USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > The beginnings of San Francisco : from the expedition of Anza, 1774, to the city charter of April 15, 1850 : with biographical and other notes, Vol. I > Part 5
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Starting at nine o'clock in the morning of April Ioth, he reached the Rio de la Porciúncula (Los Angeles river),¿ passed up the river into the San Fernando valley over the Santa Susana mountains, and camped on the Rio de Triunfo, a march of four- teen leagues. The next day's march of sixteen leagues brought him to the Rio de la Carpentería and the first rancheria of the Santa Barbara channel. This was the Rio de la Asuncion of Portolá and the site of the future mission of San Buenaventura. He
On March 24th, Anza stood god-father to an Indian baby baptized by the padres, and gave him his name-Juan Bautista.
t Fanega: about 1.6 bushels.
# Portolá crossed the Los Angeles river on the 2d of August, 1769, the day of the Feast of Porciuncula and named it in honor of the day Rio de Nuestra Señora de los Angeles de Porciúncula. It is to this incident the city of Los Angeles owes its name which is in full Nuestra Señora La Reina de los Angeles de Porciúncula-Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of Porciúncula.
92
THE BEGINNINGS OF SAN FRANCISCO
also made sixteen leagues the next day along the Santa Barbara channel and stopped at the Rancherías de Mescaltitan. The next day's march was fifteen leagues to the Ranchería de los Pedernales. On the fourteenth he passed Point Concepcion and camped on the Rio de Santa Rosa (now the Santa Inez) near its mouth. He speaks well of the channel Indians, describes their houses, round, like the half of an orange, their well built boats in which they venture out to the channel islands on fishing expeditions, their tools of flint, their manufacture of baskets and dishes of stone. He thinks the estimate of 8,000 to 10,000 previously made of the channel Indians, too large. The country is beautiful and fertile and refreshing to eyes accustomed to the lands bordering on the Gulf of California where there is nothing seen of trees and herbs, while here the sea waves break upon shores as fertile as they are flowery.
A march of twelve leagues the next day brought Anza to the mission of San Luis Obispo, where his arrival gladdened the hearts of the missionaries. His route the next day was over the Cuesta pass of the Sierra de Santa Lucía into the Salinas valley, down the Salinas river to the Rio del Nacimiento where he camped after a march of thirteen leagues. The next morning he reached the mission of San An- tonio and, pausing for a brief rest, pushed on into the Salinas valley* by the Arroyo Seco, named by * The Salinas river was named by Portolá September 26, 1769, Rio de San Elizario. Later when the presidio of Monterey had been established the river came to be called Rio de Monterey.
93
ARRIVAL AT MONTEREY
Portolá, La Cañada del Palo Caido-the Valley of the Fallen Tree-and camped on the site where, in 1791, was established the mission of Nuestro Señora de la Soledad. The next day, April 18th, a march of thirteen leagues brought him to the presidio of Monterey. He was joyfully received by Don Pedro Fages, comandante of California, but found the garrison in a sad plight and much nearer to starvation than were the people of San Gabriel. All rejoiced in the success of his journey, for now that a road was opened to Sonora, they would no longer be dependent for supplies on the uncertain arrival of ships. The father superior and priests of the mission of San Cárlos Boromeo de Monterey, in the valley of the Cármelo, distant one league from the presidio, called on the successful explorer and ex- tended their congratulations and bade him welcome. Anza returned the visit the following day, and on Friday, April 22, 1774, set out on his return trip, taking with him six of Fages' soldiers to show them the road to the Rios Gila and Colorado. On the sixth day's march while traveling along the Santa Barbara channel, he met the father president of the California mission, Fray Junípero Serra, who was returning from a visit to the city of Mexico, whence he had been to procure the recall of Fages. At Junípero's request, Anza spent with him the rest of the day and the night and gave him an account of his journey.
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THE BEGINNINGS OF SAN FRANCISCO
· On reaching San Gabriel Anza sums up his observa- tions concerning the people and the country of the new foundations. He confirms the reports of Cap- tains Don Gaspar de Portolá and Don Miguel Cos- tansó concerning the mildness and docility of the gentile nations and says that, were food abundant, the conversions to Christianity would be greatly increased; that the scarcity of food among many of the missions was due more to lack of seed than any sterility of soil; that the lands produce most abun- dantly wheat, barley, peas, beans, and other vege- tables.
On May 3d he left San Gabriel for the Rio Colo- rado, returning by the same route he had come, save that in crossing the Colorado desert he avoided the long detour of his coming, and by a forced march of twenty-two leagues from San Sebastian, reached Santa Olalla on the morning of May 9th. On his journey eastward to the Laguna de San Antonio Bucaréli (San Jacinto lake) May 4th, he saw to the north of it, in the cordillera nevada, a good pass which he thought might be a direct route from Sonora to Monterey. He was looking into the opening of San Timoteo cañon and the San Gorgonio pass. After a rest of a few hours Anza continued his march up the valley of the Colorado and halted in the land of the Yumas who received him with extravagant demonstrations of joy, for they had heard reports that the expedition had been destroyed by the Ser- ranos and Anza and all his men killed. The Yumas
95
PALMA REWARDED
informed Anza that on receipt of the report the soldiers he had left in care of Captain Palma had fled to the Rio del Altar in spite of the remonstrances of the Yuma chief.
The following day, May 10th, Anza reached the junction of the Colorado and Gila, where Palma met him with much affection and informed him that Padre Garcés was encamped on the other side of the river, and he, Palma, had delivered to him the cattle and provisions Anza had left in his care. By three o'clock in the afternoon Palma had a raft prepared and fer- ried the party over the river, which, Anza notes, was six hundred varas (sixteen hundred and fifty feet) wide. The passage of the river was safeguarded by five hundred Yumas swimming beside the raft. At five o'clock he reached the camp where he found Garcés and the troops he had sent back from San Gabriel. Sending the soldiers brought from Mon- terey back to their presidio, Anza resumed his march May 15th, after praising Palma for his fidelity and rewarding him by giving him his staff (baton), four oxen, and some articles of dress. He enjoined him to keep the peace with his neighbors and requested him to send to Altar any Spaniard who might come within his jurisdiction. He then took his way up the Rio Gila, past the pueblos of the Papagos, Cocomari- copas, and the Pimas Gileños, to all of whom he announced the cessation of wars warning them to keep the peace and report to the Spanish presidios any infraction of it. Leaving the river at the eastern
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THE BEGINNINGS OF SAN FRANCISCO
extremity of the Gila Bend, he passed up the valley of the Santa Cruz river and arrived at the Pima pueblo of Tucson on May 25th. Here he found dispatches requesting him to hasten his return as there was danger of an Apache raid. Starting before dawn the next morning he made a forced march of twenty leagues and arrived at sunrise of the second day, May 27th, at his own presidio of Tubac, and the end of his journey, for the accomplishment of which he gives praise to the Lord of Armies.
Anza had conquered the desert and had overcome the natural barriers between a paternal government and its feeble establishments in distant California. He had realized his cherished dream and had opened the King's Highway. He had secured for Spain the friendship of the powerful tribes of the great river, a friendship without which, he says, the river could not be passed. He was now to establish a presidio and mission worthy of the serafic patron and father, Saint Francis, to found a city that, in the fullness of time, was to dominate the great ocean and take its place with the mighty ones of earth.
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CHAPTER VI. THE FOUNDATION OF SAN FRANCISCO 1775-1776
T HE fame of Anza's achievement spread throughout New Spain. He received the plaudits of his countrymen and was honored by his king. Promoted to the rank of lieutenant- colonel, he was authorized to raise and equip a com- pany of thirty soldiers for the establishment of a strong presidio and mission on the bay of San Francisco. Of the company, ten were to be experi- enced men from the Sonora presidios and twenty were to be new recruits. All must be married men with families and at the end of their ten year enlistment were to be given land and turned into settlers. In addition to the soldiers and their families, there were to be a certain number of families of settlers (pobla- dores).
Anza raised the standard of the expedition at San Felipe de Sinaloa with the rendezvous at San Miguel de Horcasitas, then the residence of the governor of Sonora. His own presidio of Tubac was on the northern frontier and contained no white inhabitants save the garrison. By order of the king the royal treasury was thrown open, the colonists, men, women, and children were clothed from head to foot and from date of enlistment "ate with the king. "* One hundred and forty pack mules were required to carry the provisions, war material, baggage, and other goods and presents for the Indians among whom they were going. There were one hundred and twenty
* Noticias de la Nueva California. Palow, iv, 133.
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THE BEGINNINGS OF SAN FRANCISCO
horses and twenty-five mules for the use of the troops, two hundred and twenty horses belonging to the expedition and three hundred and twenty head of beef cattle, altogether, eight hundred and twenty-five head of stock. Anza took the ensign, sergeant, and eight soldiers from his own presidio and enlisted twenty new men. All were married. The amount allowed for equipment and transportation of each family was eight hundred dollars; this in addition to pay. Besides the soldiers there were several families of pobladores. These also received pay, rations, etc. The chaplain of the expedition was Fray Pedro Font, and two priests, Fray Francisco Garcés and Fray Tomas Esaire, accompanied the expedition to the Rio Colorado where they were to remain to explore the country and catechise the natives until Anza's return. The commissary of the expedition, thirty muleteers, vaqueros, interpre- ters, and servants, an escort of ten soldiers from Anza's presidio, together with the families of the soldiers and settlers, made up in all a company of two hundred and forty souls, of whom one hundred and sixty were women and children. The number was increased by the birth of eight children on the road. By September 1775, the expedition was assembled ready to start for Tubac, and waiting for the arrival of the escort from that presidio, for the road from Horcasitas to Tubac, infested with the plague of Apaches, was the most dangerous part of the whole journey. As the escort was about to
A SOLDADO DE CUERA Drawn by WALTER FRANCIS.
wie of the troops belonging to the el oku ud twenty head of comment ihad land twenty -five Arka took the moram, sergeant, and The amount Need for equipment and transportation of each low & l; hundred dollars; This in addition the soldiers there were several cool dote .. Those who received pay, The chaplin of the expedition was Pros, un! two rrieste, Pray Franciscu Formas Deaire, accompanied the
ido where they were to V 20RDVDO DE CNEKV and catechise the
The commwary of erv, vagwens, interpre-
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rows boayaled ao3 berry soudu, of which one hundred
w Tướng trở by thic fóru & cight children on the T. Septitobey Jai5, the expedition was mil | reale jo stuart for Tubes, aud waiting for the escore wom that presidio, for the
.1 63/008 18 Tabac, Infomed with the This, was the most drogous part of money As the escort was about to
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IOI
MARCH FROM HORCASITAS
leave this outpost for Horcasitas the Apaches de- scended upon them and ran off all their horses. The commander at Horcasitas was notified and sent horses from that place to Tubac for the use of the escort. Anza improved the time afforded by this delay to increase his escort but only succeeded in getting five additional soldiers for duty between these points. On September 29th the outfit was mustered and inspected and at 4.30 in the afternoon they began the long march of seventy leagues to Tubac. Cross- ing the Rio de Horcasitas they left the river on the right and took a course north-northwest to the pueblo of Santa Ana on the Rio San Ignacio, thence up the San Ignacio past the pueblos of Santa María Mag- dalena, San Ignacio, and Imuris,-all known to-day- and at eight o'clock of October 12th entered the dreaded cañon of the San Ignacio. This was the danger point of the journey and the scene of many a massacre by Apaches. A cañon ten miles long, in many places less than a hundred feet wide, with walls rising abruptly to a height of five hundred to eight hundred feet, invited ambush and attack. Anza pro- ceeded very slowly, taking precautions against sur- prise, and safely accomplished the passage in five hours. Two more jornadas* of eight leagues each brought him to the presidio of Tubac. This was his official starting point and the presidio under his command.
On Sunday, October 22d, mass was sung with all possible solemnity for the purpose of invoking
* Jornada, a day's journey.
IO2
THE BEGINNINGS OF SAN FRANCISCO
divine aid for the expedition; the Santisima Virgen de Guadalupe was named as patroness, with the Princes San Miguel and San Francisco de Asis as protectors, and at eleven o'clock the following morn- ing, Monday, October 23, 1775, the journey began.
Of the personnel of this expedition, the interest centers mainly around the thirty soldiers* who were to remain in California and become the first settlers of San Francisco. Fifteen are classed as Españoles, seven as Mulatos, six as Mestizos, and two as Indios. They were good people, carefully selected, and they proved themselves good soldiers and excellent citi- zens. Anza makes a public record of their faithful- ness and devotion to king and country.12
Owing to the lateness of the season and the great number of women and children, Anza would not attempt the passage of the Papaguería, but pre- ferred the longer and safer route by way of the Santa Cruz river and the Gila. The first day's journey was four leagues to the north where the expedition camped at a place called Canoa. Here the wife of a soldier, taken with labor pains, gave birth to a boy and died at 3.45 in the morning. The body of the unfortunate woman was taken by Padre Garcés to his mission of San Xavier del Bac, thirteen leagues
Soldados de cuera, so called because of a sleeveless coat worn by them made of six or seven thicknesses of dressed deer skins, impervious to Indian arrows except at very short range. The horse was also protected, in part, by a leathern apron, fastened to the pommel of the saddle and covering the breast of the horse and the legs and thighs of the rider. The arms were lance and shield, carbine, and broadsword.
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THE BEGINNINGS OF SAN FRANCISCO
divine aid for the expedition; the Santisima Virgen de Guadalupe was named as patroness, with the Princes San Miguel and San Francisco de Asis as protectors, and at eleven o'clock the following morn- ing, Monday, October 23, 1775, the journey began.
Of the personnel of this expedition, the interest centers mainly around the thirty soldiers* who were to remain in California and become the first settlers of San Francisco. Fifteen are classed as Españoles, seven as Mulatos, six as Mestizos, and two as Indios. They were good people, carefully selected, and they proved themselves good soldiers and excellent citi- zens. Anza makes a public record of their faithful- ness and devotion to king and country.12
Owing to the lateness of the season and the great number of women and children, Anza would not attempt the passage of the Papaguería, but pre- ferred the longer and safer route by way of the Santa Cruz river and the Gila. The first day's journey was four leagues to the north where the expedition camped at a place called Canoa. Here the wife of a soldier, taken with labor pains, gave birth to a boy and died at 3.45 in the morning. The body of the unfortunate woman was taken by Padre Garcés to his mission of San Xavier del Bac, thirteen leagues
* Soldados de cuera, so called because of a sleeveless coat worn by them made of six or seven thicknesses of dressed deer skins, impervious to Indian arrows except at very short range. The horse was also protected, in part, by a leathern apron, fastened to the pommel of the saddle and covering the breast of the horse and the legs and thighs of the rider. The arms were lance and shield, carbine, and broadsword.
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THE MARCH DOWN THE GILA
north of Tubac, for burial. On October 26th they were at Tucson which Anza speaks of as an Indian pueblo, containing the most northerly of the con- verted Indians.13 Five uneventful jornados brought them to the Rio Gila where a rest of one day was taken and the comandante and his chaplain visited the famous Casa Grande, of which Font gives an excellent description. On November Ist, the expe- dition began its march down the river. The order of march, as given by Font, was as follows: Four soldiers went ahead as scouts, Anza led off with the van guard; after him came the priests and next the men, women, and children, escorted by soldiers; the ensign brought up the rear guard. Behind these followed the pack trains with the loose horses and beef cattle. As soon as the long column started, Font would strike up the Alabado," to which all the people would respond. On making camp, when they had dismounted the ensign reported and received his orders. The soldiers made shelters with their cloaks and blankets and there were thirteen tents-nine for the soldiers' families, two for the priests, one for the ensign and a big circular one for the señor coman- dante.
As he passed through the Pima villages, Anza was joyfully received by the Indians and noted their irrigation ditches and the crops raised, and also, with satisfaction, that the peace established by him between the nations of the Gila and Colorado had
* A hymn of praise.
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THE BEGINNINGS OF SAN FRANCISCO
been kept. On November 3d he reached Maricopa Wells, the waters of which had such serious effect upon both his people and animals that he gave them the name of Las Lagunas de Hospital. So bad was the water that two of the women were taken violently ill and were thought to be dying. Anza administered such remedies as he had and brought water from the Gila, three leagues distant, for them to drink. Many of the caballerías became sick also and two horses died. Anza determined to move the expedition, though the women were still very ill, and the next journey must be a forced march across the Gila Bend, a desert, without water, and with but scanty feed for the animals. Starting at one o'clock in the afternoon of November 7th, he passed around the southern end of the Sierra de Estrella thence west- southwest towards the Sierra Maricopa and halted for the night before the Pass of the Cocomaricopas. Resuming the march in the morning he crossed the mountains by the above pass and at four in the after- noon reached the village of Opas, or Cocomaricopas, called by him in 1774 San Simon y Judas, having made the journey in fourteen hours of actual travel- very good time with his sick women and sick and dying horses. Bartlett* who crossed this desert in 1852, gives a graphic account of the passage. From now on to the jurisdiction of the Yumas, Anza traveled among the rancherías of the Cocomaricopas. He found them enjoying the fruits of the peace he
* John Russel Bartlett, U. S. Boundary Commissioner.
IO5
A GOVERNOR OF THE MARICOPAS
had established between them and the Yumas on one side and the Pimas on the other and they gave him repeated thanks for the great service he had done them, for they could now dwell on open ground and cultivate their lands. The expedition was detained for three days at San Simon y Judas by a very sick woman, and five other members were added to the sick list, including the chaplain, Father Font, who became very ill with a tertian ague.
Resuming the march November 1Ith they passed down the plain of the river among rich cultivated fields and on the fourteenth reached Agua Caliente* where a day's rest allowed opportunity for doing family washing. Here Anza was waited on by a large number of Maricopas-to give them their modern name-who desired him to appoint a chief to rule over them. Anza conferred on one of their number, selected by themselves, the title of governor, and appointed another alcalde, and admonished them to recognize the king as their master and to obey all the orders he or his ministers might give them. This they all agreed to do and Anza fixed the bounds of their jurisdiction. Before installing them he gave them the most precise instructions concerning their duties which, he says, so intimidated the governor that for more than an hour he trembled as if he had an ague.
The expedition resumed its march Thursday, November 16th, continuing down the plain of the
* Hot Water; named by Anza on his upward passage May 19, 1774.
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THE BEGINNINGS OF SAN FRANCISCO
river and passing from the jurisdiction of the Mari- copas to that of the Yumas. The stops were usually made at or near some Indian ranchería which Anza had named in his upward passage in May of the pre- vious year. Everywhere he notes improvement in the condition of the people and he cements the friend- ship established between them and the Spaniards by liberal presents from the stores furnished him for that purpose. With the exception of Agua Caliente, which shows on the map on the north bank of the Gila on the western border of Maricopa County, the names given by Anza in this region have disap- peared.
From Agua Caliente the comandante sent forward four soldiers with a Yuma interpreter to announce his approach to Salvador Palma, captain of the Yumas, to select a place for crossing the Colorado river, and to look for a better route across the Colo- rado desert from Santa Olalla to San Sebastian. At a place named by him in 1774, San Pascual, the expe- dition was detained three days by the confinement of the wife of a soldier. The cold was excessive and in four days six horses died from it. On the twenty- second Anza resumed his march and on the twenty- seventh Captain Palma with an escort of thirty unarmed Indians met him four leagues above the confluence of the rivers. The Yuma chief embraced his friend joyfully and announced that his nation and all the tribes of the river joined him in the welcome to the expedition. Palma had advanced so far in civili-
THE TRAIL ON THE GILA From BARTLETT's Narrative.
ARESFISCO
Tar lichion of the Mari-
Hope were usually
uherte which Anza
vod m hit opwind glade In May of the pre- Two Everywhere be ores Improvement in
WAS Met on the mup on the north bank of the In- Wal the exception of Agua Caliente. Bril geurts from the #tores furnished him for Mished between there and the Spaniards Wtion of the people and be cements the friend-
we barder of Maricopa County,
ctos stem by Anta in this region have disap-
Ame D for the comandante sent forward АЛЮ-АНТ ХО МАЯТ ЭНТ 20 announce 97136116/ г тттяЯ тот Hiui, captain of the
fot crossing the Colorado
Conter yunie across the Colo-
Tud orsen Somma Dialla to Sau Sebastian. A1 a phare named by box to 1774- San Potenci, the expe- dušosi wyi debamed diree days in the confinement of the wife rf . andder The cold aus excessive and In four days sia borea died from . On the twenty- wood Anax resomed ins march wenn the twenty - 10 % OFFIN Palma with an cort of thirty toAFger& Thờián met him four Matures above the Summer of der then. The Yun snel embraced bis tro bios f _ amt Announced che nation and il me tribes of rio pest jomed hin 100 welcome to Uno asedition Ina had advanced so far in civili-
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