USA > Oregon > Douglas County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 6
USA > Oregon > Jackson County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 6
USA > Oregon > Josephine County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 6
USA > Oregon > Coos County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 6
USA > Oregon > Curry County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 6
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Such was the crude beginning of that enormous trade in furs which in a few years sprang up in the Pacific, and for which English, American and Russian traders com- peted. China was then, and is to-day, the greatest consumer of furs, which were for years taken to Pekin overland, as described above; but in 1771 a cargo of peltries was taken direct to Canton under peculiar circumstances. In the month of May a few Polish exiles, sent to that bleak and inhospitable wilderness for political reasons, succeeded in escaping to sea in a small vessel from a harbor on the southwest coast of Kamtchatka, being led by Count Maurice de Benyowsky, a Hungarian. They entered the Pacific and after being driven hither and thither among the islands, stopping fre- quently to procure furs, they finally arrived at Canton, the first vessel from the North Pacific to reach any ports frequented by ships of other nations, demonstrating the fact that the icy waters about Kamtchatka and Alaska belong to the same great ocean as
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those of the South sea that lashed the rocky bluffs of Cape Horn, or lapped the sands of the Philippines.
Other Russian voyages of exploration were made to the eastward of Kamtchatka in 1766 and 1769 ; and in 1774 an official account of these voyages was published in St. Petersburg, entitled "Description of the Newly Discovered Islands in the Sea between Asia and America." This was accompanied by a map which embodied the ideas of Pacific coast geography which then prevailed. By it the American coast north of California was made to run northwesterly to the 70th parallel. Between this point and the coast of Asia was represented a broad open sea dotted with islands, many of which bore the same names and were identical with the larger ones of the Atlantic group, though by no means properly located. Alaska, or Aliaska, was represented as a great island with Asia on one side and America on the other, separated from Asia by the narrow channel of Behring's straits, and it was many years before it was known that Alaska was a portion of the main land of America.
CHAPTER VI.
SPANISH MISSIONS AND SETTLEMENTS IN CALIFORNIA.
Spain Appeals to the Jesuits for Aid-The Society of Jesus-Plan of Father Kino-The Mission of Our Lady of Loretto Founded by Father Tierra-Attack upon the Mission-Method of Conducting Missionary Work -- Expulsion of the Jesuits-The Pearl of Our Lady of Loretto-The Franciscans Invade Alta California-San Diego Founded by Father Junipero Serra-Discovery of San Francisco Bay -- The Mission at San Diego Saved from Abandonment by the timely Arrival of Supplies- Founding of Missions at Monterey and San Antonia de Padua-The Growth and Downfall of the Mission System.
For a century and a half after Cortes planted the first colony on the peninsula of California, the viceroys of Mexico, in an indissolute manner, had undertaken to carry out the will of their sovereigns that colonies be established and maintained on the coast of California, but without success. When the Mexican authorities decided that such an undertaking was impossible of accomplishment, the government appealed to the powerful Society of Jesus to undertake the task, hoping thus to win by the cross what could not be conquered with the sword ; but an offer of $10,000 annually from the royal treasury to aid them in establishing missions was refused by the Jesuits, and the crown abandoned the hope of accomplishing anything whatever.
At that time the Society of Jesus was the most wealthy and by reason of its secrecy and perfect discipline and the intelligence, devotion and influence of its mem- bers, the most powerful organization which has ever existed. It had its ramifications in every land where was the symbol of the cross, and its faithful subjects hesitated not to plunge into the unknown wildernesses of the New World to carry the light of Chris- tianity to the "nations sitting in darkness" far beyond the confines of civilization.
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Their lives weighed as nothing against the glory of their Heavenly Master and the extension of Christ's kingdom upon earth. It mattered not to what nation they be- longed, for the French priests in Canada and Louisiana dipslayed the same zeal as did the Spaniards in Mexico and California. They were imbued with the same spirit and sought the same end-the extension of the kingdom of Jesus and the power of the order which bore his name. Though the government subsidy was declined from motives of policy, the conversion of these heathen nations was determined upon, to be accomplished by the society with its own resources.
With the unsuccessful expedition of Admiral Otondo was a monk who had volun- tarily abandoned a lucrative and honorable position to become an emissary of the cross. While lying at the point of death he had made a vow to his patron Saint, Francis Xavier, that if he should recover, he would devote the remaining years of his life to following the noble example of his patron. He recovered, resigned his professorship, and crossed the sea to Mexico, and eventually became a missionary and one of the most zealous members of the Society of Jesus. He was a German by birth, and his name in his native land was Kuhn, but the Spaniards have recorded it as Father Eusebio Francisco Kino. He had become strongly impressed in his visit to the coun- try with the feasibility of a plan by which the land might be taken possession of and held. His object was not alone the conquest of a kingdom, but the conversion of its inhabitants, and the saving of souls. His plan was to go into the country and teach the Indians the principles of the Catholic faith, educate them to support themselves by tilling the soil, and improvement through the experience of the advantages to be ob- tained by industry; the end of all being to raise up a Catholic province for the Span- ish crown, and people Paradise with the souls of converted heathen. The means to be employed in accomplishing this, were the priests of the Society of Jesuits, protected by a small garrison of soldiers and sustained by contributions from those friendly to the enterprise. The mode of applying the means was, to first occupy some favorable place in the country, where a storehouse and a church could be erected that would render the fathers' maintenance and life comparatively secure. This would give them an opportunity to win the confidence of the Indians, by a patient, long-continued, uniform system of affectionate intercourse and just dealing, and then use their appetites as the means by which to convert their souls. These establishments were to be gradually extended northward until Spain had control of the whole coast.
With no hope of reward, except beyond the grave, but with a prospect of defeat and a probability of martyrdom, Father Kino started, on the twentieth of October, 1686, to travel over Mexico, and, by preaching, urge his views and hopes of the enter- prise. He soon met on the way a congenial spirit, Father Juan Maria Salva Tierra ; and then another, Father Juan Ugarte, added his great executive ability to the cause. Their united efforts resulted in obtaining sufficient funds by subscription. Then they procured a warrant from the king for the order of Jesuits to enter upon the conquest of California at their own expense, for the benefit of the crown. The order was given February 5, 1697, and it had required eleven years of constant urging to pro- cure it. October tenth, of the same year, Salva Tierra sailed from the coast of Mexico to put in operation Kino's long-cherished scheme of conquest. The expedition con- sisted of one small vessel and a long-boat, in which were provisions, the necessary
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ornaments and furniture for fitting up a rude church, and Father Tierra, accompanied by six soldiers and three Indians. Father Tierra, afterwards visitadore general of the missions of California, was born in Milan, of Spanish ancestry and noble parentage. Having completed his education he joined the Society of Jesus and went to Mexico as a missionary in 1675, where he had labored twenty-two years among the various native tribes. He was robust in health, exceedingly handsome in person, talented, firm and resolute, and filled to overflowing with that religious zeal which shrinks from no form of martyrdom. His associate, Father Juan Ugarte, was equally zealous and possessed of much skill in handling the stubborn and unreasoning natives.
On the nineteenth of October, 1697, they reached the point selected on the east coast of the peninsula, and says Venegas : "The provisions and animals were landed, together with the baggage; the Father, though the head of the expedition, being the first to load his shoulders. The barracks for the little garrison were now built, and a line of circumvallation thrown up. In the center a tent was pitched for a temporary chapel ; before it was erected a crucifix, with a garland of flowers.
The image of our Lady of Loretto, as patroness of the conquest, was brought in pro- cession from the boat, and placed with proper solemnity. Immediately Father Tierra initiated the plan of conversion. He called together the Indians, explained to them the catechism, prayed over the rosary, and then distributed among them a half bushel of boiled corn. The corn was a success, but the prayers and catechism were " bad medicine." They wanted more corn and less prayers, and helped themselves from the sacks. This was stopped by excluding them from the fort, and they were kindly informed that corn would be forthcoming only as a reward for attendance and atten- tion at devotions. This created immediate hostility, and the natives formed a con- spiracy to murder the garrison and possess themselves of the corn without restrictions. Happily the design was discovered and frustrated. A general league was then entered into among several tribes, and a descent was made upon the fort by about five hundred Indians. The priest rushed upon the fortifications and warned them to desist, begging them to go away, telling them that they would be killed if they did not; but his solicitude for their safety was responded to by a number of arrows from the natives, when he came down and the battle began in earnest. The assailants went down like grass before the scythe, as the little garrison opened with their fire-arms in volleys upon the unprotected mass, and they immediately beat a hasty retreat, and sent in one of their number to beg for peace, who, says Venegas : "With tears assured our men that it was those of the neighboring rancheria under him who had first formed the plot, and on account of the paucity of their numbers, had spirited up the other nations ; adding, that those being irritated by the death of their companions were for revenging them, but that both the one and the other sincerely repented of their attempt. A little while after came the women with their children, mediating a peace, as is the cus- tom of the country. They sat down weeping at the gate of the camp, with a thousand promises of amendment, and offering to give up their children as hostages for the performance. Father Salva Tierra heard them with his usual mildness, showing them the wickedness of the procedure, and if their husbands would behave better, promised them peace, an amnesty, and forgetfulness of all that was past ; he also distributed among them several little presents, and to remove any mistrust they might have he
WALLING -LITH-PORTLAND-OR.
BATTLE ROCK, PORT ORFORD, CURRY CO.
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took one of the children in hostage, and thus they returned in high spirits to the rancherias." The soldiers' guns had taught them respect, and the sacks of corn en- ticed them back for the priests to teach them the Catholic faith.
The manner in which these indefatigable missionaries overcame the indolence, viciousness and ignorance of the natives was practically the same as that pursued in all the missions afterwards established, and is thus described by Venegas :
In the morning, after saying mass, at which he (Father Ugarte) obliged them to attend with order and respect, he gave a breakfast of pozoli to those who were to work, set them about build- ing the church and houses for themselves and his Indians, clearing ground for cultivation, making trenches for conveyance of water, holes for planting trees, or digging and preparing the ground for sowing. In the building part, Father Ugarte was master, overseer, carpenter, bricklayer and laborer. For the Indians, though animated by his example, could neither by gifts nor kind speeches be prevailed upon to shake off their innate sloth, and were sure to slacken if they did not see the father work harder than any of them; so he was the first in fetching stones, treading the clay, mixing the sand, cutting, carrying and barking the timber; removing the earth and fixing materials. He was equally laborions in the other tasks, sometimes felling the trees with his axe, sometimes with his spade in his hand digging np the earth, sometimes with an iron crow splitting rocks, sometimes disposing the water-trenches, sometimes leading the beasts and cattle, which he had procured for his mission, to pasture and water; thus by his own example, teaching the several kinds of labor. The Indians, whose narrow ideas and dullness could not at first enter into the utility of these fatigues, which at the same time deprived them of their customary freedom of roving among the forests, on a thousand occasions sufficiently tried his patience-coming late, not caring to stir, running away, jeering him and sometimes even forming combinations, and threat- , ening death and destruction; all this was to be borne with nnwearied patience, having no other recourse than affability and kindness, sometimes intermixed with gravity to strike respect; also taking care not to tire them, and suit himself to their weakness. In the evening the father led them a second time in their devotions; in which the rosary was prayed over, and the catechism explained; and the services was followed by the distribution of some provisions. At first they were very troublesome all the time of the sermon, jesting and sneering at what was said. This the father bore with for a while, and then proceeded to reprove them; but finding they were not to be kept in order, he make a very dangerous experiment of what could be done by fear. Near him stood an Indian in high reputation for strength, and who, presuming on his advantage, the only quality esteemed by them, took upon himself to be more rude than the others. Father Ugarte, who was a large man, and of uncommon strength, observing the Indian to be in the height of his laughter, and making signs of mockery to the others, seized him by the hair and lifting him up swung him to and fro; at this the rest ran away in the utmost terror. They soon returned, one after another, and the father so far succeeded to intimidate them that they behaved more regularly in the future.
Of the same priest and his labors in starting another mission he says :
He endeavored, by little presents and caresses, to gain the affections of his Indians; not so much that they should assist him in the building as that they might take a liking to the catechism, which he explained to them as well as he could, by the help of some Indians of Loretto, while he was perfecting himself in their language. But his kindness was lost on the adults, who, from their invincible sloth, could not be brought to help him in any one thing, though they partook of, and used to be very urgent with him for pozoli and other eatables. He was now obliged to have recourse to the assistance of the boys, who, being allured by the father with sweetmeats and pres- ents, accompanied him wherever he would have them; and to habituate these to any work it was necessary to make use of artifice. Sometimes he laid a wager with them who should soonest pluck up the mesquites and small trees; sometimes he offered reward to those who took away most earth; and it suffices to say that in forming the bricks he made himself a boy with boys, challenged them to play with the earth, and dance upon the clay. The father used to take off his sandals and tread it, in which he was followed by the boys skipping and dancing on the clay and the father with them. The boys sang, and were highly delighted; the father also sang, and thus they continued dancing 6
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and treading the clay in different parts till meal-time. This enabled him to erect his poor dwelling and church, and at the dedication of which the other fathers assisted. He made use of several such contrivances in order to learn their language; first teaching the boys several Spanish words, that they might afterwards teach lum their language. When, by the help of these masters, the interpreters of Loretto, and his own observation and discourse with the adults, he had attained a sufficient knowledge of it, he began to catechise these poor gentiles, using a thousand endearing ways, that they should come to the catechism. He likewise made use of his boys for carrying on their instruction. Thus, with invincible patience and firmness under excessive labors, he went on humanizing the savages who lived on the spot, those of the neighboring rancherias, and others, whom he sought among woods, breaches and caverns; going about everywhere, that he at length administered baptism to many adults, and brought this new settlement into some form.
This plan of subduing the natives and obtaining spiritual and temporal control over them was adhered to for seventy years. The expense of this great undertaking can be gathered from the record of the first eight years, during which $58,000 were expended in establishing six missions and $1,225,000 in supporting the indolent savages dependent upon them.
On the second of April, 1767, all members of the Society of Jesus in the Spanish dominions were arrested and thrown into prison upon the order of Charles III., against whose life they were charged with conspiring. Nearly six thousand were subjected to that decree, including the Jesuit missionaries in California and other dependencies of Spain. The execution of the decree in California fell to the lot of Don Gaspar Portala, governor of the province, who assembled the pious Fathers at Loretto on Christmas eve and imparted to them the sad news of which they had till then been entirely ignorant. When the time came for them to take their final departure from the scene of seventy years of labor and self-abnegation a most pathetic scene was enacted. With loud eries and lamentations the people broke through the line of soldiers stationed to hold them back, and rushed upon the Fathers to kiss their hands and bid them fare- well. "Adieu, dear Indians; adieu, California; adieu, land of our adoption ; fiat voluntas Dei," was the brief and eloquent farewell of those fifteen holy men, as they turned their backs upon the scene of their long labors and became wanderers and out- casts, under the ban of the sovereign whose power they had established where he had sought in vain to plant it for a century and a half. They left behind them the record of having become the pioneers in the culture of the grape and in the making of wine on this coast, having sent to Mexico their vintage as early as 1706. They were the pioneer manufacturers, having taught the Indians the use of the loom in the manufac- ture of cloth as early as 1707. They built, in 1719, the first vessel ever launched from the soil of California, calling it the Triumph of the Cross. Two of their number suf- fered martyrdom at the hands of the Indians, and the living were rewarded for those years of toil, privation and self-sacrifice, by banishment from the land they had sub -. dued ; leaving, for their successors, sixteen flourishing missions, and thirty-six villages, as testimonials of the justice and wisdom of their rule.
The historic village of Loretto, where was established the initial mission of Cali- fornia, is situated on the margin of the gulf, in the center of St. Dyonissius cove. Some of the buildings are now a mass of ruins, while others are fast going to decay, many being destroyed by the great storm of 1827. The church built by the Jesuits in 1742 is still standing, and among the relics of its former greatness are eighty-six oil paint- ings, some of them by Murillo, and though more than a century old still in a good
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state of preservation. It was a former custom of the pearl divers to devote the product of certain days to "Our Lady of Loretto," and on one occasion there fell to her lot a magnificent pearl as large as a pigeon's egg and wonderfully pure and brilliant. This the Fathers thought proper to present to the Queen of Spain, who in return sent to our Lady of Loretto an elegant new gown ; but as this could not be worn by the virgin in the spirit land and was not of the style of garment most in fashion at Loretto, it was of no practical utility, and there is reason to believe that her majesty had the better of the transaction.
Upon the Brotherhood of St Francis the king bestowed the missions and accumu- lated wealth of the Jesuits in California ; but soon after possession was taken by them the Dominicans laid claim to a portion. The controversy ended in the surrender by the Franciscans of all rights granted them in Lower California upon the condition that they be granted full authority in Alta California to found missions and take possession of the country in the name of the Catholic sovereign of Spain. They hoped thus to become possessed of a land where legend and imagination had located the rich mines of gold and silver from which had come the vast treasures of which Cortes had despoiled the Aztees ; and in thus gaining wealth for their order they would also spread the story of the eross and bring within the pale of the Holy Catholic Church thousands of souls then groping in the darkness of heathenism.
Father Francis Junipero Serra, at the head of the Franciscan order in Mexico, was a man east in no common mould. He was educated from his youth to the church, was possessed of great eloquence, enthusiasm and magnetic power, and had gained reputation and experience in the missions of Mexico. Peculiarly fitted for the work before him, he entered upon it with a zeal that admitted not of failure or defeat. It was his plan to establish missions at San Diego, Monterey and some intermediate point immediately, and extend them gradually as cireumstances should dictate. In pursu- ance of this programme an expedition was dispatched in 1769 to settle and take possession of California, with the purpose, as Joseph DeGalvez states it, " to establish the Catholic religion among a numerous heathen people, submerged in the obscure darkness of paganism ; to extend the dominion of the King, our Lord ; and to protect the peninsula from the ambitious rulers of foreign nations." This was to be done by the Franciscans, according to the royal decree, at their own expense, though the bene- fits were to inure chiefly to the crown of Spain, whose dominion was to be largely increased and a greater measure of protection afforded the American possessions and commerce.
It was deemed advisable to divide the expedition, and send a portion of it by sea in their three vessels, leaving the remainder to go from Mexico overland by way of the most northerly of the old missions. Accordingly, on the ninth of January, 1769, the ship San Carlos sailed from La Paz, followed on the fifteenth of February by the San Antonio. The last to sail was the Sun Joseph, on the sixteenth of June, and she was never heard from afterwards. The vessels were all loaded with provisions, numer- ous seeds, grain to sow, farming utensils, church ornaments, furniture and passengers, their destination being the port of San Diego. The first to reach that place was the San Antonio, which arrived on the eleventh of April, after losing eight of her crew by the scurvy. Twenty days later the San Carlos made her laborious way into port,
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with only the captain, the cook and one seaman left of her crew, the others having fallen victims to that terrible scourge of the early navigators.
The overland party was also divided into two companies ; one, under command of Fernanda Revera Moncada, was to assemble at the northern limit of the peninsula, where was located the most northerly mission, and take two hundred head of black cattle over the country to San Diego, the point where all were to meet in the new land to be subdued. Revera set out on the twenty-fourth of March, and was the first European to cross the southern deserts, guarding approaches from that direction to the upper coast. He reached the point of general rendezvous on the fourteenth of May, after having spent fifty-one days in the journey. The governor of Cali- fornia, Gaspar de Portala, took command of the remaining part of the land expedition, and started May fifteenth, from the same place on the frontier that had been Revera's point of departure, He was accompanied by the projector of the en- terprise, Father Junipero Serra himself, and arrived at San Diego on the first of July, where this, the last company to reach the rendezvous, was received with great demon- strations of joy by those who had arrived by sea and land many long weeks before.
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