Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850, Part 4

Author: Fariss & Smith, San Francisco
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: San Francisco, Fariss & Smith
Number of Pages: 710

USA > California > Lassen County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 4
USA > California > Plumas County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 4
USA > California > Sierra County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 4

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Upon the arrival of the San Antonio two other expeditions set out, one by sea and one by land, in search of Monterey harbor, the land force in charge of Governor Portala. The party by sea was ac- companied by Father President Junipero, who writes of that voyage and its results as follows :-

" MY DEAREST FRIEND AND SIR-On the thirty-first day of May, by the favor of God, after a rather painful voyage of a month and a half, this packet, San Antonio, arrived and anchored in this horrible port of Monterey, which is unaltered in any degree from what it was when visited by the ex- pedition of Don Sebastian Viscaino, in the year 1603."

He goes on to state that he found the governor awaiting him, having reached the place eight days earlier. He then describes the manner of taking possession of the land for the crown on the third day of August. This ceremony was attended by salutes from the battery on board ship and discharges of musketry by the soldiers, until the Indians in the vicinity were so thoroughly frightened at the noise as to cause a stampede among them for the interior, from whence they were afterward enticed with difficulty. The interesting account closes with the following, to us, strange words: "We proceed to-morrow to celebrate the feast and make the procession of 'Corpus Christi' (though in a very poor way) in order to scare away whatever little devils there possibly may be in this land."

What a lamentable failure in the good father's pious design, possibly due to the poor way in which it was done. The nineteenth century has demonstrated that those little fellows have grown amazingly, and multiplied beyond belief in California since that time.

After the establishment of this second mission, called San Carlos, which soon afterward was moved to

the river Carmelo, a third, the San Antonio de Padua, was contemplated and finally located July 14, 1771, about thirty-five miles south of Soledad, on the Antonio river, and about twenty-five miles from the coast. At this mission occurred the first instance of irrigation in California. In 1780, when the wheat was in full bloom, there came so severe a frost that it " became as dry and withered as if it had been stubble left in the field in the month of August." This was a great misfortune, for the padres as well as the converts depended upon this crop for food. The priests caused a ditch to be at once constructed and water thus turned upon the field. This gave new life to the roots, young shoots sprang up and a bountiful harvest, the largest ever known to them, was gathered. The priest called it a miracle, the Indians believed it to be one, and the consequence was a second harvest for the church, one of converts this time, as the result of the first irrigation attempted in our state. Possibly it is irrigation that the Christian churches stand in need of among us now.

The mission of San Gabriel was founded soon after that of San Antonio, the ceremony of establish- ment being performed on the following eighth of September. The point selected was about eight miles north of Los Angeles. Another miracle was supposed to have been worked at the founding of this mission. In fact, those old padres, pious souls, seemed to believe that everything out of the ordinary everyday occurrences was necessarily of supernatural origin, either from God or the devil. When they unfurled their banner at San Gabriel before an assembled host of yelling Indians, whom they were afraid were about to attack them, the astonished natives beheld the picture of the Virgin Mary that was painted upon it, mistook it for a pretty woman, and, probably thinking it was time to put on some style, ceased their undignified howling, and running up before the vision of loveliness, threw down their beads at the base of the banner, as an offering of their respect. They then, like sensible Indians, brought something for the pretty woman to eat. We see nothing miraculous in this. The average Californian in our time will give up a row, put on his good behavior, and cast offerings at the feet of female loveliness, if it happens around when he is on the warpath.

In the meantime, Governor Portala had returned to Mexico, bearer of the welcome intelligence that Monterey had been rediscovered, that a much finer bay had also been found farther north, that they had named it after St. Francis, and that three missions had been established in the new land. Upon the receipt of the news the excitement in Mexico was intense. Guns were fired, bells were rung, congratu- latory speeches were made, and all New Spain was happy, because of the final success of the long struggle of their country to get a footing north of the peninsula. After the establishment of the San Gabriel mission the events that transpired for a time were those incidental to the retention of what had already been acquired, and the preparation for possessing more.

In September, 1772, the mission of San Luis Obispo was established between Los Angeles and Monterey, and then the father president returned to Mexico. He procured over twelve thousand dollars worth of supplies, and returned by sea, accompanied by several new missionaries and some soldiers, and arrived at San Diego March 13, 1773, to find his people on the verge of starvation, living upon milk, roots and herbs. Before leaving Mexico he had divided his party, sending the soldiers under command of Capt. Juan Bautista Anza. They were to go by way of Sonora and the Gila and Colorado rivers, to open a route by land, that communication with the home government might not in future depend wholly upon the hitherto treacherous sea. Upon the success in establishing this overland route to Monterey depended the founding of the missions of San Francisco and Santa Clara, that Father Juni- pero so much desired. The company arrived safely about the same time as did the division by sea, being the first, the pioneer overland journey from Mexico to California, and the descendants of the captain of the expedition are still to be found as residents of this state.

During the same month of March, a party under guidance of Father Crespi, going overland from

Monterey, passed through where Santa Clara now stands, up along the east side of the bay, finally arriv- ing on the thirtieth of the month, where Antioch now is. Thus they became the first of civilized men to look upon the stream that forty-six years after was named San Joaquin.

In 1774, Captain Anza returned to Mexico, to report the successful establishment of the route to Monterey, intending to come back as soon as possible with the necessary means to establish the northern missions.

There was, in 1774, another occurrence that it will not do to pass silently by, as it brings into strong relief the contrast between first intentions and the final acts of the Catholic clergy in their spiritual conquest of the natives. The mission of San Diego was attacked, on the night of the fourth of Novem- ber, 1774, by a large and well organized body of Indians, numbering about one thousand. They had been incited to hostilities by the representation of two apostate converts from one of the tribes, who, fleeing to the interior, gave their people far and wide to understand that the missionaries contemplated using force in their efforts to subject the Indians to an adoption of the white man's religion. The battle was stubbornly contested by the tribes ; but they were beaten off with severe loss, after having killed three of the whites, one of whom was a priest, and wounded the balance of the defenders. This was the last attempt to destroy the missions. Palou, in his account of this affair, says that the Indians were in- cited to the act by the devil, who used the two apostate converts as the means, causing them to tell false- hoods to their people in representing " that the fathers intended to put an end to the gentiles by making them become Christians by force."

Although the proposition of force in conversion seems to have been (according to Father Palou, who was the priest that afterwards had charge of the San Francisco mission) the devil's suggestion, it was afterwards practiced by the fathers.

A notable instance of this kind occurred in 1826, when a party was sent up into the country along the San Joaquin river to capture some subjects for conversion. They met with defeat at the hands of a tribe under the leadership of a chief called Estanislao, whose rancheria was where Knight's Ferry now is. The Spanish lost three soldiers killed and several wounded in this battle ; and returning, a new ex- pedition was fitted out, including all the available force of the garrison (presidio) of San Francisco, the San Francisco, San Jose and Santa Clara missions. The Estanislao country was again invaded, and the result was a defeat and severe chastisement of the Indians, with a loss of one soldier killed by the ex- plosion of his musket. They succeeded in carrying off, for the good of their souls, some forty-four captives, most of whom were women and children.

The two battles gave the Spaniards a wholesome fear of the up-country tribes, and they named the river where these battles were fought the Stanislaus, after the chief Estanislao, whose tribe lived upon its banks. The Indian name for that stream was La-kish-um-na. The prisoners were taken to the missions and summarily transformed into Christians in the following way. We quote from Captain Beechey, who says :-

" I happened to visit the mission about this time and saw these unfortunate beings under tuition. They were clothed in blankets and arraigned in a row before a blind Indian, who understood their dialect, and was assisted by an alcalde to keep order. Their tutor began by desiring them to kneel, informing them that he was going to teach them the names of the persons composing the Trinity, and that they were to repeat in Spanish what he dictated. The neophytes being thus arranged, the speaker began : ' Santissima, Trinidada, Dios, Jesu, Christo, Espiritu, Santo,' pausing between cach name to listen if the simple Indians, who had never spoken a Spanish word before, pronounced it correctly or anything near the mark. After they had repeated these names satisfactorily, their blind tutor, after a pause, added ' Santos,' and recapitulated the names of a great many saints, which finished the morning's tuition.

If, as not unfrequently happens, any of the captured Indians show a repugnance to conversion, it is the practice to imprison them for a few days, and then to allow them to breathe a little fresh air in a walk around the mission, to observe the happy mode of life of their converted countrymen ; after which they are again shut up and thus continue incarcerated until they declare their readiness to renounce the religion of their forefathers."

In 1769, those zealous, truly Christian fathers came among those people to bring heathen by love and kindness to the foot of the cross, erected as an emblem of God's love for humanity. In 1826, only fifty-seven years later, the successors of those missionaries marched that same people as captives to the foot of that cross, and forced them to do homage to the emblem of their slavery.

Father Junipero, as a precautionary measure, in anticipation of the early return of Captain Anza, dispatched the packet San Carlos to see if the bay of San Francisco could be entered from the ocean; a feat that the little craft accomplished in June, 1775. She was a small vessel, not to exceed two hundred tons burden, this pioneer of the fleets that have since anchored in that harbor. In that memorable June, while the waters of our great bay of the Pacific were being first awakened to their future destiny, away to the east where the sun rises, where the Atlantic waves kiss the shores of America, a Washington was taking command of the Continental army, and a people were calling through the battle smoke of Bunker Hill for liberty.

The San Carlos returned to Monterey with the report of her entrance into the harbor and succeeding discoveries, including that of the bay of San Pablo, "into which emptied the great river of our Father St. Francis, which was fed by five other rivers, all of them copious streams, flowing through a plain so wide that it was bounded only by the horizon." Rather a luminous description of the Sacramento river and valley.

The time had come so much desired by Father Junipero, when the mission could be extended to the great bay in the north. Captain Anza had returned from Mexico with all that was required for the purpose. The preparatory expeditions by land and sea had returned with the necessary imformation as to the country, its character, and geography, so that plans could be formed with assurance of precision in execution. Consequently, on the seventh of June, 1776, the father president started from Monterey overland for the harbor at the northern frontier. A packet boat was dispatched at the same time, laden with necessaries for the enterprise. On the twenty-seventh of June the land party arrived at what is now known as Washerwoman's bay, on the north beach of San Francisco. On the eighteenth of August the packet arrived, and on the seventeenth of September the presidio was located. An expedition to spy out the land was at once dispatched. It was as usual divided into two divisions, one to go by water and the other by land. The rendezvous was to have been Point San Pablo, but the land party entered the mountains east of the bay and soon found themselves on the banks of the San Joaquin river, and failed to connect. On the tenth of October the mission was founded at San Francisco. After this came the San Juan Capistrano, and then Santa Clara. With the founding of the latter ended the establishing of missions by that faithful Christian missionary, Father Junipero Serro.1 He died near Monterey in 1782, after having planted in the garden of the west for future generations the seeds of civilization that should, like the little seeds mentioned in holy writ, grow to become "a great tree, " under whose shadowy

Į The justly-praised indefatigable missionary-priest, who founded the first nine missions in Alta California, died in that of San Carlos del Carmels, at the age of 69 years. His baptismal name, "Junipero," is identical with the Latin word Juniperus, the definition of which is " Arbor est crescens in desertis, cujus umbrum serpentis fuguint, et ideo in umbra ajus homines secure dormiunt." (Juniper is a tree that grows in the desert, the shade of which is shunned by serpents, but under which men sleep in safety.

branches should gather in future time the unborn millions that would forget the zealous old pioneer of the cross, whose life had been a sacrifice, forgotten in time to be remembered in eternity.

It is not our intention to give a history in full of the California missions, for that in itself would fill a volume; and having placed before the reader the first and most important events, the balance will be passed with brief mention. Within the forty-six years that succceded the first settlement at San Francisco, there were established in California twelve other missions, making twenty-one in all, which, in accordance with the plan of Spain, were located along the coast, making a chain of occupied territory that would serve to keep off foreign settlement. The situations selected were of course made with reference to the soil, as upon its productions maintenance must eventually depend. Where the boundary limits of one ended another began, so that the coast was all owned by the missions from La Paz on the peninsula to San Francisco. The interior was the great storehouse from which to gather, in the beginning, proselytes to the Catholic faith-in the end, slaves to work their plantations.

North of the bay the Russians interfered with the general plan, by establishing a settlement in 1812, in what is now Sonoma county. This was followed by an attempt, on the part of the padres, to surround the invaders by a cordon of missions, and, in pursuance of the plan, San Rafael, in 1817, and San Francisco de Solano, in 1823, were established; but further efforts in this line were cut short by the "march of human events." The time had come when the system, instead of being an aid, was an impediment to the elevation of the human race, and it was forced to give way. Then commenced its decline, followed soon by its passage from the stage of action.

The number of converted Indians, in 1802, given by Humboldt, was 7,945 males and 7,617 females, making a total of 15,562. The other inhabitants, being estimated at 1,300, not including wild Indians, making the total population of California at that time 16,862: The term "wild Indians" was applied to such as were not reduced to control by the padres.

CHAPTER IV.

Downfall of the Missions.

Beginning of the End-What Weakened their Power-Their Mode of Dealing Injures the Natives, and is not Just to their own Race-The First Blow-Secularization Ordered-The "Pious Fund "-An Opposition Party Springs up-The Handwriting on the Wall-The Final Struggle-A Colony that Fails to Get the Goose that Laid the Golden Egg-Wreck of the Brig at Monterey that Carried Napoleon from Exile-The Priests Destroy what they have Built Up-The "Father of his Country "-The End, when they are Sold at Auction-The Last Missionary -The Final Result Achieved-A Table that is a History in itself.

The cloud, no larger than a man's hand, commenced to gather over the missions in 1824, when Mexico became a republic, having declared her independence from Spain two years before. The spirit that resulted in making of Mexico a free country, was one calculated to lessen the force of traditions that had bound up the church with the state, thus weakening the power of the former. Heretofore, all things had been made subservient in California to the purpose of making a Catholic of the Indian. In pursu- ance of this idea, he was either persuaded or forced to go through the forms of worship ; but nothing was done to develop a higher mental standard. In fact, the opposite was the result. They were taken care of like any other slaves, and such qualities as were found calculated to make them self-sustaining were eradicated, probably without having such an intention, yet doing it effectually. It was accomplished by

the system of absolute dependence, forced by the padres in their manner of control and kind of instruc- tion given to them, that were only calculated to impress a feeling of inferiority. Nothing could be accomplished in California by a member of the white race, calculated in any way to interfere with the general plan of proselytism. The territory was claimed for the Indian, and the padres were his masters. The European was not encouraged by them to own or settle upon land, for it might become an element of discord in the country. The soldiers that protected them in their operations were not allowed to marry, except in rare cases, as the offspring or the parent might admit the idea into their heads that they, too, were of consequence in the general plan of the Creator.

Such a state of things could not last. The world was becoming more enlightened, and a system that stood in the path of progress must inevitably give way.

The first blow dealt this Catholic body politic was by the Mexican congress, in the form of a coloniza- tion act, passed in August, 1824. In its provisions were some fair inducements for a settlement of the country, and a settlement necessarily meant ruin to the missions ; for the interests of settlers were not in harmony with them. Four years later their secularization was ordered, and grants of lands were authorized as homesteads to actual settlers, the territorial governor being the one authorized to issue the grant, subject to the approval of the legislature. There was a class of property in Mexico that had been obtained by the Jesuits from their friends, when they were operating on the peninsula, by donations, - wills, and otherwise, that had been invested in real estate ; the product or interest of which was used yearly to support the missions, keeping the principal intact. When the Jesuits were banished from the kingdom this property was turned over to the Franciscans, and its proceeds had increased until the yearly income from it amounted to about $50,000. This was termed the pious fund, and a year before the secularization was ordered, $78,000 of it had been seized by the government in Mexico. This was the beginning, and the end came in 1842, when Santa Anna sold the balance to the house of Barrio and the Rubio Brothers, the proceeds finding their way into the government treasury.

The legislation of 1824 began to have its effect in 1830. A party had sprung up not friendly to the . missions, and Governor Echeandia commenced to enforce the secularization laws that year; but the arrival of the new governor, Victoria, put a stop to the attempt. This was the beginning of the open struggle between the two parties, one for the maintenance, the other for the destruction of the missions. It continued with varying success until 1834, when a colonization scheme, set on foot by the home government, caused the padres to " see the handwriting on the wall." This colony was formed with the purpose, on the part of the Mexican president, of placing in the colony's control the commerce of California, the missions to play the part in the general scheme of the fabled "goose that laid the golden egg." The project never reached its final purpose, for, with the usual promptness of Mexicans in changing their government, Santa Anna was made president. He sent overland orders in haste, countermanding the whole plan ; and Hijar, who was to have been governor of California under the new conditions, landed at San Diego September 1, 1834, to find himself only the leader of a disappointed colony that had accompanied him to the country. He was sent, with his followers, north of San Francisco to the mission of San Francisco Solano, to make out as best he could, without the power to carry out the original objects of the enterprise.

The brig in which this colony arrived, wrecked on the fourteenth of the following month in the harbor of Monterey, was the Natalia, the same that, February 26, 1815, had borne, in his flight from Elba, the great soldier of destiny, to read the decree of his fate at Waterloo.

The priests, on learning how narrowly they escaped being robbed, concluded there was no longer any hope of final success in the struggle, and commenced to destroy what they had built up through the years of the past. The cattle " upon a thousand hills " were slaughtered only for their hides, the vineyards

MISSIONS AND TOWNS IN 1831.

JURISDICTION OF SAN FRANCISCO.

NAME.

LOCATION. -

FOUNDED.

Men.

Women.

Boys.

Girls.

Total.

Black Cattle.

Horses

Mules. Asses

Sheep.

Goats. Swine.

Wheat. Bushels.

Corn. Bushels

Sml. Beans. Bushels

Bushels

Presidio of San Francisco. ..

San Francisco.

Sept. 17, 1776.

124

371

5,610

470

583

175

100

Town of San Jose de Guadalupe. San Jose .

166

145

103

110

524

4,443

2,386

134

4,142

3,900

477

Mission of San Francisco Solano. Sonoma ...

Aug. 25, 1823.

285

242

705

2,500

725

5,000

2,927

500

602

Mission of San Rafael . ..

North of San Francisco Bay ..

Dec. 18, 1817.

406

410

105

106

1,027

1,200

^ 450

2,000

1,935

325

980*

Mission of San Francisco de Asis. San Francisco

Oct. 9, 1776 ..

146

237

4,200

1,239

3,000

1,675

6,000

150

Mission of Santa Clara.

15 miles northeast of San José. . June 11, 1797.

823

659

100

143

1,727

12,000

1,300

13,000

40 10,000

2,500

308

2,750

Mission of San José.

Aug. 28, 1791.

222

366

3,500

940

82 .

5,403

400

750

965

Mission of Santa Cruz ..

JURISDICTION OF MONTEREY.

Presidio of Monterey.

Monterey ..

1770.

311

190 34

110 27

708 130 987

5,641 1,000 7,070

3,310 1,000 401 470

1,225 257 2,100

830 400 425

100

640

Mission of San Carlos del Carmelo Near Monterey.

June 30, 1770.

102

236

2,050

6.599

1,070

1 7,017 4,400 6,358 1

500

. .

125

607

Mission of San Antonio

35 m. S. of Soledad, on San Antonio riv. July 14, 1771.

394

209

671

5,000

1,060

10,000

2,387

287

100

1,420

Mission of San Miguel.

Salinas River ..

July 25, 1797.

349

292

748

3,762

950

106

28!

8,999

1,498

142

Mission of San Luis Obispo ..... San Luis Obispo .

Sept. 1, 1772.

211

103

329

2,000

800

200

1,200'

875

150

JURISDICTION OF SANTA BARBARA.

Presidio of Santa Barbara.

Santa Barbara.

1780

167

120

162 213

164 201

1,388

7,900 38,624 10,500

.1,300 5,208 1,000

220 520

Town of La Reyna de Los Angeles Los Angeles. .

552

421

218

450

456

7,300

320

112

2,200

2,000

1,000 225

125

840

Mission of Santa Barbara.

Dec. 4, 1786. .

374

267

762

2,600

511

· 150

3,300

1,825

Mission of San Buenaventura ...

S. E. of and ncar Santa Barbara. Mar. 31, 1782.

383

283

791

4,000

300

60'.

3,100

1,750

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Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850, Part 4

Author: Fariss & Smith, San Francisco Publication date: 1882 Publisher: San Francisco, Fariss & Smith Number of Pages: 710

Author: Fariss & Smith, San Francisco
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: San Francisco, Fariss & Smith
Number of Pages: 710