Ana River on a bridge of boughs the 20th of March, and on the 22d arrived at San Gabriel.
The travellers had exhausted their supply of food; and they found equal destitution at San Gabriel; but the friars Paterna and Cruzado entertained them as best they could after a mass, te deum, and sermon of welcome. A cow was killed, and in ten days four of Anza's men returned from San Diego with supplies that had come on the Santiago.7 In a few days all but six of the men were sent with Father Garcés back to the Colorado, having some slight trouble with the savages on the way, and, according to Arricivita, finding that the men left with the animals had become frightened and retired to Caborca. Anza with his six men made a trip up to Monterey and back from the 10th of April to the 1st of May; and two days later he started with Diaz for the Colorado, which he reached in eight days. Palou tells us that some of Fages' men went with him to become acquainted · with the route, and returning reported that they had been attacked by the natives as had been the men left at the Colorado. The explorers reached Tubac on the 26th of May, and in July Anza went to Mexico to report.
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