The story of the founding of San Diego by Serra has already been given. It was the beginning of the realization of his fondest hopes. The early troubles with the Indians delayed conversions, but in 1773 Serra reported that some headway had been made. He gives the original name of the place asCosoy, in32° 43', built on a hill two gunshots from the shore, and facing the entrance to the port at Point Guijarros. The missionaries left in charge were Padres Fernando Parron and Francisco Gomez.
About the middle of July ill health compelled Parron to retire to Lower California and Gomez to Mexico, and Padres Luis Jayme and Francisco Dumetz took their places.
San Diego was in danger of being abandoned for lack of provisions, for in 1772 Padre Crespí, who was at San Carlos, writes that on the thirtieth of March of that year "the mail reached us with the lamentable news that this Mission of San Diego was to be abandoned for lack of victuals." Serra then sent him with "twenty-two mules, and with them fifteen half-loads of flour" for their succor. Padres Dumetz and Cambon had gone out to hunt for food to the Lower California Missions. The same scarcity was noticed at San Gabriel, and the padres, "for a considerable time, already, had been using the supplies which were on hand to found the Mission of San Buenaventura; and though they havedrawn their belts tightthere remains to them provisions only for two months and a half."
Fortunately help came; so the work continued.
The region of San Diego was well peopled. At the time of the founding there were eleven rancherías within a radius of ten leagues. They must have been of a different type from most of the Indians of the coast, for, from the first, as the old Spanish chronicler reports, they were insolent, arrogant, and thievish. They lived on grass seeds, fish, and rabbits.
In 1774, the separation of the Mission from the presidio was decided upon, in order to remove the neophytes from the evil influences of the soldiers. The site chosen was six miles up the valley (namedNipaguayby the Indians), and so well did all work together that by the end of the year a dwelling, a storehouse, a smithy built of adobes, and a wooden church eighteen by fifty-seven feet, and roofed with tiles, were completed. Already the work of the padres had accomplished much. Seventy-six neophytes rejoiced their religious hearts, and the herds had increased to 40 cattle, 64 sheep, 55 goats, 19 hogs, 2 jacks, 2 burros, 17 mares, 3 foals, 9 horses, 22 mules,--233 animals in all.
The presidio remained at Cosoy (now old San Diego), and four thousand adobes that had been made for the Mission buildings were turned over to the military. A rude stockade was erected, with two bronze cannon, one mounted towards the harbor, the other towards the Indian ranchería.
The experiments in grain raising at first were not successful. The seed was sown in the river bottom and the crop was destroyed by the unexpected rising of the river. The following year it was sown so far from water that it died from drought. In the fall of 1775 all seemed to be bright with hope. New buildings had been erected, a well dug, and more land made ready for sowing. The Indians were showing greater willingness to submit themselves to the priests, when a conflict occurred that revealed to the padres what they might have to contend with in their future efforts towards the Christianizing of the natives. The day before the feast of St. Francis (October 4, 1775), Padres Jayme and Fuster were made happy by being required to baptize sixty new converts. Yet a few days later they were saddened by the fact that two of these newly baptized fled from the Mission and escaped to the mountains, there to stir up enmity and revolt. For nearly a month they moved about, fanning the fires of hatred against the "long gowns," until on the night of November 4 (1775) nearly eight hundred naked savages, after dusk, stealthily advanced and surrounded the Mission, where the inmates slept unguarded, so certain were they of their security. Part of the force went on to the presidio, where, in the absence of the commander, the laxity of discipline was such that no sentinel was on guard.
An hour after midnight the whole of the Mission was surrounded. The quarters of the Christianized Indians were invaded, and they were threatened with instantaneous death if they gave the alarm. The church was broken into, and all the vestments and sacred vessels stolen. Then the buildings were fired. Not until then did the inmates know of their danger. Imagine their horror, to wake up and find the building on fire and themselves surrounded by what, in their dazed condition, seemed countless hordes of savages, all howling, yelling, brandishing war-clubs, firing their arrows,--the scene made doubly fearful by the red glare of the flames.
In the guard-house were four soldiers,--the whole of the Mission garrison; in the house the two priests, Jayme and Fuster, two little boys, and three men (a blacksmith and two carpenters). Father Fuster, the two boys, and the blacksmith sought to reach the guard-house, but the latter was slain on the way. The Indians broke into the room where the carpenters were, and one of them was so cruelly wounded that he died the next day.
Father Jayme, with the shining light of martyrdom in his eyes, and the fierce joy of fearlessness in his heart, not only refused to seek shelter, but deliberately walked towards the howling band, lifting his hands in blessing with his usual salutation: "Love God, my children!" Scarcely were the words uttered when the wild band fell upon him, shrieking and crying, tearing off his habit, thrusting him rudely along, hurting him with stones, sticks, and battle-axe, until at the edge of the creek his now naked body was bruised until life was extinct, and then the corpse filled with arrows.
Three soldiers and the carpenter, with Father Fuster and two boys loading the guns for them, fought off the invaders from a near-by kitchen, and at dawn the attacking force gathered up their dead and wounded and retired to the mountains.
No sooner were they gone than the neophytes came rushing up to see if any were left alive. Their delight at finding Father Fuster was immediately changed into sadness as others brought in the awfully mutilated and desecrated body of Father Jayme. Not until then did Father Fuster know that his companion was dead, and deep was the mourning of his inmost soul as he performed the last offices for his dear companion.
Strange to say, so careless was the garrison that not until a messenger reached it from Father Fuster did they know of the attack. They had placed no guards, posted no sentinels, and, indifferent in their foolish scorn of the prowess and courage of the Indians, had slept calmly, though they themselves might easily have been surprised, and the whole garrison murdered while asleep.
In the meantime letters were sent for aid to Rivera at Monterey, and Anza, the latter known to be approaching from the Colorado River region; and in suspense until they arrived, the little garrison and the remaining priests passed the rest of the year. The two commanders met at San Gabriel, and together marched to San Diego, where they arrived January 11, 1776. It was not long before they quarreled. Anza was for quick, decisive action; Rivera was for delay; so, when news arrived from San Gabriel that the food supply was running short, Anza left in order to carry out his original orders, which involved the founding of San Francisco. Not long after his departure Carlos, the neophyte who had been concerned in the insurrection, returned to San Diego, and, doubtless acting under the suggestion of the padres, took refuge in the temporary church at the presidio.
An unseemly squabble now ensued between Rivera and Padre Lasuen, the former violating the sanctuary of the church to arrest the Indian. Lasuen, on the next feast day, refused to say mass until Rivera and his violating officers had retired.
All this interfered with resumption of work on the church; so Serra himself went to San Diego, and, finding the ship "San Antonio" in the harbor, made an arrangement with Captain Choquet to supply sailors to do the building under his own direction. Rivera was then written to for a guard, and he sent six soldiers. On August 22, 1777, the three padres, Choquet with his mate and boatswain and twenty sailors, a company of neophytes, and the six soldiers went to the old site and began work in earnest, digging the foundations, making adobes, and collecting stones. The plan was to build a wall for defense, and then erect the church and other buildings inside. For fifteen days all went well. Then an Indian went to Rivera with a story that hostile Indians were preparing arrows for a new attack, and this so scared the gallant officer that he withdrew his six men. Choquet had to leave with his men, as he dared not take the responsibility of being away with so many men without the consent of Rivera; and, to the padre's great sorrow, the work had to cease.
In March of 1778 Captain Carrillo was sent to chastise hostile Indians at Pamó who had sent insolent messages to Captain Ortega. Carrillo surprised the foe, killed two, burned others who took refuge in a hut, while the others surrendered and were publicly flogged. The four chiefs, Aachel, Aalcuirin, Aaran, and Taguagui, were captured, taken to San Diego, and there shot, though the officer had no legal right to condemn even an Indian to death without the approval of the governor. Ortega's sentence reads: "Deeming it useful to the service of God, the King, and the public weal, I sentence them to a violent death by two musket-shots on the 11th at 9 A.M., the troops to be present at the execution under arms also all the Christian rancherías subject to the San Diego Mission, that they may be warned to act righteously."
Ortega then instructed Padres Lasuen and Figuer to prepare the condemned. "You will co-operate for the good of their souls in the understanding that if they do not accept the salutary waters of baptism they die on Saturday morning; and if they do--they die all the same!" This was the first public execution in California.
In 1780 the new church, built of adobe, strengthened and roofed with pine timbers, ninety feet long and seventeen feet wide and high, was completed.
In 1782 fire destroyed the old presidio church.
In 1783 Lasuen made an interesting report on the condition of San Diego. At the Mission there were church, granary, storehouse, hospital, men's house, shed for wood and oven, two houses for the padres, larder, guest-room, and kitchen. These, with the soldiers' barracks, filled three sides of a square of about one hundred and sixty feet, and on the fourth side was an adobe wall, nearly ten feet high. There were seven hundred and forty neophytes at that time under missionary care, though Lasuen spoke most disparagingly of the location as a Mission site.
In 1824 San Diego registered its largest population, being then eighteen hundred and twenty-nine.
When Spanish rule ended, and the Mexican empire and republic sent its first governor, Echeandía, he decided to make San Diego his home; so for the period of his governorship, though he doubtless lived at or near the presidio, the Mission saw more or less of him. As is shown in the chapter on Secularization, he was engaged in a thankless task when he sought to change the Mission system, and there was no love lost between the governor's house and the Mission.
In 1833 Governor Figueroa visited San Diego Mission in person, in order to exhort the neophytes to seize the advantages of citizenship which the new secularization regulations were to give to them; but, though they heard him patiently, and there and at San Luis Rey one hundred and sixty families were found to be duly qualified for "freedom," only ten could be found to accept it.
On March 29, 1843, Governor Micheltorena issued a decree which restored San Diego Mission temporalities to the management of the padre. He explained in his prelude that the decree was owing to the fact that the Mission establishments had been reduced to the mere space occupied by the buildings and orchards, that the padres had no support but that of charity, etc. Mofras gives the number of Indians in 1842 as five hundred, but an official report of 1844 gives only one hundred. The Mission retained the ranches of Santa Isabel and El Cajon until 1844-1845, and then, doubtless, they were sold or rented in accordance with the plans of Pio Pico.
To-day nothing but thefachadaof the church remains, and that has recently been braced or it would have fallen. There are a few portions of walls also, and a large part of the adobe wall around the garden remains. The present owner of the orchard, in digging up some of the old olive trees, has found a number of interesting relics, stirrups, a gun-barrel, hollow iron cannon-balls, metates, etc. These are all preserved and shown as "curios," together with beams from the church, and the old olive-mill.
By the side of the ruined church a newer and modern brick building now stands. It destroys the picturesqueness of the old site, but it is engaged in a good work. Father Ubach, the indefatigable parish priest of San Diego, who died a few years ago, and who was possessed of the spirit of the old padres, erected this building for the training of the Indian children of the region. On one occasion I asked the children if they knew any of the "songs of the old," the songs their Indian grandparents used to sing; and to my delight, they sang two of the old chorals taught their ancestors in the early Mission days by the padres.
FACHADA OF THE RUINED MISSION OF SAN DIEGO.
OLD MISSION OF SAN DIEGO AND SISTERS SCHOOL FOR INDIAN CHILDREN.
MAIN ENTRANCE ARCH AT MISSION SAN DIEGO.
THE TOWER AT MISSION SAN CARLOS BORROMEO.
A brief account of the founding of San Carlos at Monterey, June 3, 1770, was given in an earlier chapter. What joy the discovery of the harbor and founding of the Mission caused in Mexico and Spain can be understood when it is remembered that for two centuries this thing had been desired. In the Mexican city the bells of the Cathedral rang forth merry peals as on special festival days, and a solemn mass of thanksgiving was held, at which all the city officials and dignitaries were present. A full account of the event was printed and distributed there and in Spain, so that, for a time at least, California occupied a large share of public attention.
The result of the news of the founding of San Carlos was that all were enthused for further extension of the Missions. The indefatigable Galvez at once determined that five new Missions should be founded, and the Guardian of the Franciscan College was asked for, and agreed to send, ten more missionaries for the new establishments, as well as twenty for the old and new Missions on the peninsula.
At the end of the year 1773 Serra made his report to Mexico, and then it was found that there were more converts at San Carlos than at any other Mission. Three Spanish soldiers had married native women.
A little later, as the mud roofs were not successful in keeping out the winter rains, a new church was built, partly of rough and partly of worked lumber, and roofed with tules. The lumber used was the pine and cypress for which the region is still noted.
There was little agriculture, only five fanegas of wheat being harvested in 1772. Each Mission received eighteen head of horned cattle at its founding, and San Carlos reported a healthy increase.
In 1772 Serra left for Mexico, to lay matters from the missionary standpoint before the new viceroy, Bucareli. He arrived in the city of Mexico in February, 1773. With resistless energy and eloquence he pleaded for the preservation of the shipyard of San Blas, the removal of Fages, the correction of certain abuses that had arisen as the result of Fages's actions, and for further funds, soldiers, etc., to prosecute the work of founding more Missions. In all the main points his mission was successful. Captain Rivera y Moncada, with whose march from the peninsula we are already familiar, was appointed governor; and at the same time that he received his instructions, August 17, 1773, Captain Juan Bautista de Anza was authorized to attempt the overland journey from Sonora to Monterey.
As we have already seen, this trip was successful and led to the second, in which the colonists and soldiers for the new Mission of San Francisco were brought.
In 1776 Serra's heart was joyed with the thought that he was to wear a martyr's crown, for there was a rumor of an Indian uprising at San Carlos; but the presence of troops sent over from Monterey seemed to end the trouble.
In 1779 a maritime event of importance occurred. The padres at San Carlos and the soldiers at Monterey saw a galleon come into the bay, which proved to be the "San José," from Manila. It should have remained awhile, but contrary winds arose, and it sailed away for San Lucas. But the king later issued orders that all Manila galleons must call at Monterey, under a penalty of four thousand dollars, unless prevented by stress of weather.
In 1784 Serra died and was buried at San Carlos.
For a short time after Serra's death, the duties of padre presidente fell upon Palou; but in February, 1785, the college of San Fernando elected Lasuen to the office, and thereafter he resided mainly at San Carlos.
September 14, 1786, the eminent French navigator, Jean François Galaup de la Pérouse, with two vessels, appeared at Monterey, and the Frenchman in the account of his trip gives us a vivid picture of his reception at the Mission of San Carlos.
A few years later Vancouver, the English navigator, also visited San Francisco, Santa Clara, and San Carlos. He was hospitably entertained by Lasuen, but when he came again, he was not received so warmly, doubtless owing to the fearfulness of the Spaniards as to England's intentions.
When Pico issued his decrees in 1845, San Carlos was regarded as a pueblo, or abandoned Mission, Padre Real residing at Monterey and holding services only occasionally. The little property that remained was to be sold at auction for the payment of debts and the support of worship, but there is no record of property, debts, or sale. The glory of San Carlos was departed.
For many years no one cared for the building, and it was left entirely to the mercy of the vandal and relic hunter. In 1852 the tile roof fell in, and all the tiles, save about a thousand, were either then broken, or afterwards stolen. The rains and storms beating in soon brought enough sand to form a lodgment for seeds, and ere long a dense growth of grass and weeds covered the dust of California's great apostle.
InGlimpses of Californiaby H.H., Mr. Sandham, the artist, has a picture which well illustrates the original spring of the roof and curve of the walls. There were three buttresses,from whichsprang the roof arches. The curves of the walls were made by increasing the thickness at the top, as can be seen from the window spaces on each side, which still remain in their original condition. The building is about one hundred and fifty feet long by thirty feet wide.
In 1868 Rev. Angelo D. Cassanova became the pastor of the parish church at Monterey, and though Serra's home Mission was then a complete mass of ruins, he determined upon its preservation, at least from further demolition. The first step was to clear away the débris that had accumulated since its abandonment, and then to locate the graves of the missionaries. On July 3, 1882, after due notice in the San Francisco papers, over four hundred people assembled at San Carlos, the stone slab was removed, and the bodies duly identified.
The discovery of the bodies of Serra, Crespí, Lopez, and Lasuen aroused some sentiment and interest in Father Cassanova's plan of restoration; and sufficient aid came to enable him properly to restore and roof the building. On August 28, 1884, the rededication took place, and the building was left as it is found to-day.
The old pulpit still remains. It is reached by steps from the sacristy through a doorway in the main side wall. It is a small and unpretentious structure of wood, with wooden sounding-board above. It rests upon a solid stone pedestal, cut into appropriate shaft and mouldings. The door is of solid oak, substantially built.
In the sacristy is a double lavatory of solid sandstone, hewn and arranged for flowing water. It consists of two basins, one above the other, the latter one well recessed. The lower basin is structurally curved in front, and the whole piece is of good and artistic workmanship.
In the neighborhood of San Carlos there are enough residents to make up a small congregation, and it is the desire of Father Mestris, the present priest at Monterey, to establish a parish there, have a resident minister, and thus restore the old Mission to its original purpose.
Before leaving San Carlos it will be well to explain the facts in regard to the Mission church at Monterey. Many errors have been perpetuated about this church. There is little doubt but that originally the Mission was established here, and the first church built on this site. But as I have elsewhere related, Padre Serra found it unwise to have the Indians and the soldiers too near together.
In the establishment of the Missions, the presidios were founded to be a means of protection to the padres in their work of civilizing and Christianizing the natives. These presidios were at San Diego, Monterey, San Francisco, and Santa Barbara. Each was supposed to have its own church or chapel, and the original intention was that each should likewise have its own resident priest. For purposes of economy, however, this was not done, and the Mission padres were called upon for this service, though it was often a source of disagreement between the military and the missionaries. While the Monterey church that occupied the site of the present structure may, in the first instance, have been used by Serra for the Mission, it was later used as the church for the soldiers, and thus became the presidio chapel. I have been unable to learn when it was built but about fifty years ago Governor Pacheco donated the funds for its enlargement. The original building was extended back a number of feet, and an addition made, which makes the church of cruciform shape, the original building being the long arm of the cross. The walls are built of sandstone rudely quarried at the rear of the church. It is now the parish church of Monterey.
Here are a large number of interesting relics and memorials of Serra and the early Mission days. The chief of these is a reliquary case, made by an Indian at San Carlos to hold certain valuable relics which Serra highly prized. Some of these are bones from the Catacombs, and an Agnus Dei of wax. Serra himself wrote the list of contents on a slip of paper, which is still intact on the back of the case. This reliquary used to be carried in procession by Serra on each fourth of November, and is now used by Father Mestris in like ceremonials.
PRESIDIO CHURCH AND PRIEST'S RESIDENCE, MONTEREY, CALIF.
MISSION SAN CARLOS.
MISSION SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA.
PRESIDIO CHURCH, MONTEREY.
In the altar space or sanctuary are five chairs, undoubtedly brought to California by one of the Philippine galleons from one of those islands, or from China. The bodies are of teak, ebony, or ironwood, with seats of marble, and with a disk of marble in the back.
In the sacristy is the safe in which Serra used to keep the sacred vessels, as well as the important papers connected with his office. It is an interesting object, sheeted with iron, wrapped around with iron bands and covered all over with bosses. It is about three feet wide and four feet high. In the drawers close by are several of the copes, stoles, maniples, and other vestments which were once used by Serra at the old Mission.
The third Mission of the series was founded in honor of San Antonio de Padua, July 14, 1771, by Serra, accompanied by Padres Pieras and Sitjar. One solitary Indian heard the dedicatory mass, but Serra's enthusiasm knew no bounds. He was assured that this "first fruit of the wilderness" would go forth and bring many of his companions to the priests. Immediately after the mass he hastened to the Indian, lavished much attention on him, and gave him gifts. That same day many other Indians came and clearly indicated a desire to stay with such pleasant company. They brought pine-nuts and acorns, and the padres gave them in exchange strings of glass beads of various colors.
At once buildings were begun, in which work the Indians engaged with energy, and soon church and dwellings, surrounded by a palisade, were completed. From the first the Indians manifested confidence in the padres, and the fifteen days that Padre Serra remained were days of intense joy and gladness at seeing the readiness of natives to associate with him and his brother priests. Without delay they began to learn the language of the Indians, and when they had made sufficient progress they devoted much time to catechising them. In two years 158 natives were baptized and enrolled, and instead of relying upon the missionaries for food, they brought in large quantities of acorns, pine-nuts, squirrels, and rabbits. The Mission being located in the heart of the mountains, where pine and oak trees grew luxuriantly, the pine-nut and acorn were abundant. Before the end of 1773 the church and dwellings were all built, of adobe, and three soldiers, who had married native women, were living in separate houses.
In August of 1774 occurred the first trouble. The gentile Indians, angered at the progress of the Mission and the gathering in of so many of their people, attacked the Mission and wounded an Indian about to be baptized. When the news reached Rivera at Monterey, he sent a squad of soldiers, who captured the culprits, gave them a flogging, and imprisoned them. Later they were flogged again, and, after a few days in the stocks, they were released.
In 1779 an alcalde and regidore were chosen from the natives to assist in the administration of justice. In 1800 the report shows that the neophyte population was 1118, with 767 baptisms and 656 deaths. The cattle and horses had decreased from 2232 of the last report to 2217, but small stock had slightly increased. In 1787 the church was regarded as the best in California, though it was much improved later, for in 1797 it is stated that it was of adobes with a tiled roof. In 1793 the large adobe block, eighty varas long and one vara wide, was constructed for friars' houses, church and storehouse, and it was doubtless this church that was tiled four years later.
In 1805 it gained its highest population, there being 1296 Indians under its control. The lands of the Mission were found to be barren, necessitating frequent changes in cultivated fields and stock ranges.
In 1808 the venerable Buenaventura Sitjar, one of the founders of the Mission, and who had toiled there continuously for thirty-seven years, passed to his reward, and was buried in sight of the hills he had loved so long. The following year, or in 1810, work was begun on a newer and larger church of adobes, and this is doubtless the building whose ruins now remain. Though we have no record of its dedication, there is no question but that it took place prior to 1820, and in 1830 references are made to its arched corridors, etc., built of brick. Robinson, who visited it in this year, says the whole Mission is built of brick, but in this he is in error. Thefachadais of brick, but the main part of the building is of adobe. Robinson speaks thus of the Mission and its friar: "Padre Pedro Cabot, the present missionary director, I found to be a fine, noble-looking man, whose manner and whole deportment would have led one to suppose he had been bred in the courts of Europe, rather than in the cloister. Everything was in the most perfect order: the Indians cleanly and well dressed, the apartments tidy, the workshops, granaries, and storehouses comfortable and in good keeping."
RUINS Of MISSION SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA.
DUTTON HOTEL, JOLON.On the old stage route between San Francisco and Los Angeles,near Mission San Antonio de Padua.
RUINED CORRIDORS AT SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA.
In 1834 Cabot retired to give place to Padre Jesus María Vasquez del Mercado, one of the newly arrived Franciscans from Zacatecas. In this year the neophyte population had dwindled to 567, and five years later Visitador Hartwell found only 270 living at the Mission and its adjoining ranches. It is possible, however, that there were fully as many more living at a distance of whom he gained no knowledge, as the official report for 1840 gives 500 neophytes.
Manuel Crespo was the comisionado for secularization in 1835, and he and Padre Mercado had no happy times together. Mercado made it so unpleasant that six other administrators were appointed in order to please him, but it was a vain attempt. As a consequence, the Indians felt the disturbances and discord, and became discontented and unmanageable.
In 1843, according to Governor Micheltorena's order of March 29, the temporal control of the Mission was restored to the padre. But, though the order was a kindly one, and relieved the padre from the interference of officious, meddling, inefficient, and dishonest "administrators," it was too late to effect any real service.
As far as I can learn, Pico's plan did not affect San Antonio, and it was not one of those sold by him in 1845-1846. In 1848 Padre Doroteo Ambris was in charge as curate. For thirty years he remained here, true to his calling, an entirely different kind of man from the quarrelsome, arrogant, drinking, and gambling Mercado. He finally died at San Antonio, and was buried in the Mission he guarded so well.
In 1904 the California Historic Landmarks League (Inc.) undertook the preservation of San Antonio, but little has yet been accomplished. Much more should speedily be done, if the walls are to be kept from falling.
We have already seen that San Gabriel, the fourth Mission, was founded September 8, 1771. The natives gave cheerful assistance in bringing timber, erecting the wooden buildings, covering them with tules, and constructing the stockade enclosure which surrounded them. They also brought offerings of acorns and pine-nuts. In a few days so many of them crowded into camp that Padre Somero went to San Diego for an addition to the guard, and returned with two extra men. It was not long before the soldiers got into trouble, owing to their treatment of the Indian women, and an Indian attack, as before related, took place. A few days later, Fages appeared on the scene from San Diego with sixteen soldiers and two missionaries, who were destined as guard and priests for the new Mission of San Buenaventura. But the difficulty with the Indians led Fages to postpone the founding of the new Mission. The offending soldier was hurried off to Monterey to get him out of the way of further trouble. The padres did their best to correct the evil impression the soldiers had created, and, strange to say, the first child brought for baptism was the son of the chief who had been killed in the dispute with the soldiers.
But the San Gabriel soldiers were not to be controlled. They were insolent to the aged priests, who were in ill-health; they abused the Indians so far as to pursue them to their rancherías "for the fun of the thing;" and there they had additional "sport" by lassoing the women and killing such men as interfered with their lusts. No wonder Serra's heart was heavy when he heard the news, and that he attributed the small number of baptisms--only seventy-three in two years--to the wickedness of the men who should have aided instead of hindering the work.
In his first report to Mexico, Serra tells of the Indian population around San Gabriel. He says it is larger than at any other Mission, though, unfortunately, of several different tribes who are at war with one another; and the tribes nearest to the sea will not allow others to fish, so that they are often in great want of food. Of the prospects for agriculture he is most enthusiastic. The location is a well-watered plain, with plenty of water and natural facilities for irrigation; and though the first year's crop was drowned out, the second produced one hundred and thirty fanegas of maize and seven fanegas of beans. The buildings erected are of the same general character as those already described at San Carlos, though somewhat smaller.
INTERIOR OF MISSION SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA.
REAR OF CHURCH, MISSION SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA.
RUINS OF THE ARCHES, MISSION SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA.
MISSION SAN GABRIEL ARCÁNGEL.
When Captain Anza reached California from Sonora, by way of the Colorado, on his first trip in 1774, accompanied by Padre Garcés, he stayed for awhile to recuperate at San Gabriel; and when he came the second time, with the colonists for the new presidio of San Francisco, San Gabriel was their first real stopping-place after that long, weary, and arduous journey across the sandy deserts of Arizona and California. Here Anza met Rivera, who had arrived the day before from Monterey. It will be remembered that just at that time the news came of the Indian uprising at San Diego; so, leaving his main force and the immigrants to recuperate, he and seventeen of his soldiers, with Padre Font, started with Rivera for the south. This was in January, 1776. He and Rivera did not agree as to the best methods to be followed in dealing with the troublesome Indians; so, when advices reached him from San Gabriel that provisions were giving out, he decided to allow Rivera to follow his own plans, but that he would wait no longer. When he arrived at San Gabriel, February 12, he found that three of his muleteers, a servant, and a soldier belonging to the Mission had deserted, taking with them twenty-five horses and a quantity of Mission property. His ensign, Moraga, was sent after the deserters; but, as he did not return as soon as was expected, Anza started with his band of colonists for the future San Francisco, where they duly arrived, as is recorded in the San Francisco chapter.
In 1777-1778 the Indians were exceedingly troublesome, and on one occasion came in large force, armed, to avenge some outrage the soldiers had perpetrated. The padres met them with a shining image of Our Lady, when, immediately, they were subdued, and knelt weeping at the feet of the priests.
In October, 1785, trouble was caused by a woman tempting (so they said) the neophytes and gentiles to attack the Mission and kill the padres. The plot was discovered, and the corporal in command captured some twenty of the leaders and quelled the uprising without bloodshed. Four of the ringleaders were imprisoned, the others whipped with fifteen or twenty lashes each, and released. The woman was sentenced to perpetual exile, and possibly shipped off to one of the peninsula Missions.
In 1810 the settlers at Los Angeles complained to the governor that the San Gabriel padres had dammed up the river at Cahuenga, thus cutting off their water supply; and they also stated that the padres refused to attend to the spiritual wants of their sick. The padres offered to remove the dam if the settlers were injured thereby, and also claimed that they were always glad to attend to the sick when their own pressing duties allowed.
On January 14, 1811, Padre Francisco Dumetz, one of Serra's original compadres, died at San Gabriel. At this time, and since 1806, Padre José María Zalvidea, that strict martinet of padres, was in charge, and he brought the Mission up to its highest state of efficiency. He it was who began the erection of the stone church that now remains, and the whole precinct, during his rule, rang with the busy hammer, clatter, chatter, and movement of a large number of active workers.
It was doubtless owing to the earthquake of December 8, 1812, which occurred at sunrise, that a new church was built. The main altar was overthrown, several of the figures broken, the steeple toppled over and crashed to the ground, and the sacristy walls were badly cracked. The padres' house as well as all the other buildings suffered.
One of the adjuncts to San Gabriel wasEl Molino Viejo,--the old mill. Indeed there weretwoold mills, the first one, however, built in Padre Zalvidea's time, in 1810 to 1812, being the one that now remains. It is about two miles from the Mission. It had to be abandoned on account of faulty location. Being built on the hillside, its west main wall was the wall of the deep funnel-shaped cisterns which furnished the water head. This made the interior damp. Then, too, the chamber in which the water-well revolved was so low that the powerful head of water striking the horizontal wheel splashed all over the walls and worked up through the shaft holes to the mill stones and thus wet the flour. This necessitated the constant presence of Indian women to carry away the meal to dry storerooms at the Mission where it was bolted by a hand process of their own devising. On this account the mill was abandoned, and for several years the whole of the meal for the Mission was ground on the old-style metates.
The region adjacent to the mill was once largely inhabited by Indians, for the foreman of the mill ranch declares that he has hauled from the adjacent bluff as many stone pestles and mortars, metates and grinders as would load a four-horse wagon.
It should not be forgotten that originally the mill was roofed with red tiles made by the Indians at the Mission; but these have entirely disappeared.
It was the habit of Padre Zalvidea to send certain of his most trusted neophytes over to the islands of San Clemente and Catalina with a "bolt" or two of woven serge, made at the Mission San Gabriel, to exchange with the island Indians for their soapstone cooking vessels,--mortars, etc. These traders embarked from a point where Redondo now is, and started always at midnight.
In 1819 the Indians of the Guachama rancho, called San Bernardino, petitioned for the introduction of agriculture and stock raising, and this was practically the beginning of thatasistencia, as will be recorded in the chapter on the various chapels. A chapel was also much needed at Puente, where Zalvidea had six hundred Indians at work in 1816.
In 1822 San Gabriel was fearfully alarmed at the rumor that one hundred and fifty Indians were bearing down upon that Mission from the Colorado River region. It transpired that it was an Opata with despatches, and that the company had no hostile intent. But Captain Portilla met them and sent them back, not a little disconcerted by their inhospitable reception.
Of the wild, political chaos that occurred in California after Mexico became independent of Spain, San Gabriel felt occasional waves. When the people of San Diego and the southern part of the State rebelled against Governor Victoria, and the latter confident chief came to arrange matters, a battle took place near Los Angeles, in which he was severely wounded. His friends bore him to San Gabriel, and, though he had entirely defeated his foes, so cleverly did some one work upon his fears that he made a formal surrender, December 6, 1831. On the ninth the leader of the rebels, the former Governor Echeandía, had a conference with him at San Gabriel, where he pledged himself to return to Mexico without giving further trouble; and on the twentieth he left, stopping for awhile at San Luis Rey with Padre Peyri. It was at this time the venerable and worthy Peyri decided to leave California, and he therefore accompanied the deposed governor to San Diego, from which port they sailed January 17, 1832.
After secularization San Gabriel was one of the Missions that slaughtered a large number of her cattle for the hides and tallow. Pio Pico states that he had the contract at San Gabriel, employing ten vaqueros and thirty Indians, and that he thus killed over five thousand head. Robinson says that the rascally contractors secretly appropriated two hides for every one they turned over to the Mission.
In 1843, March 29, Micheltorena's order, restoring San Gabriel to the padres, was carried out, and in 1844 the official church report states that nothing is left but its vineyards in a sad condition, and three hundred neophytes. The final inventory made by the comisionados under Pio Pico is missing, so that we do not know at what the Mission was valued; but June 8, 1846, he sold the whole property to Reid and Workman in payment for past services to the government. When attacked for his participation in what evidently seemed the fraudulent transfer of the Mission, Pico replies that the sale "did not go through." The United States officers, in August of the same year, dispossessed the "purchasers," and the courts finally decreed the sale invalid.
There are a few portions of the old cactus hedge still remaining, planted by Padre Zalvidea. Several hundreds of acres of vineyard and garden were thus enclosed for purposes of protection from Indians and roaming bands of horses and cattle. The fruit of the prickly pear was a prized article of diet by the Indians, so that the hedge was of benefit in two ways,--protection and food.
On the altar are several of the old statues, and there are some quaint pictures upon the walls.
In the baptistry is a font of hammered copper, probably made either at San Gabriel or San Fernando. There are several other interesting vessels. At the rear of the church are the remains of five brick structures, where the soap-making and tallow-rendering of the Mission was conducted. Five others were removed a few years ago to make way for the public road. Undoubtedly there were other buildings for the women and male neophytes as well as the workshops.
The San Gabriel belfry is well known in picture, song, and story. Yet the fanciful legends about the casting of the bells give way to stern fact when they are examined. Upon the first bell is the inscription: "Ave María Santisima. S. Francisco. De Paula Rvelas, me fecit." The second: "Cast by G.H. Holbrook, Medway, Mass., 1828." The third: "Ave Maria, Sn Jvan Nepomvseno, Rvelas me fecit, A.D., '95." The fourth: "Fecit Benitvs a Regibvs, Ano D. 1830, Sn. Frano."
In the year 1886 a number of needed repairs were made; the windows were enlarged, and a new ceiling put in, the latter a most incongruous piece of work.