ANOTHER VIEW OF THE WALLS OF MISSION LA SOLEDAD.
MISSION SAN JOSÉ. SOON AFTER THE DECREE OF SECULARIZATION. From an old print.
FIGURE OF CHRIST, MISSION SAN JOSÉ ORPHANAGE.
After the changes brought about by political administration the number of Indians rapidly decreased, and the property acquired by their united toil quickly dwindled away, until little was left but poverty and suffering.
At the time secularization was effected in 1835, according to the inventory made, the estate, aside from church property, was valued at $36,000. Six years after secular authorities took charge only about 70 Indians remained, with 45 cattle, 25 horses, and 865 sheep,--and a large debt had been incurred. On June 4, 1846, the Soledad Mission was sold to Feliciano Soveranes for $800.
One of the pitiful cases that occurred during the decline of the Missions was the death of Padre Sarría, which took place at Soledad in 1835, or, as some authorities state, in 1838. This venerable priest had been very prominent in missionary labors, having occupied the position ofComisario Prefectoduring many years. He was also the presidente for several years. As a loyal Spaniard he declined to take the oath of allegiance to the Mexican Republic, and was nominally under arrest for about five years, or subject to exile; but so greatly was he revered and trusted as a man of integrity and as a business manager of great ability that the order of exile was never enforced. The last years of his life were spent at the Mission of Our Lady of Solitude. When devastation began and the temporal prosperity of the Mission quickly declined, this faithful pastor of a fast thinning flock refused to leave the few poverty-stricken Indians who still sought to prolong life in their old home. One Sunday morning, while saying mass in the little church, the enfeebled and aged padre fell before the altar and immediately expired. As it had been reported that he was "leading a hermit's life and destitute of means," it was commonly believed that this worthy and devoted missionary was exhausted from lack of proper food, and in reality died of starvation.
There were still a few Indians at Soledad in 1850, their scattered huts being all that remained of the once large rancherías that existed here.
The ruins of Soledad are about four miles from the station of the Southern Pacific of that name. The church itself is at the southwest corner of a mass of ruins. These are all of adobe, though the foundations are of rough rock. Flint pebbles have been mixed with the adobe of the church walls. They were originally about three feet thick, and plastered. A little of the plaster still remains.
In 1904 there was but one circular arch remaining in all the ruins; everything else had fallen in. The roof fell in thirty years ago. At the eastern end, where the arch is, there are three or four rotten beams still in place; and on the south side of the ruins, where one line of corridors ran, a few poles still remain. Heaps of ruined tiles lie here and there, just as they fell when the supporting poles rotted and gave way.
It is claimed by the Soberanes family in Soledad that the present ruins of the church are of the building erected about 1850 by their grandfather. The family lived in a house just southwest of the Mission, and there this grandfather was born. He was baptized, confirmed, and married in the old church, and when, after secularization, the Mission property was offered for sale, he purchased it. As the church--in the years of pitiful struggle for possession, of its temporalities--had been allowed to go to ruin, this true son of the Church erected the building, the ruins of which now bring sadness to the hearts of all who care for the Missions.
There was a period of rest after the founding of Santa Cruz and La Soledad. Padre Presidente Lasuen was making ready for a new and great effort. Hitherto the Mission establishments had been isolated units of civilization, each one alone in its work save for the occasional visits of governor, inspector, or presidente. Now they were to be linked together, by the founding of intermediate Missions, into one great chain, near enough for mutual help and encouragement, the boundary of one practically the boundary of the next one, both north and south. The two new foundations of Santa Cruz and Soledad were a step in this direction, but now the plan was to be completed. With the viceroy's approval, Governor Borica authorized Lasuen to have the regions between the old Missions carefully explored for new sites. Accordingly the padres and their guards were sent out, and simultaneously such a work of investigation began as was never before known. Reports were sent in, and finally, after a careful study of the whole situation, it was concluded that five new Missions could be established and a great annual saving thereby made in future yearly expenses. Governor Borica's idea was that the new Missions would convert all the gentile Indians west of the Coast Range. This done, the guards could be reduced at an annual saving of $15,000. This showing pleased the viceroy, and he agreed to provide the $1000 needed for each new establishment on the condition that no added military force be called for. The guardian of San Fernando College was so notified August 19, 1796; and on September 29 he in turn announced to the viceroy that the required ten missionaries were ready, but begged that no reduction be made in the guards at the Missions already established. Lasuen felt that it would create large demands upon the old Missions to found so many new ones all at once, as they must help with cattle, horses, sheep, neophyte laborers, etc.; yet, to obtain the Missions, he was willing to do his very best, and felt sure his brave associates would further his efforts in every possible way. Thus it was that San José was founded, as before related, on June 11, 1797. The same day all returned to Santa Clara, and five days elapsed ere the guards and laborers were sent to begin work. Timbers were cut and water brought to the location, and soon the temporary buildings were ready for occupancy. By the end of the year there were 33 converts, and in 1800, 286. A wooden structure with a grass roof served as a church.
In 1809, April 23, the new church was completed, and Presidente Tapis came and blessed it. The following day he preached, and Padre Arroyo de la Cuesta said mass before a large congregation, including other priests, several of the military, and people from the pueblo and Santa Clara, and various neophytes. The following July the cemetery was blessed with the usual solemnities.
In 1811 Padre Fortuni accompanied Padre Abella on a journey of exploration to the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. They were gone fifteen days, found the Indians very timid, and thought the shores of the Sacramento offered a favorable site for a new Mission.
In 1817 Sergeant Soto, with one hundred San José neophytes, met twelve soldiers from San Francisco, and proceeded, by boat, to pursue some fugitives. They went up a river, possibly the San Joaquin, to a marshy island where, according to Soto's report, a thousand hostiles were assembled, who immediately fell upon their pursuers and fought them for three hours. So desperately did they fight, relying upon their superior numbers, that Soto was doubtful as to the result; but eventually they broke and fled, swimming to places of safety, leaving many dead and wounded but no captives. Only one neophyte warrior was killed.
In 1820 San José reported a population of 1754, with 6859 large stock, 859 horses, etc., and 12,000 sheep.
For twenty-seven years Padre Duran, who from 1825 to 1827 was also the padre presidente, served Mission San José. In 1824 it reached its maximum of population in 1806 souls. In everything it was prosperous, standing fourth on the list both as to crops and herds.
Owing to its situation, being the first Mission reached by trappers, etc., from the east, and also being the nearest to the valleys of the Sacramento and San Joaquin, which afforded good retreats for fugitives, San José had an exciting history. In 1826 there was an expedition against the Cosumnes, in which forty Indians were killed, a ranchería destroyed, and forty captives taken. In 1829 the famous campaign against Estanislas, who has given his name to both a river and county, took place. This Indian was a neophyte of San José, and being of more than usual ability and smartness, was made alcalde. In 1827 or early in 1828 he ran away, and with a companion, Cipriano, and a large following, soon made himself the terror of the rancheros of the neighborhood. One expedition sent against him resulted disastrously, owing to insufficient equipment, so a determined effort under M.G. Vallejo, who was now the commander-in-chief of the whole California army, was made. May 29 he and his forces crossed the San Joaquin River on rafts, and arrived the next day at the scene of the former battle. With taunts, yells of defiance, and a shower of arrows, Estanislas met the coming army, he and his forces hidden in the fancied security of an impenetrable forest. Vallejo at once set men to work in different directions to fire the wood, which brought some of the Indians to the edge, where they were slain. As evening came on, twenty-five men and an officer entered the wood and fought until dusk, retiring with three men wounded. Next morning Vallejo, with thirty-seven soldiers, entered the wood, where he found pits, ditches, and barricades arranged with considerable skill. Nothing but fire could have dislodged the enemy. They had fled under cover of night. Vallejo set off in pursuit, and when, two days later, he surrounded them, they declared they would die rather than surrender. A road was cut through chaparral with axes, along which the field-piece and muskets were pressed forward and discharged. The Indians retreated slowly, wounding eight soldiers. When the cannon was close to the enemies' intrenchments the ammunition gave out, and this fact and the heat of the burning thicket compelled retreat. During the night the Indians endeavored to escape, one by one, but most of them were killed by the watchful guards. The next day nothing but the dead and three living women were found. There were some accusations, later, that Vallejo summarily executed some captives; but he denied it, and claimed that the only justification for any such charge arose from the fact that one man and one woman had been killed, the latter wrongfully by a soldier, whom he advised be punished.
Up to the time of secularization, the Mission continued to be one of the most prosperous. Jesus Vallejo was the administrator for secularization, and in 1837 he and Padre Gonzalez Rubio made an inventory which gave a total of over $155,000, when all debts were paid. Even now for awhile it seemed to prosper, and not until 1840 did the decline set in.
In accordance with Micheltorena's decree of March 29, 1843, San José was restored to the temporal control of the padres, who entered with good-will and zest into the labor of saving what they could out of the wreck. Under Pico's decree of 1845 the Mission was inventoried, but the document cannot now be found, nor a copy of it. The population was reported as 400 in 1842, and it is supposed that possibly 250 still lived at the Mission in 1845. On May 5, 1846, Pico sold all the property to Andrés Pico and J.B. Alvarado for $12,000, but the sale never went into effect.
Mission San José de Guadalupe and the pueblo of the same name are not, as so many people, even residents of California, think, one and the same. The pueblo of San José is now the modern city of that name, the home of the State Normal School, and the starting-point for Mount Hamilton. But Mission San José is a small settlement, nearly twenty miles east and north, in the foothills overlooking the southeast end of San Francisco Bay. The Mission church has entirely disappeared, an earthquake in 1868 having completed the ruin begun by the spoliation at the time of secularization. A modern parish church has since been built upon the site. Nothing of the original Mission now remains except a portion of the monastery. The corridor is without arches, and is plain and unpretentious, the roof being composed of willows tied to the roughly hewn log rafters with rawhide. Behind this is a beautiful old alameda of olives, at the upper end of which a modern orphanage, conducted by the Dominican Sisters, has been erected. This avenue of olives is crossed by another one at right angles, and both were planted by the padres in the early days, as is evidenced by the age of the trees. Doubtless many a procession of Indian neophytes has walked up and down here, even as I saw a procession of the orphans and their white-garbed guardians a short time ago. The surrounding garden is kept up in as good style under the care of the sisters as it was in early days by the padres.
The orphanage was erected in 1884 by Archbishop Alemany as a seminary for young men who wished to study for the priesthood, but it was never very successful in this work. For awhile it remained empty, then was offered to the Dominican Sisters as a boarding-school. But as this undertaking did not pay, in 1891 Archbishop Riordan offered such terms as led the Mother General of the Dominican Sisters to purchase it as an orphanage, and as such it is now most successfully conducted. There are at the present time about eighty children cared for by these sweet and gentle sisters of our Lord.
Two of the old Mission bells are hung in the new church. On one of these is the inscription: "S.S. José. Ano de 1826." And on the upper bell, "S.S. Joseph 1815, Ave María Purísima."
The old Mission baptismal font is also still in use. It is of hammered copper, about three feet in diameter, surmounted by an iron cross about eight inches high. The font stands upon a wooden base, painted, and is about four feet high.
The second of the "filling up the links of the chain" Missions was that of San Juan Bautista. Three days after the commandant of San Francisco had received his orders to furnish a guard for the founders of Mission San José, the commandant of Monterey received a like order for a guard for the founders of San Juan Bautista. This consisted of five men and Corporal Ballesteros. By June 17 this industrious officer had erected a church, missionary-house, granary, and guard-house, and a week later Lasuen, with the aid of two priests, duly founded the new Mission. The site was a good one, and by 1800 crops to the extent of 2700 bushels were raised. At the same time 516 neophytes were reported--not bad for two and a half years' work.
In 1798 the gentiles from the mountains twenty-five miles east of San Juan, the Ansayames, surrounded the Mission by night, but were prevailed upon to retire. Later some of the neophytes ran away and joined these hostiles, and then a force was sent to capture the runaways and administer punishment. In the ensuing fight a chief was killed and another wounded, and two gentiles brought in to be forcibly educated. Other rancherías were visited, fifty fugitives arrested, and a few floggings and many warnings given.
RUINED WALLS AND NEW BELL TOWER, MISSION SAN JUAN BAUTISTA.
FACHADA OF MISSION SAN JUAN BAUTISTA.
MISSION SAN JUAN BAUTISTA, FROM THE PLAZA.
THE ARCHED CORRIDOR, MISSION SAN JUAN BAUTISTA.
This did not prevent the Ansayames, however, from killing two Mutsunes at San Benito Creek, burning a house and some wheat-fields, and seriously threatening the Mission. Moraga was sent against them and captured eighteen hostiles and the chiefs of the hostile rancherías.
Almost as bad as warlike Indians were the earthquakes of that year, several in number, which cracked all the adobe walls of the buildings and compelled everybody--friars and Indians--to sleep out of doors for safety.
In 1803 the governor ordered the padres of San Juan to remove their stock from La Brea rancho, which had been granted to Mariano Castro. They refused on the grounds that the rancho properly belonged to the Mission and should not have been granted to Castro, and on appeal the viceroy confirmed their contention.
In June of this year the corner-stone of a new church was laid. Padre Viader conducted the ceremonies, aided by the resident priests. Don José de la Guerra was the sponsor, and Captain Font and Surgeon Morelos assisted.
In June, 1809, the image of San Juan was placed on the high altar in the sacristy, which served for purposes of worship until the completion of the church.
By the end of the decade the population had grown to 702, though the number of deaths was large, and it continued slowly to increase until in 1823 it reached its greatest population with 1248 souls.
The new church was completed and dedicated on June 23, 1812. In 1818 a new altar was completed, and a painter named Chavez demanded six reals a day for decorating. As the Mission could not afford this, a Yankee, known as Felipe Santiago--properly Thomas Doak--undertook the work, aided by the neophytes. In 1815 one of the ministers was Estéban Tapis, who afterwards became the presidente.
In 1836 San Juan was the scene of the preparations for hostility begun by José Castro and Alvarado against Governor Gutierrez. Meetings were held at which excited speeches were made advocating revolutionary methods, and the fife and drum were soon heard by the peaceful inhabitants of the old Mission. Many of the whites joined in with Alvarado and Castro, and the affair ultimated in the forced exile of the governor; Castro took his place until Alvarado was elected by thediputacion.
The regular statistics of San Juan cease in 1832, when there were 916 Indians registered. In 1835, according to the decree of secularization, 63 Indians were "emancipated." Possibly these were the heads of families. Among these were to be distributed land valued at $5120, live-stock, including 41 horses, $1782, implements, effects, etc., $1467.
The summary of statistics from the founding of the Mission in 1797 to 1834 shows 4100 baptisms, 1028 marriages, 3027 deaths. The largest number of cattle owned was 11,000 in 1820, 1598 horses in 1806, 13,000 sheep in 1816.
In 1845, when Pico's decree was issued, San Juan was considered a pueblo, and orders given for the sale of all property except a curate's house, the church, and a court-house. The inventory gave a value of $8000. The population was now about 150, half of whom were whites and the other half Indians.
It will be remembered that it was at San Juan that Castro organized his forces to repel what he considered the invasion of Frémont in 1846. From Gavilan heights, near by, the explorer looked down and saw the warlike preparations directed against him, and from there wrote his declaration: "I am making myself as strong as possible, in the intention that if we are unjustly attacked we will fight to extremity and refuse quarter, trusting to our country to avenge our death."
In 1846 Pico sold all that remained of San Juan Bautista--the orchard--to O. Deleissèques for a debt, and though he did not obtain possession at the time, the United States courts finally confirmed his claim. This was the last act in the history of the once prosperous Mission.
The entrance at San Juan Bautista seems more like that of a prison than a church. The Rev Valentin Closa, of the Company of Jesus, who for many years has had charge here, found that some visitors were so irresponsible that thefts were of almost daily occurrence. So he had a wooden barrier placed across the church from wall to wall, and floor to ceiling, through which a gate affords entrance, and this gate is kept padlocked with as constant watchfulness as is that of a prison. Passing this barrier, the two objects that immediately catch one's eye are the semicircular arch dividing the church from the altar and the old wooden pulpit on the left.
Of the modern bell-tower it can only be said that it is a pity necessity seemed to compel the erection of such an abortion. The old padres seldom, if ever, failed in their architectural taste. However one may criticise their lesser work, such as the decorations, he is compelled to admire theirlargework; they were right, powerful, and dignified in their straightforward simplicity. And it is pathetic that in later days, when workmen and money were scarce, the modern priests did not see some way of overcoming obstacles that would have been more harmonious with the old plans than is evidenced by this tower and many other similar incongruities, such as the steel bell-tower at San Miguel.
DOORWAY, MISSION SAN JUAN BAUTISTA.
STAIRWAY LEADING TO PULPIT, MISSION SAN JUAN BAUTISTA.
MISSION SAN MIGUEL ARCÁNGEL, FROM THE SOUTH.
MISSION SAN MIGUEL ARCÁNGEL AND CORRIDORS.
At San Juan Bautista the old reredos remains, though the altar is new. The six figures of the saints are the original ones placed there when it was first erected. In the center, at the top, is Our Lady of Guadalupe; to the left, San Antonio de Padua; to the right, San Isadore de Madrid (the patron saint of all farmers); below, in the center, is the saint of the Mission, San Juan Bautista, on his left, St. Francis, and on his right, San Buenaventura.
The baptistery is on the left, at the entrance. Over its old, solid, heavy doors rises a half-circular arch. Inside are two bowls of heavy sandstone.
In the belfry are two bells, one of which is modern, cast in San Francisco. The other is the largest Mission bell, I believe, in California. It bears the inscription: "Ave María Purísima S. Fernando RVELAS me Fecit 1809."
There is a small collection of objects of interest connected with the old Mission preserved in one room of the monastery. Among other things are two of the chorals; pieces of rawhide used for tying the beams, etc., in the original construction; the head of a bass-viol that used to be played by one of the Indians; a small mortar; and quite a number of books. Perhaps the strangest thing in the whole collection is an old barrel-organ made by Benjamin Dobson, The Minories, London. It has several barrels and on one of them is the following list of its tunes: Go to the Devil; Spanish Waltz; College Hornpipe; Lady Campbell's Reel. One can imagine with what feelings one of the sainted padres, after a peculiarly trying day with his aboriginal children, would put in this barrel, and while his lips said holy things, his hand instinctively ground out with vigor the first piece on the list.
Lasuen's third Mission, of 1797, was San Miguel, located near a large ranchería namedSagshpileel, and on the site calledVahiá. One reason for the selection of the location is given in the fact that there was plenty of water at Santa Isabel and San Marcos for the irrigation of three hundred fanegas of seed. To this day the springs of Santa Isabel are a joy and delight to all who know them, and the remains of the old irrigating canals and dams, dug and built by the padres, are still to be seen.
On the day of the founding, Lasuen's heart was made glad by the presentation of fifteen children for baptism. At the end of 1800 there were 362 neophytes, 372 horses and cattle, and 1582 smaller animals. The crop of 1800 was 1900 bushels.
Padre Antonio de la Concepción Horra, who was shortly after deported as insane, and who gave Presidente Lasuen considerable trouble by preferring serious charges against the Missions, was one of the first ministers.
In February of 1801 the two padres were attacked with violent pains in the stomach and they feared the neophytes had poisoned them, but they soon recovered. Padre Pujol, who came from Monterey to aid them, did not fare so well for he was taken sick in a similar manner and died. Three Indians were arrested, but it was never decided whether poison had been used or not. The Indians escaped when being taken north to the presidio, and eventually the padres pleaded for their release, asking however that they be flogged in the presence of their families for having boasted that they had poisoned the padres.
In August, 1806, a disastrous fire occurred, destroying all the manufacturing part of the establishment as well as a large quantity of wool, hides, cloth, and 6000 bushels of wheat. The roof of the church was also partially burned. At the end of the decade San Miguel had a population of 973, and in the number of its sheep it was excelled only by San Juan Capistrano.
In 1818 a new church was reported as ready for roofing, and this was possibly built to replace the one partially destroyed by fire in 1806. In 1814 the Mission registered its largest population in 1076 neophytes, and in live-stock it showed satisfactory increase at the end of the decade, though in agriculture it had not been so successful.
Ten years later it had to report a great diminution in its flocks and herds and its neophytes. The soil and pasture were also found to be poor, though vines flourished and timber was plentiful. Robinson, who visited San Miguel at this time, reports it as a poor establishment and tells a large story about the heat suffocating the fleas. Padre Martin died in 1824.
In 1834 there were but 599 neophytes on the register. In 1836 Ignacio Coronel took charge in order to carry out the order of secularization, and when the inventory was made it showed the existence of property, excluding everything pertaining to the church, of $82,000. In 1839 this amount was reduced to $75,000. This large valuation was owing to the fact that there were several ranches and buildings and two large vineyards belonging to the Mission. These latter were Santa Isabel and Aguage, with 5500 vines, valued at $22,162.
The general statistics from the founding in 1797 to 1834 give 2588 baptisms, 2038 deaths; largest population was 1076 in 1814. The largest number of cattle was 10,558 in 1822, horses 1560 in 1822, mules 140 in 1817, sheep 14,000 in 1820.
In 1836 Padre Moreno reported that when Coronel came all the available property was distributed among the Indians, except the grain, and of that they carried off more than half. In 1838 the poor padre complained bitterly of his poverty and the disappearance of the Mission property. There is no doubt but that here as elsewhere the Mission was plundered on every hand, and the officers appointed to guard its interests were among the plunderers.
In 1844 Presidente Duran reported that San Miguel had neither lands nor cattle, and that its neophytes were demoralized and scattered for want of a minister. Pico's 1845 decree warned the Indians that they must return within a month and occupy their lands, or they would be disposed of; and in 1846 Pico reported the Mission sold, though no consideration is named, to P. Rios and Wm. Reed. The purchasers took possession, but the courts later declared their title invalid. In 1848 Reed and his whole family were atrociously murdered. The murderers were pursued; one was fatally wounded, one jumped into the sea and was drowned, and the other three were caught and executed.
The register of baptisms at San Miguel begins July 25, 1797, and up to 1861 contains 2917 names. Between the years 1844 and 1851 there is a vacancy, and only one name occurs in the latter year. The title-page is signed by Fr. Fermin Franco de Lasuen, and the priests in charge are named as Fr. Buenaventura Sitjar and Fr. Antonio de la Conceptión.
At the end of this book is a list of 43 children of the "gentes de razon" included in the general list, but here specialized for reference.
The registry of deaths contains 2249 names up to 1841. The first entry is signed by Fr. Juan Martin and the next two by Fr. Sitjar.
The old marriage register of the Mission of San Miguel is now at San Luis Obispo. It has a title-page signed by Fr. Lasuen.
In 1888 some of the old bells of the Mission were sent to San Francisco and there were recast into one large bell, weighing 2500 pounds. Until 1902 this stood on a rude wooden tower in front of the church, but in that year an incongruous steel tower took its place. Packed away in a box still remains one of the old bells, which has sounded its last call. A large hole is in one side of it. The inscription, as near as I can make out, reads "A. D. 1800, S.S. Gabriel."
In 1901 the outside of the church and monastery was restored with a coat of new plaster and cement. Inside nearly everything is as it was left by the robber hand of secularization.
On the walls are the ten oil paintings brought by the original founders. They are very indistinct in the dim light of the church, and little can be said of their artistic value without further examination.
There is also an old breviary with two heavy, hand-made clasps, dated Antwerp, 1735, and containing the autograph of Fr. Man. de Castañeda.
There is a quadrangle at San Miguel 230 feet square, and on one side of it a corridor corresponding to the one in front, for six pillars of burnt brick still remain.
At the rear of the church was the original church, used before the present one was built, and a number of remains of the old houses of the neophytes still stand, though in a very dilapidated condition.
San Miguel was always noted for its proximity to the Hot Springs and Sulphur Mud Baths of Paso Robles. Both Indians and Mission padres knew of their healthful and curative properties, and in the early days scores of thousands enjoyed their peculiar virtues. Little by little the "superior race" is learning that in natural therapeutics the Indian is a reasonably safe guide to follow; hence the present extensive use by the whites of the Mud and Sulphur Baths at Paso Robles. Methinks the Indians of a century ago, though doubtless astonished at the wonderful temple to the white man's God built at San Miguel, would wonder much more were they now to see the elaborate and splendid house recently erected at Paso Robles for the purpose of giving to more white people the baths, the virtue of which they so well knew.
SEEKING TO PREVENT THE PHOTOGRAPHER FROM MAKING A PICTURE OF MISSION SAN MIGUEL ARCÁNGEL.
OLD PULPIT AT MISSION SAN MIGUEL ARCÁNGEL.
RESTORED MONASTERY AND MISSION CHURCH OF SAN FERNANDO REY.
CORRIDORS AT SAN FERNANDO REY.
On September 8, 1797, the seventeenth of the California Missions was founded by Padre Lasuen, in the Encino Valley, where Francisco Reyes had a rancho in the Los Angeles jurisdiction. The natives called itAchois Comihavit. Reyes' house was appropriated as a temporary dwelling for the missionary. The Mission was dedicated to Fernando III, King of Spain. Lasuen came down from San Miguel to Santa Barbara, especially for the foundation, and from thence with Sergeant Olivera and a military escort. These, with Padre Francisco Dumetz, the priest chosen to have charge, and his assistant, Francisco Favier Uría, composed, with the large concourse of Indians, the witnesses of the solemn ceremonial.
On the fourth of October Olivera reported the guard-house and storehouse finished, two houses begun, and preparations already being made for the church.
From the baptismal register it is seen that ten children were baptized the first day, and thirteen adults were received early in October. By the end of 1797 there were fifty-five neophytes.
Three years after its founding 310 Indians were gathered in, and its year's crop was 1000 bushels of grain. The Missions of San Juan Capistrano, San Gabriel, San Buenaventura, and Santa Barbara had contributed live-stock, and now its herds had grown to 526 horses, mules, and cattle, and 600 sheep.
In December, 1806, an adobe church, with a tile roof, was consecrated, which on the 21st of December, 1812, was severely injured by the earthquake that did damage to almost all the Missions of the chain. Thirty new beams were needed to support the injured walls. A new chapel was built, which was completed in 1818.
In 1834 Lieutenant Antonio del Valle was the comisionado appointed to secularize the Mission, and the next year he became majordomo and served until 1837.
It was on his journey north, in 1842, to take hold of the governorship, that Micheltorena learned at San Fernando of Commodore Jones's raising of the American flag at Monterey. By his decree, also, in 1843, San Fernando was ordered returned to the control of the padres, which was done, though the next year Duran reported that there were but few cattle left, and two vineyards.
Micheltorena was destined again to appear at San Fernando, for when the Californians under Pio Pico and Castro rose to drive out the Mexicans, the governor finally capitulated at the same place, as he had heard the bad news of the Americans' capture of Monterey. February 21, 1845, after a bloodless "battle" at Cahuenga, he "abdicated," and finally left the country and returned to Mexico.
In 1845 Juan Manso and Andrés Pico leased the Mission at a rental of $1120, the affairs having been fairly well administered by Padre Orday after its return to the control of the friars. A year later it was sold by Pio Pico, under the order of the assembly, for $14,000, to Eulogio Célis, whose title was afterwards confirmed by the courts. Orday remained as pastor until May, 1847, and was San Fernando's last minister under the Franciscans.
In 1847 San Fernando again heard the alarm of war. Frémont and his battalion reached here in January, and remained until the signing of the treaty of Cahuenga, which closed all serious hostilities against the United States in its conquest of California.
Connected with the Mission of San Fernando is the first discovery of California gold. Eight years before the great days of '49 Francisco Lopez, themayordomoof the Mission, was in the canyon of San Feliciano, which is about eight miles westerly from the present town of Newhall, and according to Don Abel Stearns, "with a companion, while in search of some stray horses, about midday stopped under some trees and tied their horses to feed. While resting in the shade, Lopez with his sheath knife dug up some wild onions, and in the dirt discovered a piece of gold. Searching further, he found more. On his return to town he showed these pieces to his friends, who at once declared there must be a placer of gold there."
Then the rush began. As soon as the people in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara heard of it, they flocked to the new "gold fields" in hundreds. And the first California gold dust ever coined at the government mint at Philadelphia came from these mines. It was taken around Cape Horn in a sailing-vessel by Alfred Robinson, the translator of Boscana'sIndians of California, and consisted of 18.34 ounces, and made $344.75, or over $19 to the ounce.
Davis says that in the first two years after the discovery not less than from $80,000 to $100,000 was gathered. Don Antonio Coronel, with three Indian laborers, in 1842, took out $600 worth of dust in two months.
Water being scarce, the methods of washing the gravel were both crude and wasteful. And it is interesting to note that the first gold "pans" werebateas, or bowl-shaped Indian baskets.
The church at San Fernando is in a completely ruined condition. It stands southwest to northeast. The entrance is at the southwest end and the altar at the northeast. There is also a side entrance at the east, with a half-circular arch, sloping into a larger arch inside, with a flat top and rounded upper corners. The thickness of the walls allows the working out of various styles in these outer and inner arches that is curious and interesting. They reveal the individuality of the builder, and as they are all structural and pleasing, they afford a wonderful example of variety in adapting the arch to its necessary functions.
SHEEP AT MISSION SAN FERNANDO REY.
RUINS OF OLD ADOBE WALL AND CHURCH, MISSION SAN FERNANDO REY.
MONASTERY AND OLD FOUNTAIN AT MISSION SAN FERNANDO REY.
INTERIOR OF RUINED CHURCH, MISSION SAN FERNANDO REY.
The graveyard is on the northwest side of the church, and close by is the old olive orchard, where a number of fine trees are still growing. There are also two large palms, pictures of which are generally taken with the Mission in the background, and the mountains beyond. It is an exquisite subject. The remains of adobe walls still surround the orchard.
The doorway leading to the graveyard is of a half-circle inside, and slopes outward, where the arch is square.
There is a buttress of burnt brick to the southeast of the church, which appears as if it might have been an addition after the earthquake.
At the monastery the chief entrance is a simple but effective arched doorway, now plastered and whitewashed. The double door frame projects pilaster-like, with a four-membered cornice above, from which rises an elliptical arch, with an elliptical cornice about a foot above.
From this monastery one looks out upon a court or plaza which is literally dotted with ruins, though they are mainly of surrounding walls. Immediately in the foreground is a fountain, the reservoir of which is built of brick covered with cement. A double bowl rests on the center standard.
Further away in the court are the remnants of what may have been another fountain, the reservoir of which is made of brick, built into a singular geometrical figure. This is composed of eight semicircles, with V's connecting them, the apex of each V being on the outside. It appears like an attempt at creating a conventionalized flower in brick.
Two hundred yards or so away from the monastery is a square structure, the outside of boulders. Curiosity prompting, you climb up, and on looking in you find that inside this framework of boulders are two circular cisterns of brick, fully six feet in diameter across the top, decreasing in size to the bottom, which is perhaps four feet in diameter.
In March, 1905, considerable excitement was caused by the actions of the parish priest of San Fernando, a Frenchman named Le Bellegny, of venerable appearance and gentle manners. Not being acquainted with thestatus quoof the old Mission, he exhumed the bodies of the Franciscan friars who had been buried in the church and reburied them. He removed the baptismal font to his church, and unroofed some of the old buildings and took the tiles and timbers away. As soon as he understood the matter he ceased his operations, but, unfortunately, not before considerable damage was done.