USA > California > History of California, Volume I > Part 31
USA > California > History of California, Volume I > Part 31
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His expedition had accomplished all that it had
11 l. N. to S. Sebastian Peregrino, a large ciénega in the Cajuenche nation [22 1. w. and w. N. w. from Sta Olaya]. Mar. 11th. 1.5 1. w. on same cienega. Mar. 12th. 6 1. w. N. w. to S. Gregorio. Mar. 14th. 6 I. N. [N. w.] to Sta Cata- rina [10 ]. from S. Sebastian]. 6 1. N. N. W. to Puerto de S. Carlos, following the cañada [33° 42']. Mar. 16th and 17th. 3 1. N. w. and N. N. w. to Laguna and Valley of Principe [or S. Patricio, S1. w. N. w. from Sta Catarina]. Mar. 18th. [4] ]. N. and N. N. W. to Valle de S. José [33° 46'] on a fine stream. Mar. 19th. 6 [5]]. N. w. to Laguna de S. Antonio de Bucareli. Mar. 20th. 5 1. N. W. and 2. 5 1. W. N. w. to Rio Sta Ana. Mar. 21st. 7 1. W. N. W. to Arroyo de Osos [or Alisos]. Mar. 22d. To S. Gabriel [10 ]. w. and 5 1. W. N. w. from S. Antonio]. See also, in chap. xii. of this volume, the account of Anza's second trip.
" On March 24th Anza was godfather to a child baptized by P. Diaz. S. Gabriel Lib. Mis., MS., 7.
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RECORD OF EVENTS.
been intended to do, in showing the practicability of the new route.8
President Serra sailed from San Blas January 24th in the new transport9 Santiago or Nueva Galicia, built expressly for the California service, commanded by Juan Perez, and laden with supplies for San Carlos, San Antonio, and San Luis. Serra was accompanied by Pablo Mugártegui, a new missionary; and the San- tiago also brought to California Juan Soler, the store- keeper for Monterey, a surgeon José Dávila with his family, three blacksmiths and families, and three car- penters. After a comparatively prosperous voyage the vessel anchored in San Diego Bay the 13th of March.10 It had been the intention to go direct to Monterey, but an accident caused a change of plan, and fortunately, for Serra by landing a small portion of the cargo was enabled to relicve the pressing need of the southern missions. He had quite enough of the sea, and besides was anxious to visit the friars; therefore he went up by land, starting on April 6th, having an interview with Captain Anza on the way, and reaching Monterey on the 11th of May after an absence of nearly two years. On account of ill-health Mugártegui also landed and remained at San Diego, Amurrio taking his place on the Santiago, which sailed on the same day that Serra started, and anchored at Monterey two days before the president's arrival the 9th of May.11
8 Mofras, Explor., i. 282, mentions this expedition, giving the date of starting incorrectly as Sept. 1773. See also brief account in Velasco, Sonora, 150; Id., in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, x. 704.
" She is called both fragata and corveta.
10 According to Perez, Relacion, they reached the Santa Bárbara Islands on March 6th. The northern group are named from west to east Santa Rosa (San Miguel), Santa Margarita (Santa Rosa), Santa Cruz (still so called), and Santo Tomás (Anacapa). Thence they sailed southward between the coast and San Clemente, reaching San Diego March 10th (another copy makes it March 11 th), sailing April 5th, and arriving at Monterey May Sth. Palou, Vida, 153- 62, gives the latter date as May 9th.
11 Palou, Not., i. 606-8; Id., Vida, 156-61; Serra, in Bandini Doc. Hist. Cal., MS., 1.
225
RIVERA SUCCEEDS FAGES.
We left Rivera y Moncada at Loreto in March with fifty-one persons, soldiers and their families, re- cruited in Sinaloa for his new command.12 Lieutenant Ortega was in the south at Santa Ana, with other families, whom he was ordered to bring up to Velicatá to join the rest, and was to remain in command of the camp until supplies and animals for the northern journey could be sent back. Rivera then started northward by land and reached Monterey on the 23d of May. Respecting the details of his march and the number of men he took with him nothing is known; but he left all the families and some of the new sol- diers at Velicatá. On the 25th he assumed the duties of his new office in place of Pedro Fages,13 who pre- pared, as ordered by the viceroy, to go south with his company of Catalan volunteers.14 The first oppor- tunity to sail was by the San Antonio, which, leaving San Blas in March under Cañizares as master, had arrived on June 8th, this being the first trip ever made direct to Monterey without touching at San Diego.
The feeling between Rivera and Fages was by no means friendly, the former having considered himself aggrieved by Galvez' act in preferring the latter at the beginning notwithstanding the disparity of rank, and a second time by Portolá's choice of a commander in 1770. Triumphant at last, he was not disposed to adopt a conciliatory policy toward his vanquished rival, whom, without any unnecessary expenditure of courteous phrases, he ordered to prepare his accounts
12 March 20th, Rivera writes to the viceroy from Loreto that he has arrived from Sinaloa and will proceed by land to San Diego and join Anza. Arch. Santa Bárbara, MS., xi. 378-9; but as we have seen he was too late to mcet Anza.
13 The viceroy, on Jan. 2, 1775, acknowledges receipt of Rivera's letter of June 14th, stating that he had taken possession of the command on May 25th. Prov. St. Pap., MS,, i. 168. Palon, Not., i. 609-13, makes the date May 24th. May 4, 1771, Fages was made a captain. Id., i. 74.
14 In addition to the general instructions to Rivera and Fages already noticed, there was a special order of the viceroy dated Sept. 30, 1774, for Fages with his volunteers and all of the cuera company not expressly ordered to remain to be sent to San Blas by the first vessel. St. Pup., Miss. and Colon., MS., i. 313.
HIST. CAL., VOL. I. 15
226
RECORD OF EVENTS.
and get ready to sail on the San Antonio, taking with him all his men except ten who were to be retained. until the new force arrived from the peninsula. Fages, thongh of course obliged to obey the viceroy's orders, was not the man to quit the country without making a show of independence and an effort for the last word. A caustic correspondence followed, little of which is extant, but in which Rivera with the vantage- ground of his superior authority by no means carried off all the honors. Fages claimed the right to embark from San Diego, wishing to obtain certain receipts from padres and corporals at the several missions. Rivera replies, "The viceroy does not order me to allow the volunteers and you to embark at San Diego, but simply by the first vessel. His excellency knows very well that this presidio is the capital where you reside; therefore, this is the place he speaks of, and from this place you must sail." Whereupon Don Pedro, as he might have done before, showed a per- mit from the viceroy to sail from San Diego, of later date than the commander's instructions; and Rivera was forced to yield.
Again Fages announced that he had some animals set apart for his own use which he proposed to take away with him to San Diego, and, after Rivera's prompt refusal to allow any such outrageous use of the king's property, proceeded to prove that the mules were his own. Then he pleaded for more time to arrange his accounts, which could not be completed before the sailing of the San Antonio; but after getting an insolent permission to wait for the Santiago, he decided to start at once and leave the accounts to a clerk. Having gathered thus much from Rivera's own letters, it is hard to resist the conclusion that if Fages' letters were extant they would show the writer, with perfect sang froid, if not always with dignity, engaged in a deliberate epistolary effort to annoy his exultant and pompous rival. If this was not the case, all the more discreditable to himself was the tone
227
NORTH-COAST EXPLORATIONS.
adopted in Rivera's communications.15 The San Antonio sailed from Monterey on July 7th, with thirteen of the volunteers, and with Rafael Pedro y Gil the new store-keeper for San Diego. Fages started by land with two soldiers on the 19th and sailed on the 4th of August from San Diego. We shall hear again from this gallant officer. Fathers Prestamero and Usson also sailed for San Blas on the San Antonio, being forced to retire by ill-health.
Perez in the Santiago was meanwhile engaged in another important service, that of exploring in the far north. There still existed among Spanish author- ities a fear of Russian encroachments on the Pacific coast, or at least a spirit of curiosity to know what the Russians were doing. Bucareli had orders from the king to give this matter his attention as soon as it might be convenient.16 It is said to have been Serra who first suggested that the California trans- port might be advantageously used for purposes of geographical discovery, and opening up a new field for spiritual conquest. He also urged that no man was better fitted to take charge of the enterprise than his friend and compatriot Juan Perez, who had been the first in these later times to reach both San Diego and Monterey. Perez was accordingly instructed, after landing the supplies at Monterey, to explore the northern coast up to 60°, with a view to discover harbors and to make such observations respecting the country and its inhabitants as might be practicable. The expense was borne by the king.
It was the intention that Mugártegui should go as chaplain, but in case of his illness Serra had been requested17 to name a substitute, and appointed Crespí and Peña to act as chaplains and to keep diaries of
15 Rivera y Moncada, Testimonio de diligencias en la toma de posesion del mando, 1774, MS., consisting of two letters dated June 21st and 22d.
16 Revilla-Gigedo, Informe de 12 de Abril 1793, 117-19.
17 Bucareli's letter of Dec. 24, 1773, in Prov. St. Pap., MS., i. 137-8.
228
RECORD OF EVENTS.
the voyage, as they did, both journals being still extant. The surgeon Dávila went along, the vessel's surgeon, Costan, remaining temporarily at Monterey. June 6th everything being ready at Monterey the padres went on board, and next day the Santiago attempted to sail, but was prevented by contrary winds. On the 8th the arrival of the San Antonio from San Blas, already noted, caused a new delay. Two days later solemn mass for the success of the expedition was said under the old oak that had wit- nessed the rite in 1602 and 1770, and on the 11th, just before noon, the vessel sailed from the bay. Adverse winds still baffled the navigators, driving them southward, so that for seventeen days they did not get above the latitude of Monterey, being driven back and forward along the coast between that lati- · tude and that of the Santa Bárbara Islands. On the 9th July, when they were again able to make obser- vations, they were in latitude 45°, beyond the limits of the modern California of which I now write. The details of the voyage in northern waters, during which the Spaniards reached a latitude of 55°, making some observations and naming some points along the coast, dealing with the natives, who came off in canoes, but not landing, belong to another volume of this series, in which I shall narrate the annals of more northern lands. 18
Reëntering California waters on the return trip the 17th of August, they sighted on the 22d what was supposed to be Cape Mendocino in latitude 40°, on the 26th they saw the Farallones, and next day at 4 P. M. anchored at Monterey. The prevalence of fogs had prevented exploration of the Californian coast, beyond a mere glimpse of Mendocino and the F'arallones. It is to be noticed that in speaking of the latter islands as a landmark for San Francisco the diarists clearly locate that port under Point
18 For a full account of this voyage, with references to the original diaries, see Ilist. Northwest Coast, i. 130-S.
229
MOVING OF SAN DIEGO.
Reyes, and speak of the other bay discovered five years before as the grande estero, not yet named.19
Two important events in California must be added to the record of 1774 before I call attention to certain other events on the peninsula and in Mexico nearly affecting the interests of the New Establishments. One was the moving of San Diego Mission in the extreme south in August; the other an exploration of San Francisco Bay in the extreme north at the close of the year. The site on which the mission at San Diego had been originally founded, and the pre- sidio a little later, had not proved a desirable one for agricultural purposes since the drying-up of the river; and in fact for several years seed had been sown for the most part at an inconvenient distance. The first proposition toward a change of site came early in 1773 from Fages, who favored a removal of the ranchería containing all the neophytes as well as many gentiles from the vicinity of the stockade, for the reason that the huts would give the natives an advantage in hos- tile operations. This was not exactly a removal of the mission, since it does not appear that the friars were to accompany their neophytes; the fear of danger was deemed unfounded and even absurd; and, moreover, the measure was recommended by a man whose approval was enough to condemn any measure in Serra's eyes. Consequently he opposed the change most strenuously in his report to the viceroy.20
Jaume, the minister, however, addressed a letter in April 1773 to the president, in which he favored a removal of the mission. Experience had clearly shown, he thought, that want of water would always prove a drawback to prosperity at the original site; it
19 Crespí in his Diario makes a long and confusing argument to prove that the furaliones seen at this time were not those seen in 1769, the former being 50 leagues from Pt Reyes, and the latter much nearer. The reason of the friar's confusion is not clear. The authorities on this voyage are: Crespi, Diario; Peña, Diario, MS .; Perez, Relacion, MS .; and Perez, Tabla Diario, MS.
20 Serra, Repres. 21 de Mayo, 1773, MS.
230
RECORD OF EVENTS.
was always better for a mission to be a little re- moved from presidio influences; and he had a report from the natives confirmed by a soldier, of a very favorable site some six or seven leagues distant across the sierra.21 The matter having been referred to the viceroy he authorized Rivera to make a change if it should seem expedient to himself and to Serra.22 Of the subsequent consultations and explorations which doubtless took place we have no record; but the change was decided upon and effected in August 1774. The new site was not the one which Jaume had in mind, but a nearer one called by the natives Nipaguay,23 about two leagues up the valley north- eastward from Cosoy, and probably identical or nearly so with that of the later buildings whose ruins are still visible some six miles from the city and port. We have no account of the ceremonies by which the transfer was celebrated, nor do we know its exact date; but both friars and neophytes were pleased with the change, and worked with a will, so that by the end of the year the mission buildings were better than at Cosoy, including a dwelling, storehouse, and smithy of adobes, and a wooden church with roof of tules, measuring eighteen by fifty-seven feet. At the old site all the buildings were given up to the presidio, except two rooms, one for the use of visiting friars and the other for the reception and temporary storage of mission supplies coming by sea.24 Nothing further is known of San Diego events during the year, except that Ortega came up from below with the remaining
21 Jaume's letter of April 3d (or 30th), in Mayer MSS., No. 18, pp. 4, 5. 22 Bucareli, Instruccion de 17 de Agosto 1773, MS.
23 San Diego de Nipaguay-that is, San Diego at Nipaguay-was a com- mon name for the mission afterwards. Serra called it so in his second annual report.
2+ Serra, Informe de 5 Feb. 1775, MS., 124-7. An unfinished church built four or five feet above the foundations, with adobes all made ready to finish it, was also delivered. In a letter of October 3d the commandant of the pre- sidio says he was uncertain whether to accept the building, for how was it to be finished ? Prov. St. Pap., MS., i. 156-7. Lasuen in his report of 1783 says the new site was but little better than the old so far as fertility was con- cerned. Lasuen, Informe de 1783, MS .; see also Serra, in San Diego, Lib. de Mision, MS., 3, 4.
231
EXPLORATIONS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
force and families recruited by Rivera in Sinaloa, arriving at San Diego on September 26th, and de- spatching a part of the company to Monterey on the 3d of October. The new troops gave Ortega some trouble by their tumultuous conduct, complaining of the quantity and quality of the food.25
The occupation of the port of San Francisco and the founding of a mission there, though a matter still kept in abeyance, was one by no means forgotten, and one often mentioned in communications passing between Mexico and Monterey. Portolá and Crespí when they had almost reached the port in 1769, had, as we have seen, discovered a large bay before entirely unknown, and had explored to some extent its western shore. Galvez and the viceroy on hearing of Portolá's near approach to San Francisco had ordered the cap- tain of the San Antonio, when she brought ten new friars to California in 1771, in case she should reach San Francisco first, to leave there two of the padres and all that was required for an immediate foundation, under a temporary guard of sailors;26 but the vessel touched first at Monterey and Saint Francis was obliged to wait. In 1772 Fages and Crespí had again attempted to reach San Francisco by passing round the newly discovered bay, thus exploring the eastern shore, although prevented from accomplishing their main object by a great river which they could not cross. 27
In his instructions of August 17, 1773, Bucareli had ordered Rivera to make additional explorations of San Francisco, and with the approval of Serra to found a mission there. 28 Before either Rivera or his instructions reached California, however, Palou in his first annual report spoke of the proposed mission of San Francisco "in his own port supposed to be in
25 Ortega to Rivera, in Prov. St. Pap., MS., i. 154-6.
26 Palou, Vida, 88-9.
27 See Chap. viii. of this volume.
28 St. Pap., Miss. and Colon., MS., i. 333.
232
RECORD OF EVENTS.
the Ensenada of the Farallones toward Point Reyes," of the attempt recently made to arrive there, of the obstacles in the way, and of the determination that had been formed. This determination was to explore the country northward from Monterey, and to estab- lish the proposed mission wherever a suitable place could be found, since it could not be exactly known where the port was until explorations were made by sea; and later, if the port were found on the other side of the new bay, another mission might be estab- lished there.29 It must be borne in mind that the name of San Francisco had not yet been applied to the newly found body of water, although the latter was by some vaguely supposed to be connected with the port so long known; neither had the bay been explored as yet with boats so that it might be known whether it contained a 'port' at all; or if so, in what part of the broad expanse the harbor was to be found.
In obedience to the viceroy's orders,30 and with a view, perhaps, to test the necessity or expediency of Palou's plan, a new exploration was undertaken by Rivera as soon as his new recruits arrived at Monte- rey, which was early in November. He took with him sixteen soldiers, two servants, and a mule train laden with supplies for a journey of forty days. Palou accompanied him, by order of the president, to perform a chaplain's duty and keep a diary.31 Setting out on November 23d the party followed Fages' route of 1772, via what are now Hollister and Gilroy, until, on entering the grand valley about the bay, they bore to the left instead of to the right as Fages had done, and on the 28th encamped at the very spot where Rivera had spent four days in 1769, that is, on what is now San Francisquito Creek below Searsville.32 The
29 Palou, Not., ii. 32.
30 These orders had, it seems, been repeated in a letter dated May 25, 1774, and directed to Palou.
31 Palou, Espedicion y Registro que se hizo de las cercanías del puerto de Nues- tro Seráfico Padre San Francisco, in Id., Not., ii. 43-92.
32 As distances are not given in this diary it is of little or no help in fixing exact locations. The party was now about one league from the shore, about a
233
UP THE BEACH TO THE CLIFF.
natives were hospitable and not so shy as they had been along the way. This seemed a fitting place for a mission, and a cross was erected as a sign of the Spaniards' purpose to locate San Francisco here. I suppose that from this circumstance originated the name San Francisquito later applied to the stream.
Next day the explorers started on north-westward, soon crossing the low hills into the cañada that had been followed in 1769, to which, or to a locality in which, they now gave the name Cañada de San Andrés which it still bears. Rancherias were numerous, and the natives uniformly well disposed. On the 30th they left the glen, climbed some high land, and en- camped on a lagoon in the hills, not improbably that now known as Laguna de San Bruno. From a lofty hill Rivera and Palou obtained a view of the bay and valley to the south-eastward, but could not see the outlet, on account of another hill intervening. Decem- ber 1st Rivera with four soldiers climbed that hill and on his return said he had been very near the outlet, which could be conveniently reached from the camp by following the ocean beach. Delayed for a few days by cold, rainy weather, they started again on the fourth, proceeded north over low hills and across cañadas, in three of which was running water, and encamped before noon on a stream which flowed into a large lake stretching toward the beach, known later as Laguna de la Merced.
Taking with him four soldiers and accompanied also by Palou, Rivera continued north-westward over hill and vale into the sand dunes and down to the beach, at a point near where the Ocean Side House later stood. Thence he followed the beach, as so many thousands have done since in conveyances somewhat more modern and elegant than those of the gallant captain and friar, until stopped by the
day's journey from the end of the peninsula, and in 37° 46' by their own reck- oning. That they were below Searsville is shown by the fact that on starting north-west they at first crossed a plain.
234
RECORD OF EVENTS.
steep slope of a lofty hill, in sight of some pointed rocks near the shore, this being the first visit to the Seal Rocks since famous, and to the site of the mod- ern 'Cliff.' They climbed the hill and gazed around on what was and is still to be seen, and described by Palou as it might be described now, except in the matter of artificial changes. A cross was set up on the summit, and the explorers returned by the way they had come to their camp on Lake Merced after an absence of only four hours.
It was now resolved to postpone the exploration of the Rio de San Francisco, the San Joaquin, until after the rainy season, and to return to Monterey by the shore route of 1769. Three hours' journey south- ward, over grassy hills, brought them on the 5th into the old trail, by which, having crossed the San Lo- renzo and Pájaro rivers on the 11th, they arrived at the presidio the 13th of December.33 On the trip Palou had found six sites which he deemed suitable for missions. These were, in the valley of San Pas- cual near the modern Hollister, in the 'plain of the great estuary' where the cross was left on San Fran- cisquito Creek, in the vale of San Pedro Regalado and that of San Pedro Alcántara between Spanish Town and Pescadero, on the River San Lorenzo at Santa Cruz, and on the River Pájaro at Watsonville. " God grant that in my day I may see them occupied by missions, and in them assembled all the gentiles who inhabit their vicinities, and that none of the lat- ter die without holy baptism, to the end that the number of the children of God and of his holy church be increased, and also of the vassals of our
33 The lack of distances in this diary renders it of little use in fixing exact localities, although the route is somewhat more fully described in several respects than in the diary of the former expedition. The fact that three hours' journey southward from the head of Lake Merced brought Rivera into the old trail confirms my former conclusion-see chap. vi .- that the first ex- pedition crossed from Pt San Pedro rather than from Half Moon Bay. Now the travellers visited a lagoon in the hills near the shore, about a league above Pt Angel-probably Laguna Alta.
235
TROUBLE IN LOWER CALIFORNIA.
catholic monarch," adds the good padre in closing his journal.34
When Palou left the peninsula in the summer of 1773, he left Campa and Sanchez at Loreto to attend to the forwarding of certain cattle from the old mis- sions, which had been assigned to the new ones, but which he had been unable to obtain on account of the never ending excuses of Governor Barri and President Mora, who, however, had agreed to settle the matter definitely in October of the same year. Nothing being done, excuses following excuses, and there being some evidence that the recalcitrant governor was causing delay in the hope of breaking up the whole arrange- ment by communications with the viceroy, Campa wrote Palou how he was situated, and sailed on April 5, 1774, for Mexico to consult the guardian, Sanches start- ing about the same time to join Cambon at Velicatá. In Mexico Campa made but little progress. Some cattle and horses purchased for the missions the viceroy had already ordered to be sent up, as they were early in 1775; but the Dominicans had convinced him, as was probably true, that their missions had no cattle to spare, and, therefore, stock for California must be sought elsewhere.35
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