History of Santa Barbara county, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 6

Author: Mason, Jesse D; Thompson & West. 4n
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Cal., Thompson & West
Number of Pages: 758

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slaughtered annually, their hides and tallow produe- ing a revenue of nearly a million of dollars, a revenue of equal magnitude being derived from other articles of export. There were rich and extensive gardens and orchards attached to the missions, ornamented and enriched with a variety of European and tropical fruit trees, including bananas, oranges, olives, and figs, to which were added productive and highly cultivated vineyards, rivaling the richest grape-fields of Europe. When the missions were secularized and ruined by the Mexican Government, there were above a hundred thousand piasters in the treasury of San Gabriel.

CHAPTER V. PRIMITIVE AGRICULTURE.

Extent of the Mission Lands-Varieties of Product-Agricul- tural Implements and Means of Working-A Primitive Mill-Immense Herds and Value of Cattle-The First Native Shop.

Up to the time of the American conquest, the pro- ductive lands of California were chiefly in the hands of the missionaries. Each of the missions included about fifteen miles square, and the boundaries were generally equi-distant. As the science of agricul- ture was then in a very primitive condition in Spain, the monks of California could not be expected to know much about scientific farming. They knew nothing about the utility of fallows, or the alter- nation of crops, and their only mode of renovating exhausted soil, was to let it lie idle and under the dominion of native weeds, until it was thought capa- ble of bearing erops again. Land being so abun- dant, there was no occasion for laborious or expen- sive processes of recuperation.

The grains mostly cultivated were Indian corn, wheat, barley, and a small bean called frijol, which was in general use throughout Spanish America. The beans, when ripe, were fried in lard, and much esteemed by all ranks of people. Indian corn was the bread staple, and was cultivated in rows or drills. The plow used was a very primitive affair. It was composed of two pieces of wood; the main piece, formed from a crooked limb of a tree of the proper shape, constituting both sole and handle. It had no mould-board, or other means for turning a furrow, and was only capable of scratching the surface of the ground. A small share, fitted to the point of the sole, was the only iron about the implement. The other piece was a long beans, like the tongue of a wagon, reaching to the yoke of the cattle by which the plow was drawn. It consisted of a rough sap- ling, with the bark taken off, fixed into the main piece, and connected by a small upright on which it was to slide up or down, and was fixed in position by two wedges. When the plowman desired to plow deep, the forward end of the tongue was lowered, and in this manner the depth of the furrow was reg- ulated. This beam passed between the two oxen, a

pin was put through the end projecting from the yoke, and then the agricultural machine was ready to run. The plowman walked on one side, holding the one handle or stilt with his right hand, and managing the oxen with the other. The yoke was placed on the top of the eattle's head close behind the horns, tied firmly to the roots and to the forchead by thongs, so that, instead of drawing by the shoulders and neck, the oxen dragged the plow by their horns and foreheads. When so harnessed the poor beasts were in a very deplorable condition; they could not move their heads up, down, or sidewise, went with their noses turned up, and every jolt of the plow knocked them about, and seemed to give them great pain. Only an ancient Spaniard could devise such a con- trivance for animal torture. When Alexander Forbes suggested to an old Spaniard that perhaps it might be better to yoke the oxen by the neck and shoul- ders, " What!" said the old man, "can you suppose that Spain, which has always been known as the mother of the sciences, can be mistaken on that point ?"

The oxen were yoked to the carts in the same manner, having to bear the weight of the load on the top of their heads, the most disadvantageous mechanical point of the whole body. The ox-cart was composed of a bottom frame of clumsy construc- tion, with a few upright bars connected by smaller ones at the top. When used for carrying grain, it was lined with eanes or bulrushes. The pole was large, and tied to the yoke in the same manner as with the plow, so that every jerk of the cart was torture to the oxen. The wheels had no spokes, and were composed of three pieces of timber, the middle piece hewn out of a log, of sufficient size to form the nave and middle of the wheel, all in one; the middle piece was of a length equal to the diameter of the wheel, and rounded at the ends to ares of the cir- cumference. The other two pieces were of timber naturally bent, and joined to the sides of the middle piece by keys of wood grooved into the ends of the pieces which formed the wheel. The whole was then made circular, and did not contain a particle of iron, not even so much as a nail.

From the rude construction of the plow, which was incapable of turning a furrow, the ground was imperfectly broken by scratching over, crossing, and re-crossing several times; and although four or five erossings were sometimes given to a field, it was found impossible to eradicate the weeds. "It was no uncommon thing," says Forbes, in 1835, "to see, on some of the large maize estates in Mexico, as many as 200 plows at work together. As the plows are equal on both sides, the plowmen have only to begin at one side of the field and follow one another up and down, as many as can be employed together without interfering in turning round at the end, which they do in succession, like ships tacking in a line of battle, and so proceed down the same side as they come up."

HISTORY OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY.

Harrows were unknown, the wheat and barley being brushed in by a branch of a tree. Sometimes a heavy log was drawn over the field, on the plan of a roller, save that it did not roll, but was dragged so as to carry a part of the soil over the seeds. Indian corn was planted in furrows or ruts drawn ahout five feet apart, the seed being deposited by hand, from three to five grains in a place, which were slightly covered by the foot, no hoes being used. The sowing of maize, as well as all other grains, in Upper California, commenced in Novem- ber, as near as possible to the beginning of the rainy season. The harvest was in July and Angust. Wheat was sown broadcast, and in 1835 it was con- sidered equal in quality to that produced at the Cape of Good Hope, and had begun to attract atten- tion in Europe. All kinds of grain were threshed at harvest time, without stacking. In 1831, the whole amount of grain raised in Upper California, accord- ing to the mission records, was 46,202 fanegas-the fanega being equal to 2} English bushels. Wheat and barley were then worth two dollars the fanega; maize, a dollar and a half; the crop of that year at the several missions being worth some $86,000.

The mills for grinding grain consisted of an up- right axle, to the lower end of which was fixed a horizontal water-wheel under the building, and to the upper end a millstone. As there was no inter- mediate machinery to increase the velocity of the stone, it could make only the same number of revo- lutions as the water-wheel, so that the work of grinding a grist was necessarily a process of time. The water-wheel was fearfully and wonderfully made. Forbes described it as a set of cucharas, or gigantic spoons, set around its periphery in place of floats. They were made of strong pieces of timber, in the shape of spoons, with the handles inserted in mortises in the outer surface of the wheel, the bowl of the spoons toward the water, which impinged upon them with nearly its whole velocity. Rude as the contrivance was, it was exceedingly powerful- a sort of primitive turbine. There were only three of these improved mills in the country in 1835, and the possession of such a rare piece of machinery was no small boast for the simple-hearted fathers, so far away from the progressive mechanical world. It was not a primitive California invention, however, as Sir Walter Scott, in his romance of "The Pirate," describes a similar apparatus formerly in use in the Shetland Islands .*

Before the advent of foreigners, neither potatoes nor green vegetables were cultivated as articles of food. Hemp was raised to some extent, and flax grew well, but its culture was discontinued for want of machinery for manufacture. Pasturage was the principal pursuit in all Spanish colonies in America. The immense tracts of wild land afforded unlimited

ranges. But few men and little labor were required, and the pastoral state was the most congenial to the people. The herds were very large; in the four jurisdictions of San Francisco, Monterey, Santa Bar- bara, and San Diego, there were, in 1836, 300,000 black cattle, 32,000 horses, 28,000 mules, and 153,000 sheep. Great numbers of horses ran wild, and these were hunted and killed to prevent their eating the grass. There was hardly such a thing as butter or cheese in use, butter being, in general, an abomina- tion to a Spaniard.

In the earlier times immense droves of young bulls were sent to Mexico for beef. The cattle being half wild, it was necessary to catch them with a lasso, a process which need not here be described. The pro- cess of milking the cows was peculiar. They first let the calf suck for a while, when the dairyman stole up on the other side, and while the calf was still sucking procured a little of the milk. They had an idea that the cow would not " give down" milk if the calf was taken away from her. The sheep were of a bad breed, with coarse wool; and swine received little attention. The amount of the annual exports in the first few years after the open- ing of the ports to foreign vessels, was estimated at 30,000 hides and 7,000 quintals of tallow, with small cargoes of wheat, wine, raisins, olives, etc., sent to the Russian settlements and San Blas. Hides were worth $2.00 each, and tallow $8.00 per quintal. Afterwards the exportation of hides and tallow was greatly increased, and it is said that after the fathers had become convinced that they would have to give up the mission lands to the Government, they caused the slaughter of 100,000 cattle in a single year for their hides and tallow alone. And who could blame them ? The cattle were theirs. Notwithstanding all this immense revenue, these enthusiasts gave it all to the church and themselves went away in penury, and, as has been related heretofore, one of them actually starved to death.

In 1836 the value of a fat ox or bull in Upper California was $5.00; a cow, 85.00; a saddle-horse, $10.00; a mare, 85.00; a sheep, $2.00; and a mule, $10.00.

The first ship ever constructed on the eastern shores of the Pacific was built by the Jesnit father, Ugarte, at Loreto, in 1719. Being in want of a vessel to survey the coast of the peninsula, and there being none available nearer than New Spain or the Philippine Islands, the enterprising friar determined to build one. After traveling 200 miles through the mountains, suitable timber was at last found in a marshy country; but how to get it to the coast was the great question. This was considered impossible by all but the stubborn old friar. When the party returned to Loreto, Father Ugarte's ship in the mountains became a ghostly joke among his brother friars. But, not to be beaten and laughed down, Ugarte made the necessary preparations, returned to the mountains, felled the timber, dragged it 200

"This form of water-wheel was common in the Eastern States during the earlier part of this century, and was known as the tub or spur wheel. Even tbe mounting of the millstones was in the manner described. - EDITOR.

SPANISH MISSIONS.

miles to the coast, and built a handsome ship, which he appropriately named The Triumph of the Cross. The first voyage of this historic vessel was to La Paz, 200 miles south of Loreto, where a mission was to be founded.

CHAPTER VI. SPANISH MISSIONS.

Missions of Santa Barbara County-Santa Barbara Mission- Naming the Mission-Life of the Sauta Birbara Vital Sta- tistics-San Buenaventura Mission-Mission La Purissima Concepcion-Destruction of the Mission-New Purissima- Santa Ynez Mission-The Insurrection.

IT is said that the Franciscan friars had a good practical knowledge of the value of land, the benefits arising from a favorable climate, and the methods of cultivating the soil so as to accomplish the greatest results in agriculture. They not only believed in converting the soul to Christianity, but the body as well; hence, they took into account all the pecul- iarities of climate and soil, which has since made Santa Barbara so famous. The valleys of Santa Clara and Ventura, with their streams of pure, cold water, which abounded with trout, the wide, grassy plains of the Santa Maria, Lumpoc, San Julian, Los Alimos, Santa Rita, Jonata, and other places, all sug- gested to the practical fathers the wealth which they have since realized for their owners. And we have seen that soon after the policy of establishing mis- sions was adopted, the missions of San Buenaventura, Santa Barbara, Lumpoc, Purissima, and Santa Ynez were the centers of vast grain-fields, and the homes of immense herds of cattle, horses, sheep, and hogs. The palm, orange, lemon, olive, fig, grape, and other fruits were planted in great abundance. The fount- ains of clear water, bursting and spouting among the shrubbery and fruit-laden trees, gave the Indian a more exalted idea of the value of civilization than any sermon or homily, and the stores of grain and meat formed a strong inducement to forego the pre- carious freedom and starvation of the mountains and adopt the religion of the friars.

SANTA BARBARA MISSION.

This mission was founded December 4, 1786. An- tonio Paterna and Christoval Oramar were the first priests in charge. The first church was built not far from the present center of the town. near the old presidio walls. It was of bowlders laid in mortar. a part of the arch over the main entrance still stand- ing. After the new church, or present mission build- ing, was erected, the old church was used for a school house, until it became unsafe. Here under the favorable circumstances-a mild climate and a fertile soil-the mission grew in wealth and popula- tion.

In 1802 Humboldt, who was visiting the city of Mexico, examined the return of the Missions of Alta California, and expressed much astonishment at the

amount of cattle and other stock which had accumu- Inted in twenty years, especially as a large number of Indians had to be fed from the yearly productions.

In 1812 the mission fed 1,300 people, had 4,000 head of cattle, 8,000 sheep, 250 swine, 1,332 horses, and 142 mules. Productions for the year, 3,853 bushels of wheat, 400 corn. 126 barley, twenty-six of beans. The earthquake of December, 1811. injured the church very much, as it did all the others in the county, and necessitated the rebuilding of it in a more substantial form. Work was commenced on the present site within two years from the famous años temblores and went slowly forward until the church was dedicated in 1822. There were but few skilled persons to teach the Indians to cut stone, burn brick and lime, or to make mortar, but the priests by an immense energy succeeded in teaching the Indians to work. Lime rock was found up the canon. Timber for the roof was hanled from the mountains forty miles away. A road had to be constructed, the remains of which are still visible. The timbers were first hewn and then dragged along the ground. The timbers recently removed from the church roof show by the scarred lines the hard usage incident to the peculiar method of hauling. The Mission Canon furnished a very good sandstone, resembling granite, which could be easily split and hewn to the proper shape. Ilun- dreds of Indians were engaged at this work alone. Tools necessary for the work, except a few axes and carpenters' tools, had to be fashioned out of iron such as ships could bring, and consequently black- smithing had to be taught to the wondering and simple natives. Brick was moulded and burned to line the aqueduct, which was to supply water from the cañon, also to form the mouldings and arches of the towers. Adobe honses were constructed for the Indians who had families. The Indians were assured that this was to be their home; that the houses, vine- yards, orchards, fields of grain, herds of cattle, sheep, and horses were theirs. There were many tribes of Indians who had not only to be reconciled to the work, but to each other. It seems that the names of forty different tribes of Indians were left by Cabrillo. Those living near the Patera were called Geleie, and were probably descendants of the Aztec races, as they were whiter than the others. The chief's name was Waha. The Cahuillas lived in Bartlett Canon. Those living in and around the Mission Canon were called Janaya. The Lumpocs, Pirus, and Mupus were neighboring tribes. All these conflicting elements had to be harmonized as well as eivilized. The work was in the charge of Fathers Rapoli and Victoria. The latter is said to have been a man of varied learning and accomplishments, architecture being a favorite study with him. He is held in great vener- ation by some of the older citizens of Santa Barbara, who recollect him well. Both of them must have been able and devoted men to have accomplished so innch with so poor material. Venegas, one of the early explorers says of them that-

HISTORY OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY.

"Nowhere on the globe could be found a nation so stupid and of such contracted ideas, so weak in body and mind, as the unhappy Californians. Their char- acteristics are stupidity and insensibility, want of knowledge and reflection, inconstancy, impetuosity, and blindness of appetite, an excessive sloth, and ab- horrence of fatigue of every kind however trifling, iu fine, a most wretched want of everything which makes the real man, which makes him rational, in- ventive, tractable, and useful to himself and society."

The mission building, with its walls, was reared however; the statues of the saints were set in their places. The neophytes were taught to bow before the cross. The unmarried girls and children were gathered into the nunnery, and taught to clothe themselves, and to card, spin, and weave the fabrics of which the clothing was to be made. The water was turned into the fountains through the long aque- duct, which had, with immense labor, been dug and lined with brick. The aqueduct, with its lining of brick, and the stone dam, laid in mortar and faced with brick, though sixty years old, are in a good state of preservation. The stream, in its course, was made to turn a mill, and thus relieve the aching wrists of the squaws of the labor of pounding corn, or rubbing the corn and wheat. The mill, though an insignificant affair, was a wonder to the simple natives, who ascribed more than human wisdom to the fathers, who could plan such a wondrous ma- chine. Olives, pears, apples, and other fruits were planted, and the machinery of the mission established to convert the heathen to a knowledge of the truth, set in motion.

NAMING THE MISSION.

Every mission is named after a saint, and as Santa Barbara has become famous throughout the world on account of the beautiful place named in honor of her beauty and virtues, a short history of the re- nowned lady will be acceptable to our readers. The following, written for the Santa Barbara Press by Father O'Keefe, of the mission, may be considered authentic.

" SANTA BARBARA.

" The life of our saint is very obscure. All we have to rely upon is a collection of documents on the au- thority of Barronius, a truly learned man, and a librarian of the Vatican, but there is some doubt re- garding the exact time of her birth, and a few minor incidents. Yet, following Barronius and what we have been able to glean from a few ancient docu- ments, Santa Barbara, virgin and martyr, was born in the city of Necomedia, the capital of ancient Bithy- nia (now Askimid, a small town in Asia), on or about the beginning of the third century. Her father was Dioscorus, a rich man, of most noble birth, and a most obstinate idolator. Barbara was his only child. She was endowed with extraordinary beauty, and gifted with surprising intelligence, a noble soul, and a most singular prudence. Dioscorus was extremely fond of his only daughter, Barbara, and wishing to retain all her affection, he resolved to separate her from the intercourse and society of men. To this end he ordered apartments to be fitted up in a very high tower, where he placed her with a number of

servants, and gave her, as masters and instructors, a few old men of great wisdom and learning, for he discovered in her talent of a superior order, and wished her to cultivate it. From one of her instruc- tors she learned of the Christian, Origen, who was considered one of the most learned men of the age. She found means to communicate with, was instructed in the mysteries of faith, and finally baptized, by him. Having embraced Christianity, she desired to follow the maxims and counsels of the gospels, as a rule of her life, and renounce all the enchantments and van- ities of the world. She considered chastity a most sublime virtue, and wishing to preserve herself pure and spotless, she resolved to dedicate herself to the service of her Lord Jesus Christ, by a life of soli- tude and the practice of religion. Her father, how- ever, had ideas far different, and at a proper time spoke to her about a matrimonial union he desired her to contract with a distinguished person, but Bar- bara despised this union, and spoke so resolutely against it, that her father said no more to her on the subject for the time being, and, as he had to leave home for some time, he believed he would find her, on his return, favorable to his plans for her welfare. On his return he went to the tower to see his daughter, embraced her tenderly, and asked her if she had changed ber resolution. Our saint answered very sweetly: 'Dear father, the love I bear you will not allow me to separate myself from you, and so leave your home for a husband. You are now old, dear father, so please permit me to take care of you in your old age.' Barbara was just verging on her nineteenth year, and her father, overcome by her obliging answer and request, resolved she should leave her tower and take care of his house, believing that by mingling more in society, she would eventu- ally change her ideas. She obeyed her father in this, however much she regretted to leave her solitude. On entering her father's house, she found it filled with idols, for Dioscorus was a most superstitious pagan. Then she, full of indignation, asked her father, 'Of what use are these ridiculous puppets in the house?' Her father, enraged, asked her if she did not know they were gods, and therefore entitled to respect? To which the saint answered, ' Is it pos- sible, dear father, that a man of sound judgment can call these works of hands gods? No. my dear father, there is but one only God, omniscient and all- powerful Creator and Sovereign, Lord of the uni- verse, and the only Judge of all men. This God, the only one worthy of respect and veneration, is the God of the Christians.' Dioscorus then, to in- timidate her, gave her up to be punished as a Chris- tian, but the Judge, finding that she could not be induced to believe in idols and deny her faith as a Christian, ordered her to be beheaded. As soon as the sentence was passed, it is said that her father solicited, as a favor, the privilege of being her execu- tioner; but immediately upon committing the deed, he was struck dead. She suffered martyrdom at Nicomedia, in the reign of Maximinus I., who raised the sixth general persecution after the murder of Alexander Severus, in the year 325. Our lovely saint is honored with particular devotion in the Latin, Greek, Muscovite, and Syriac calenders. Her feast is celebrated on the fourth day of December."

The following items, concerning the old mission, are taken from Farnham's " Travels in California," a work written forty years ago. Farnham was here in the interest of the prisoners who were arrested by

RESIDENCE OF RUSSEL HEATH, CARPENTERIA, SANTA BARBARA CO. CAL.

SPANISH MISSIONS.

Alvarado in 1840, on a charge of conspiracy to over- turn his government, of which more will be related in its proper place.

" There is an old Catholic mission one mile and three-quarters above the town, called El Mission de Santa Barbara. The church itself is a stone edifice, with two towers on the end toward the town, and high gable between them. The friars complimented Father Time by painting on the latter something in the shape of a clock-dial. In the towers are hung a number of rich-toned bells, which were imported from Spain nearly 100 years ago. The roof is cov- ered with burnt-clay tiles laid in cement. The resi- dence of the padres, also built of stone, forms a wing towards the sea. The prisons* form another towards the highlands. Hard by are elnsters of Indian huts, constructed of adobes and tiles, standing in rows, with streets between them."

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History of Santa Barbara county, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 6

Author: Mason, Jesse D; Thompson & West. 4n Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Oakland, Cal., Thompson & West Number of Pages: 758

Author: Mason, Jesse D; Thompson & West. 4n
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Cal., Thompson & West
Number of Pages: 758