USA > California > Monterey County > History of Monterey County, California : with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, farms, residences, public buildings, factories, hotels, business houses, schools, churches, and mines : with biiographical sketches of prominent citizens > Part 3
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THE MISSION OF SAN ANTONIO."
1771 .- This mission was founded by Padre Junipero Serra, July 14, 1771, and 'is situated about twelve leagues south of Soledad, in Monterey county, on the border of an inland streamt upon which it has conferred its name. The buildings were inclosed in a square, twelve hundred feet on each side, and walled with adlobes. Its lands were forty-eight leagues in cir- cumferenee, including seven farins, with a convenient house and chapel attached to each. The stream was conducted in paved trenches twenty miles for purposes of irrigation; large erops rewarded the husbandry of the padres. In 1822 this mission owned fi. ty-two thousand eight hundred head of cattle, eighteen hundred tame horses, three thousand mares, five hundred yoke of working oxen, six hundred mules, forty-eight thousand sheep and one thousand swine. The climate here is cold in winter and intensely hot in summer. This mission on its seen- larization fell into the hands of an allministrator who neglected its l'arms, drove off' its enttle, and left its poor Indians to starve. -Walter Colton's There Yours in California.
The mission grapes were very sweet; wine and aguanliente were made from them in early days, aml the grapes were brought to Monterey for sale. The vineyard and garden walls
. So extended flatary of these ininslots will to formand In the "History of Monitores
S.F.
RESIDENCE OF SENATOR
W. J. HILL. SALINAS
CITY. CAL.
2.1809.
.2
17
DESCRIPTION OF THE FIRST MISSIONS.
are now gone, and the cattle have destroyed the vines; many of the buildings are down, and the tiles have been removedl to roof houses on some of the adjoining ranches. The church is still in good repair. There was formerly a good grist-mill at the mission, but that also, like the mission, is a thing of the past .- Pioncer M. S.
THE MISSION OF SOLEDAD .*
1791 .- Mission Soledad was founded October 9, 1791, and is situated fifteen leagues south-west of Monterey on the left bank of the Salinas river, in a fertile plain known by the name of the " Llano del Rey." The priest was an indefatigable agri- enlturist. To obviate the summer drought, he constructed, |
from Monterey-founded 1794. Its lands swept the broad interval and adjacent hills. In 1820 it owned forty-three thousand eight hundred and seventy head of cattle, one thou- sand three hundred and sixty tame horses, four thousand eight
VIEW OF MISSION BUILDINGS AT SAN JUAN.
through the labor of his Indians, an aqueduct extending fifteen ' hundred and seventy mares, colts and fillies. It had seven miles, by which he could water twenty thousand acres.
IMMENSE BANDS OF CATTLE.
In 1826 the mission owned about thirty-six thousand head of cattle, and a greater number of horses and mares than any other mission in the country.
So great was the reproduction of these animals that they were not only given away but also driven in bands into the bay of Monterey in order to preservo the pasturage for the cattle. It had about seventy thousand sheep and three hundred yoke of tame oxen. In 1819 the major-domo of this mission gathered three thousand four hundred bushels of wheat from thirty-eight bushels sown. Its secularization has been followed by decay and ruin .- Walter Colton.
The mission possessed a fine orchard of a thousand trees, but very few were left in 1849. There was also a vineyard about six miles from the mission in a gorge of the mountains.
MISSION OF SAN JUAN BAUTISTA .*
1794 .- This mission looms over a rich valley ten leagues
' An extendedl history of these missions will be found in the " History of Monterey County."
sheep farms, containing sixty-nine thousand five hundred and thirty sheep; while the Indians attached to the mission drove three hundred and twenty-one yoke of working oxen. Its store-house contained $75,000 in goods and $20,000 in specie.
REIGN OF DESOLATION AT SAN JUAN.
This mission was secularized in 1834; its cattle slaughtered for the hides and tallow, its sheep left to the wolves, its horses taken by the dandies, its Indians left to hunt acorns, while the wind sighs over the grave of its last padre .- Walter Colton.
DESCRIPTION OF THE MISSIONS.
The missions wero usually quadrilateral buildings, two stories high, enclosing a court-yard ornamented with fountains and trees. The whole consisting of the church, father's apart- meuts, store-houses, barracks, etc. The quadrilateral sides were each about six hundred feet in length, one of which was partly occupied by the church.
And so they hegin their work, surrounded by beautiful sconery, but in seclusion and loneliness. They lived undor
DESCRIPTION OF MISSION CHURCHES.
the shadow of the hills. The sun rose bright and the air was mild, as now, and the music of the surf, and the roar of the ocean in times of storm-these things must have been as familiar to them as they are now to us.
But there must have been something of sublimity about them when all around was in a condition of nature, that we miss in our more artificial life.
They go about their work. They get together the Indians as soon as possible, to communicate with them. They teach them some rude approach to the arts of civilized life. They teach the men to use tools, and the women to weave.
BUILDING MISSION CHURCHES.
Time passes away and we find them with a great work on their hands. It is nothing less than the building of a church. We think that to be no small undertaking even now, with all our facilities. But it is not easy for us to imagine what it was to them, with nothing hut hand labor; and that of a very rude sort.
But they set ahout it. They make adohes. They ent down the trees. They hew out the timber. By some means they get it up to the spot. No small undertaking that as we can see now by examining those very beams, in what remains of those old churches.
Nor did the hewing lack in skill and accuracy, as you can also see, and the solid adobe walls, you can measure them, and you will find them to be five feet thick. It took often several years to build a church. And so life at the mission began in earnest. Other buildings were erected as they came to be needed.
MISSION DAILY LIFE.
The daily routine at all the missions was very much alike, and was about as follows :-
They rose at sunrise and proceeded to the church, to attend morning prayers. Breakfast followed. Then the day's work.
Towards noon tbey returned to the mission and passed the time till two o'clock in the afternoon, between dinner and repose.
After that hour they resumed work and continued it till ahout sunset. Then all betook themselves to the church for evening devotions, and then to supper.
After supper came amusements till the hour for retiring.
Their diet consisted of heef and mutton with vegetables in the season. Wheaten cakes and puddings or porridge, called atole and pinole, formed a portion of the repast.
The dress was for the males, linen shirt, trousers, and a blanket. The women had each two undergarments a year, a gown and a blanket.
What a dreamy secluded life it must have been, with commu- nication with the ouler world only at intervals,
BEECHEY'S DESCRIPTION OF MISSION CONVERTS.
Captain Beechey, in 1826, visited the missions and says ;---
" If any of the captured Indians show a repugnance to con- version, it is the practice to imprison them for a few days, and then allow them to breathe a little fresh air in a walk around the missions, to observe the happy mode of life of their con- verted countrymen; after which they are again shut up, and thus continue incarcerated until they leclare their readiness to renounce the religion of their fathers."
" In the isles and passages of the church, zealous beadles of the converted race are stationed armed with sundry weapons of potent influence in ettecting silence and attention, and which are not sparingly nsed on the refractory. These consist of sticks and whips, loug goads, etc., and they are not idle in the hands of the officials."
"Sometimes, they break their honds and escape into their original haunts. When brought back to the mission he is always flogged and then has an iron elog attached to one of his legs, which has the etfeet of preventing his running away and marking him out in terrorem to others." Notwithstand- ing this dark picture, it must not be imagined that life was one of much hardship, or that they even thought so.
FIRST INDIAN BAPTISM AT MONTEREY.
1770 .- Of those who came oftenest among them at San Diego, was an Indian about fifteen years of age, and was at last induced to eat whatever was given him without fear. Father Junipero had a desire to teach him, and after understanding a little of the language he desired him to try and bring some little one for baptism. He was told to tell the parents that by allowing a little water to be put on the head, the child would become a son of God, be clothed and become equal to the Spaniards, He returned with several Indians, one of whom brought the ehill for baptism. Full of joy the child was elothed and the veuer- able priest ordered the soldiers to attend this first baptist. The ceremony proceeded, and as the water was about to be pourel the Indians suddenly snatched away the child and made off in great haste, leaving the father in amazement, with the water in his hands unused.
It was not, however, until the 20th of December. 1770, that the first baptism of the Indians was celebrated at Monterey. which turned out better than the first attempt at San Diego. But at the end of three years only one hundred and seventy- five were baptized, showing that the Indians received civiliza- tion slowly.
MISSION OF SAN FRANCISCO.
1776,-On September 17, 1776, the presidio and mission of San Francisco were founded, on what was then the extreme boundary of California, the former in a manner being a front-
DECLINE OF THE VARIOUS MISSIONS.
ier commandl, having a jurisdiction which extended to the farthest limits northward of Spanish discovery.
In its early day the whole military foree in Upper California did not number more than from two to three hundred men, divided between the four presidios of San Diego, Santa Bar- bara, Monterey, and San Francisco, while there were bnt two towns or pueblos, Los Angeles and San Jose.
When Junipero Serra and his band of missionaries entered Upper California from the lower territory, they brought with them a number of horses, mules, and cattle, wherewith to stock the proposed missions. These were duly distributed, and in time asses, shecp, goats, and swine were added.
RICH MEN OF 1793.
1793 .- Au inventory of the rich men of the presidio of San .
Fraueisco, bearing date 1793, was discovered some years since, show- ing that the entire number of stoek owned by fourteen wealthy Spaniards, was one hundred and fifteen cattle, two hundred and nincty-eight sheep and seventeen mares.
These are the men who laid the fouuda- tion of these immense hordes of cattle which were wont to roam about the entire State, and who were the fathers of those whom we now term native Californians.
As year succeeded year so did their stock increase.
They received traets of land " almost for the asking."
VAST BANDS OF WILD CATTLE.
Vast banıls of cattle roamed about at will over the plains and among the mountains. Ouce a year these had to be driven in and rodeod, i. e. branded, a work of considerable danger, and one requiring much nerve. The occasion of rodeoing, how- ever, was the signal for a feast; a large beeve would be slangh- tered, and all would make merry until it was consumed, The rule or law coneerning branded cattle in those early days was very strict.
If any one was known to have branded his neighbor's cattle with his own mark, common usage called upon him to return in kind fourfold.
Not only did this apply to cattle alone, but to all other kinds of live stock.
recourse to the rich California missions for plunder.
In 1813, when the contest for national independence was being waged on Mexican territory, Spaiu resolveil upon dis- pensing with the services of the fathers, by placing the mis- sions in the hands of the secular clergy. The professed object of this seenlarization scheme was, indeed, the welfare of the Iudians and colouists; but how little this accorded with the real intentions of the Government, is seen from the seventh section of the ileerce passed by the cortes, wherein it is stated that one-half of the land was to be hypothecated for the pay- ment of the national debt. This decree of the Goverumeut was not carried out at the time, yot it had its effect on the state and well-being of the missions in general.
In 1803 one of the missions had become the scene of a revolt; and earlier still, as we learn from an unpublished correspon- denco of the fathers, it was not unusual for some of the converts to abamlon the missions and return to their former wandering life. It was customary on those occasions to pursue the desert- ers, aml compol them to return.
Each successive rev- olution in Mexico had
MISSION CHURCH AND BUILDINGS AT SONOMA,
TABLE OF THE UPPER CALIFORNIAN MISSIONS.
NO.
DATE UY ESTANI- L1811MENT.
Buy of San Diegu,
1
San Diego de Meala.
.Inly 16, 1780
, Subsequently removed from Monterey
San Carlos ile Monterey
June 3, 1710
¿ to the Cormel river,
3
San Antonto de Padua
July 14, 1111
( Rancho La Merced, , leven mics east-
erly from Los Angeles, soul re-
San Gabriel de las Temhilares
Sepet'r 8, 1171
moved to present location, nine miniles cost of the city.
San Luis Obispo
On Sm Francisco Bay.
1}
San Francisco (Dulores).
Oct'r 0, 1110
J About midway between Los Angeles
1
San Juan Capistrano
Nov'r 1, 1170
t and San Diega.
$
Santa Clara
g
San Buenaventura
10
Santa Barbara
Dec'r 8, 1781
(in the Santa Inex river.
בין
Santa Cruz
Oct'r 0, 1701
On tho Salinas river, Monterey county.
13
La Soledad .
une 11, 1701
On the San Juan river, San Benito co.
16
San Miguel
17
San Fernando Rey
Sept'r 8, 1797
Twenty miles N. W. Trom Los Angeles.
18
San Luis Rey de Francia
June 13, 170%
1 Thirteen and a half leagues from San Diega.
10
Santa Inez
Sept'r 17, 18/14
Twelve leagues from Santa Barbara.
40
Son Rafuel . . .
Dee'r 14, 1810
Aug't 45, 1823
North id San Francisco Bay, Marin co. Sonoing, Sunvina county.
San Francisco de Solano
DECLINE OF THE MIS-
SIONS.
1813 .- The extinc- tion of the missions was dlecreed by act of the Spanish Cortez in 1813, and again in 1828; also, by the Mexican Congress in 1833. Year after year they were despoiled of their property, until their final overthrow in 1845.
1-1 1 Nan ilosc ...
15 San Juan Bautista.
lune 44, 1701
On the Salinas river, Muntercy cmmuts.
July 25, 1791
Where town of Santa Clara naw stand4. South- east of : 11 near Fanta Barbaru. On the Santa Barbara channel.
La Purissima Conception
Aug't 28, 1TO1
Where town of Santa Cruz now stands,
Where the city of San .lose now 19.
Jan'y 18, 1777
March 31, 1782 Dec'r 4, 1756
I& leagues I'm San Miguel, Monterey co.
At present town of Son Luis Obispo.
Sept'r 1, 1112
LOCATION.
20
SECULARIZATION OF THE MISSIONS.
REIGN OF DISORDER BEGINS.
1826 .- In 1826 instructions were forwarded by the federal government to the authorities of California for the liberation of the Indians. This was followed a few years later by another act of the Legislature, ordering the whole of the missions to be secularized and the religious to withdraw. The ostensible objeet assigned by the authors of this measure, was the execu- tion of the original plan formed by the Government. The missions, it was alleged, were never intended to be permanent establishments.
Meantime, the internal state of the missions was becoming more and more complex and disordered. The desertions were more frequent and numerous, the hostility of the unconverted more daring, and the general disposition of the people inelined to revolt. American traders and freebooters had entered the country, spread themselves all over the province, and sowed the seeds of discord and revolt among the inhabitants. Many of the more reckless and evil minded readily listened to their suggestions, adopted their counsels, and broke out into open hostilities.
TABLE SHOWING POPULATION OF THE MISSIONS IN YEAR 1802. MOSTLY CHRISTIANIZED INDIANS .*
DATE OF FOUNDING.
NAME OF MISSION.
SALES
FEMALES.
TOTAL.
1769
San Diego.
737
822
1559
1798
San Luis Rey de Francia
25G
27G
532
1776
San Juan Capistrano.
502
511
1013
1771
San Gabriel
532
515
1047
1797
San Fernando .
317
297
614
1782
San Buenaventura.
436
502
938
178G
Santa Barbara
521
572
1093
1787
La Purissima Conception
457
571
1028
1772
San Luis Obispo. .
374
325
G99
1797
San Miguel
309
305
014
1791
Soledad
296
267
563
1771
San Antonio de Padua.
568
484
1052
1770
San Carlos de Monterey
37G
312
688
1797
San Juan Bautista
530
428
958
1794
Santa Cruz.
238
199
437
1777
Santa Clara
736
355
1991
1797
San Jose
327
295
622
177G
San Francisco
433
381
814
1804
Santa Inez
1817
San Rafael Archangel.
. . .
1823
San Francisco de Solano
. .
Totals
7945
7617
15562
ATTACK ON MONTEREY MISSION.
Their hostile attack was first direeted against the mission of Santa Cruz, which they captured and plundered, when they directed their course to Monterey, and, in comnon with their American friends, attacked and phindered that place. From
these aud other like occurrences, it was clear that the condition of the missions was one of the greatest peril. The spirit of discord had spread among the people, hostility to the authority of the fathers had become common, while desertion from the villages was of frequent and almost constant occurrenee.
SECULARIZATION OF THE MISSIONS.
1833 .- The Mexican Congress passed a bill to sceularize the missions in Upper and Lower California, August 17, 1833. This took away from the friars the control of the mission prop- erty, placing it in charge of administrators; it gave the eivil officers predominanee over the priestly class. The President of the Republic issued his instructions to Governor Figueroa, of California, who in turn, August 9, 1834, issued a decree that in August, 1835, ten of the missions would be converted into pueblos or towns.
A portion of the mission property was divided among the resident Indians, and the decree for the liberation of the Indian> was put in force. The dispersion and demoralization of the people was the immediate result. Released from all restraint, the Indians provedl idle, shiftless, aml dissipated, wholly incap- able of sell'-control, and a nuisance both to themselves and to every one with whom they came in contact. Within eight years after the execution of the decree, the number of Chris- tians diminished from thirty thousand six hundred and fifty to four thousand four hundred and fifty :
DESCRIPTION OF THE MISSIONS.
At the end of sixty-five years, Hon. John W. Dwinelle tell- us, in Centennial Memoirs, page S!, that the missionaries of Upper California found themselves in possession of twenty-oue prosperous missions, plauted upon a line of about seven hun- drel miles, running from San Diego north to the latitude of Sonoma. More than thirty thousand Indian converts were lodgeil in the mission buildings, receiving religious culture. assisting at divine worship, and cheerfully performing their casy tasks. Over seven hundred thousand cattle of various species, pastured upon the plains, as well as sixty thousand horses. One hundred and twenty thousand bushels of wheat were raised annually, which, with maize, beans, peas, aud the like, made up an annual erop of one hundred and eighty thon- sand bushels ; while, according to the climate, the different missions rivaled each other in the production of wine. brands. sonp, leather, hides, wool, oil, cotton, hemp, linen, tobacco, sale and soita.
ANNUAL REVENUE RECEIVED.
Of two lundred thousand horned cattle anumnally slaughtered. the missions furnished nbont one-half, whose hides, hoofs, horns nul tallow were sold at a net result of about ten dollars cach, making a million dollars from that sonrer alone; while the other
In 1972, when Hmmbullt slasted culflurau, ho esthunted the whole juquilathou of the
hut be'n; uubidie's wore rutdered beneath the mothy of renaldo flug,
PROPERTY OF MRS A.M.CULLMAN.
CENTRAL AVENUE SALINAS CALIFORNIA,
0
"MOORLAND COTTAGE " RES. OF MRS. A.M.CULLMAN SALINAS, MONTEREY CO. CAL,
٤
21
REIGN OF DESTRUCTION AND DESOLATION.
articles, of which no definite statistics can be obtained, doubt- less reached an equal value, making a total production by the missions themselves of two million dollars. Gardens, vineyards, and orchards surrounded all the missions, except the three northernmost-Dolores, San Rafael, and San Francisco Solano -the elimate of the first being too inhospitable for that pur- pose, and the two latter, born near the advent of the Mexican revolution, being stifled in their infaney.
The other missions, according to their latitude, were orna- mented and enriched with plantations of palm trees, bananas' oranges and figs, with orchards of European fruits; and with vast and fertile vineyards, whose products were equally valu- able for sale and exchange, and for the diet and comfort of the inhabitants of the missions. Aside from these valuable proper- tics, and from the mission buildings, the live stock of the missions, valued at their current rates, amounted to three million dollars of the most active capital, bringing enormous annual returns upon its aggregate value, and, owing to the great fertility of animals in California, more than repairing its annual waste by slaughter.
TABLE SHOWING NUMBER OF MISSION INDIANS BETWEEN 1802 AND 1822.
NASIK OF MINHIS.
HAITIZED.
MARRIKD,
DIRI.
EXISTING.
San Diego. .
5,452
1,460
3,186
1,696
San Luis Rey
4,024
922
1,507
2,663
San Juan Capistrano ..
3,879
1,026
2,531
1,032
Santa Catarina. .
6,906
1,638
4,635
1,593
San Fernando ..
2,519
709
1,505
1,001
San Gabriel .
3,608
973!
2,608
973
Santa Barbara.
4,917
1,288
3,224
1,010
San Buenaventura.
1,195
330
896
582
3,100
919
2,173
764
Purissima Conception
2,562
715
1,954
467
San Luis Obispo
2,205
632
1,336
926
San Miguel.
4,119
1,037
317
834
San Antonio dle Padua
1,932
58+
1,333
5332
San Carlos. ..
3,267
912
2,432
341
San Juan Bautista.
3,270
823
1,853
1,229
Santa Cruz
7,32+
2,056|
6,565
1,394
Santa Clara
4,573
1,376
2.933
1,620
San Jose . .
6,804
2,050
5,202
958
San Rafael
829
24+
183
830
Totals
74,62] 20,412 47,925 20,958
RAPID DECLINE OF CONVERTS.
. It will thus be observed that out of the seventy-four thousand - six hundred and twenty-one converts received into the mis- sions, the large number of forty-seven thousand nine hun- dred and twenty-five had succumbed to discase. Of what nature was this plague it is hard to establish; the missionaries themselves could assign no cause, In all probability, by a suchilen change in their lives from a free, wandering existence, to a state of settled quietude.
TABLE EXPLAINING THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE ADMINISTRA- TOUX OF THE MISSIONS BY THE FATHERS 1X 1834 AND THAT OF THE CIVIL AUTHORITIES IN 1842.
NAMES OF THE MISSIONS.
1842.
1834.
1812
183+
1:42
1831.
1449.
1834.
San Diego ..
2,500
12,000
1,800
100| 17,000
200, 13,1100
San Louis Rey .. ..
1,100
100 51, 000
500 1,900
150
10,000
2200
10,000
San Juan Capistrano
40,000 3,560
90,000
San Gabriel
2,000
8.000
Shu Fernando.
400
8,000
San Buenaventur
1,200
400
5,0001 1,800
1,200
150
5,000
400
3,000
Sunta Barbora
12, 1MXI
4,000
1,500
Santo Inez ..
300
14,1XX)
3,5001
La Parissima Conception
1,2311
30
1,000
IF
2,500
10,000
400
2,500
San Miguel.
150
12,000)
2,00H
1,00
14,4H00)
2,000
3,000
San Antonio ..
100
0,000
1,000
1,000
0,500 1,500
Mission del Carmel ..
1,450
80
11,000
3,2001
9,000
0,500
Santa Cruz
1,800
300
13,000: 1,500
1,21KK
2311
15,000 3,000
61,000
Santa Clara
2,300
4TH0
2,400
5,001
1.101
200
1:1, 000'
200
2,600
Dulares de Sal Fralleisen. . .
500
50
5,000
3
500
4,0 10
13.000
San Francisco Solano.
1,300
3,000
700
Totuls
31),650 4,450 300,400 29,020 82 11M1 5,820 321, 600 31,600 123,000
COLONIZATION PARTY.
1834,-During the year 1834, one Jose Maria Hijar was dis- patehed from Mexico with a colonization party, bound for Upper California. The ship touched at San Diego, and here a portion of the party disembarked. The remainder proceedeil to Monterey, and, a storm arising, their ship was wrecked upon the beach. Hijar now presented his credentials, and was aston- ished to find that a messenger overland from Mexico hail already arrived, bringing news of Santa Ana's revolution, together with dispatches from the new president revoking his (Hijar's) appointment; and continuing Figneroa in office.
In the bitter discussion that followed, it came out that Hijar had been authorized to pay for his ship, the Natalia, * in mis- sion tallow; that the colonists were organized into a company, duly authorized to take charge of the missions, squeeze out of them the requisite capital, and control the business of the terri- tory. The plan had miscarried by a chance, but it showed the missionaries what they had to expect.
With the energy born of despair, eager at any cost to ontwit those who sought to profit by their ruin, the mission fathers hastened to destroy that, which through more than half a een- tury, thousands of human beings had spent their lives to accumulate.
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