THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE MISSIONS OF LOWER CALIFORNIA (MEXICO) AND ALTA
CALIFORNIA (UNITED STATES)
Rightly to understand the history of the Missions of the California of
the United States, it is imperative that the connection or relationship
that exists between their history and that of the Missions of Lower
California (Mexico) be clearly understood.
As I have already shown, the Jesuit padres founded fourteen Missions in
Lower California, which they conducted with greater or less success
until 1767, when the infamous Order of Expulsion of Carlos III of Spain
drove them into exile.
It had always been the intention of Spain to colonize and missionize
Alta California, even as far back as the days of Cabrillo in 1542, and
when Vizcaino, sixty years later, went over the same region, the
original intention was renewed. But intentions do not always fructify
and bring forth, so it was not until a hundred and sixty years after
Vizcaino that the work was actually begun. The reasons were diverse and
equally urgent. The King of Spain and his advisers were growing more
and more uneasy about the aggressions of the Russians and the English
on the California or rather the Pacific Coast. Russia was pushing down
from the north; England also had her establishments there, and with her
insular arrogance England boldly stated that she had the right to
California, or New Albion, as she called it, because of Sir Francis
Drake's landing and taking possession in the name of "Good Queen Bess."
Spain not only resented this, but began to realize another need. Her
galleons from the Philippines found it a long, weary, tedious and
disease-provoking voyage around the coast of South America to Spain, and
besides, too many hostile and piratical vessels roamed over the Pacific
Sea to allow Spanish captains to sleep easy o' nights. Hence it was
decided that if ports of call were established on the California coast,
fresh meats and vegetables and pure water could be supplied to the
galleons, and in addition, with _presidios_ to defend them, they might
escape the plundering pirates by whom they were beset. Accordingly plans
were being formulated for the colonization and missionization of
California when, by authority of his own sweet will, ruling a people who
fully believed in the divine right of kings to do as they pleased, King
Carlos the Third issued the proclamation already referred to, totally
and completely banishing the Jesuits from all parts of his dominions,
under penalty of imprisonment and death.
I doubt whether many people of to-day, even though they be of the
Catholic Church, can realize what obedience to that order meant to these
devoted priests. Naturally they must obey it--monstrous though it
was--but the one thought that tore their hearts with anguish was: Who
would care for their Indian charges?
For these ignorant and benighted savages they had left their homes and
given up all that life ordinarily means and offers. Were they to be
allowed to drift back into their dark heathendom?
No! In spite of his cruelty to the Jesuits, the king had provided that
the Indians should not be neglected. He had appointed one in whom he had
especial confidence, Don José Galvez, as his _Visitador General_, and
had conferred upon him almost plenary authority. To his hands was
committed the carrying out of the order of banishment, the providing of
members of some other Catholic Order to care for the Indians of the
Missions, and later, to undertake the work of extending the chain of
Missions northward into Alta California, as far north as the Bay of
Monterey, and even beyond.
To aid him in his work Galvez appealed to the Superior of the Franciscan
Convent in the City of Mexico, and Padre Junipero Serra, by common
consent of the officers and his fellows, was denominated as the man of
all men for the important office of Padre Presidente of the Jesuit
Missions that were to be placed henceforth under the care of the
Franciscans.
This plan, however, was changed within a few months. It was decided to
call upon the priests of the Dominican Order to take charge of the
Jesuit Missions, while the Franciscans put all their strength and energy
into the founding of the new Missions in Alta California.
Thus it came to pass that the Franciscans took charge of the founding of
the California Missions, and that Junipero Serra became the first real
pioneer of what is now so proudly denominated "The Golden State."
The orders that Galvez had received were clear and positive:
"Occupy and fortify San Diego and Monterey for God and the King of
Spain." He was a devout son of the Church, full of enthusiasm, having
good sense, great executive ability, considerable foresight, untiring
energy, and decided contempt for all routine formalities. He began his
work with a truly Western vigor. Being invested with almost absolute
power, there were none above him to interpose vexatious formalities to
hinder the immediate execution of his plans.
[Illustration: JUNIPERO SERRA Founder and First Padre Presidente of the
Franciscan Missions of California From the Schumacker crayon]
[Illustration: MAP OF THE COAST OF CALIFORNIA, SHOWING THE FRANCISCAN
MISSION ESTABLISHMENTS. Map originally made for Palou's Life of Padre
Junipero Serra, published in Mexico in 1787.]
In order that the spiritual part of the work might be as carefully
planned as the political, Galvez summoned Serra. What a fine
combination! Desire and power hand in hand! What nights were spent by
the two in planning! What arguments, what discussions, what final
agreements the old adobe rooms occupied by them must have heard! But it
is by just such men that great enterprises are successfully begun and
executed. For fervor and enthusiasm, power and sense, when combined,
produce results. Plans were formulated with a completeness and rapidity
that equalled the best days of the _Conquistadores_. Four expeditions
were to go: two by land and two by sea. So would the risk of failure be
lessened, and practical knowledge of both routes be gained. Galvez had
two available vessels: the "San Carlos" and the "San Antonio."
For money the visitor-general called upon the Pious Fund, which, on the
expulsion of the Jesuits, he had placed in the hands of a governmental
administrator. He had also determined that the Missions of the peninsula
should do their share to help in the founding of the new Missions, and
Serra approved and helped in the work.
When Galvez arrived, he found Gaspar de Portolá acting as civil and
military governor, and Fernando Javier Rivera y Moncada, the former
governor, commanding the garrison at Loreto. Both were captains, Rivera
having been long in the country. He determined to avail himself of the
services of these two men, each of them to command one of the land
expeditions. Consequently with great rapidity, for those days,
operations were set in motion. Rivera in August or September, 1768, was
sent on a commission to visit in succession all the Missions, and gather
from each one all the provisions, live-stock, and implements that could
be spared. He was also to prevail upon all the available families he
could find to go along as colonists. In the meantime, others sent out by
Galvez gathered in church furniture, ornaments, and vestments for the
Missions, and later Serra made a tour for the same purpose. San José was
named the patron saint of the expedition, and in December the "San
Carlos" arrived at La Paz partially laden with supplies.
The vessel was in bad condition, so it had to be unloaded, careened,
cleaned, and repaired, and then reloaded, and in this latter work both
Galvez and Serra helped, the former packing the supplies for the Mission
of San Buenaventura, in which he was particularly interested, and Serra
attending to those for San Carlos. They joked each other as they worked,
and when Galvez completed his task ahead of Serra he had considerable
fun at the Padre Presidente's expense. In addition to the two Missions
named, one other, dedicated to San Diego, was first to be established.
By the ninth of January, 1769, the "San Carlos" was ready. Confessions
were heard, masses said, the communion administered, and Galvez made a
rousing speech. Then Serra formally blessed the undertaking, cordially
embraced Fray Parron, to whom the spiritual care of the vessel was
intrusted, the sails were lowered, and off started the first division of
the party that meant so much to the future California. In another vessel
Galvez went along until the "San Carlos" doubled the point and started
northward, when, with gladness in his heart and songs on his lips, he
returned to still further prosecute his work.
The fifteenth of February the "San Antonio," under the command of Perez,
was ready and started. Now the land expeditions must be moved. Rivera
had gathered his stock, etc., at Santa Maria, the most northern of the
Missions, but finding scant pasturage there, he had moved eight or ten
leagues farther north to a place called by the Indians Velicatá. Fray
Juan Crespí was sent to join Rivera, and Fray Lasuen met him at Santa
Maria in order to bestow the apostolic blessing ere the journey began,
and on March 24 Lasuen stood at Velicatá and saw the little band of
pilgrims start northward for the land of the gentiles, driving their
herds before them. What a procession it must have been! The animals,
driven by Indians under the direction of soldiers and priests,
straggling along or dashing wildly forward as such creatures are wont to
do! Here, as well as in the starting of the "San Carlos" and "San
Antonio," is a great scene for an artist, and some day canvases worthy
the subjects should be placed in the California State Capitol at
Sacramento.
Governor Portolá was already on his way north, but Serra was delayed by
an ulcerated foot and leg, and, besides, he had not yet gathered
together all the Mission supplies he needed, so it was May 15 before
this division finally left Velicatá. The day before leaving, Serra
established the Mission of San Fernando at the place of their
departure, and left Padre Campa in charge.
Padre Serra's diary, kept in his own handwriting during this trip from
Loreto to San Diego, is now in the Edward E. Ayer Library in Chicago.
Some of his expressions are most striking. In one place, speaking of
Captain Rivera's going from Mission to Mission to take from them
"whatever he might choose of what was in them for the founding of the
new Missions," he says: "Thus he did; and altho it was with a somewhat
heavy hand, it was undergone for God and the king."
The work of Galvez for Alta California was by no means yet accomplished.
Another vessel, the "San José," built at his new shipyard, appeared two
days before the "San Antonio" set sail, and soon afterwards Galvez went
across the gulf in it to secure a load of fresh supplies. The sixteenth
of June the "San José" sailed for San Diego as a relief boat to the "San
Carlos" and "San Antonio," but evidently met with misfortune, for three
months later it returned to the Loreto harbor with a broken mast and in
general bad condition. It was unloaded and repaired at San Blas, and in
the following June again started out, laden with supplies, but never
reached its destination, disappearing forever without leaving a
trace behind.
[Illustration: SERRA MEMORIAL CROSS, MONTEREY, CALIF]
[Illustration: SERRA CROSS ON MT. RUBIDOUX, RIVERSIDE, CALIF. Under
which sunrise services are held at Easter and Christmastide.]
[Illustration: SERRA STATUE. Erected by Mrs. Leland Stanford, at
Monterey]
[Illustration: STATUE TO JUNIPERO SERRA. The gift of James D. Phelan, in
Golden Gate Park San Francisco.]
The "San Antonio" first arrived at San Diego. About April 11, 1769, it
anchored in the bay, and awakened in the minds of the natives strange
feelings of astonishment and awe. Its presence recalled to them the
"stories of the old," when a similar apparition startled their
ancestors. That other white-winged creature had come long generations
ago, and had gone away, never to be seen again. Was this not to do
likewise? Ah, no! in this vessel was contained the beginning of the end
of the primitive man. The solitude of the centuries was now to be
disturbed and its peace invaded; aboriginal life destroyed forever. The
advent of this vessel was the death knell of the Indian tribes.
Little, however, did either the company on board the "San Antonio" or
the Indians themselves conceive such thoughts as these on that memorable
April day.
But where was the "San Carlos," which sailed almost a month earlier than
the "San Antonio"? She was struggling with difficulties,--leaking
water-casks, bad water, scurvy, cold weather. Therefore it was not until
April 29 that she appeared. In vain the captain of the "San Antonio"
waited for the "San Carlos" to launch a boat and to send him word as to
the cause of the late arrival of the flagship; so he visited her to
discover for himself the cause. He found a sorry state of affairs. All
on board were ill from scurvy. Hastily erecting canvas houses on the
beach, the men of his own crew went to the relief of their suffering
comrades of the other vessel. Then the crew of the relieving ship took
the sickness, and soon there were so few well men left that they could
scarcely attend the sick and bury the dead. Those first two weeks in the
new land, in the month of May, 1769, were never to be forgotten. Of
about ninety sailors, soldiers, and mechanics, less than thirty
survived; over sixty were buried by the wash of the waves of the Bay of
Saint James.
Then came Rivera and Crespí, with Lieutenant Fages and twenty-five
soldiers.
Immediately a permanent camp was sought and found at what is now known
as Old San Diego, where the two old palms still remain, with the ruins
of the _presidio_ on the hill behind. Six weeks were busily occupied in
caring for the sick and in unloading the "San Antonio." Then the fourth
and last party of the explorers arrived,--Governor Portolá on June 29,
and Serra on July 1. What a journey that had been for Serra! He had
walked all the way, and, after two days out, a badly ulcerated leg began
to trouble him. Portolá wished to send him back, but Serra would not
consent. He called to one of the muleteers and asked him to make just
such a salve for his wound as he would put upon the saddle galls of one
of his animals. It was done, and in a single night the ointment and the
Father's prayers worked the miracle of healing.
After a general thanksgiving, in which exploding gunpowder was used to
give effect, a consultation was held, at which it was decided to send
back the "San Antonio" to San Blas for supplies, and for new crews for
herself and the "San Carlos." A land expedition under Portolá was to go
to Monterey, while Serra and others remained at San Diego to found the
Mission. The vessel sailed, Portolá and his band started north, and on
July 16, 1769, Serra raised the cross, blessed it, said mass, preached,
and formally established the Mission of San Diego de Alcalá.
It mattered not that the Indians held aloof; that only the people who
came on the expedition were present to hear. From the hills beyond,
doubtless, peered and peeped the curious natives. All was mysterious to
them. Later, however, they became troublesome, stealing from the sick
and pillaging from the "San Carlos." At last, they made a determined
raid for plunder, which the Spanish soldiers resisted. A flight of
arrows was the result. A boy was killed and three of the new-comers
wounded. A volley of musket-balls killed three Indians, wounded several
more, and cleared the settlement. After such an introduction, there is
no wonder that conversions were slow. Not a neophyte gladdened the
Father's heart for more than a year.