SAN LUIS OBISPO DE TOLOSA
Founded, as we have seen, by Serra himself, September I, 1772, by the
end of 1773 the Mission of San Luis Obispo could report only twelve
converts. Serra left the day after the founding, leaving Padre Cavalier
in charge, with two Indians from Lower California, four soldiers and
their corporal. Their only provisions were a few hundred pounds of flour
and wheat, and a barrel of brown sugar. But the Indians were kind, in
remembrance of Fages's goodness in shooting the bears, and brought them
venison and seeds frequently, so they "managed to subsist" until
provisions came.
Padre Cavalier built a neat chapel of logs and apartments for the
missionaries, and the soldiers soon erected their own barracks. While
the Indians were friendly, they did not seem to be particularly
attracted to the Mission, as they had more and better food than the
padre, and the only thing he had that they particularly desired was
cloth. There was no ranchería in the vicinity, but they were much
interested in the growth of the corn and beans sown by the padre, and
which, being on good and well-watered land, yielded abundantly.
[Illustration: MISSION SAN GABRIEL ARCÁNGEL.]
[Illustration: SAN LUIS OBISPO BEFORE RESTORATION.]
[Illustration: RUINED MISSION OF SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO. Showing campanile
and protected arched corridors.]
[Illustration: THE RESTORED MISSION OF SAN LUIS OBISPO.]
In 1776 certain gentiles, who were hostile to some Indians that were
sheltered by the padres, attacked the Mission by discharging burning
arrows upon the tule roof of the buildings, and everything was
destroyed, save the church and the granary. Rivera came at once,
captured two of the ringleaders, and sent them for punishment to the
Monterey presidio. The success of the gentiles led them to repeat their
attacks by setting fire to the Mission twice during the next ten years,
and it was these calamities that led one of the San Luis padres to
attempt the making of roof tiles. Being successful, it was not long
before all the Missions were so roofed.
In 1794 certain of the neophytes of San Luis and La Purísima conspired
with some gentiles to incite the Indians at San Luis to revolt, but the
arrest and deportation of fifteen or twenty of the ringleaders to
Monterey, to hard labor at the presidio, put a stop to the revolt.
Padres Lasuen and Tapis both served here as missionaries, and in 1798
Luis Antonio Martinez, one of the best known of the padres, began his
long term of service at San Luis. In 1794 the Mission reached its
highest population of 946 souls. It had 6500 head of cattle and horses,
6150 sheep. In 1798 it raised 4100 bushels of wheat, and in this same
year a water-power mill was erected and set in motion. San Luis was
also favored by the presence of a smith, a miller and a carpenter of
the artisan instructors, sent by the king in 1794. Looms were erected,
and cotton brought up from San Blas was woven. A new church of adobes,
with a tile roof, was completed in 1793, and that same year a portico
was added to its front.
In 1830 Padre Martinez was banished to Madrid, and at this time the
buildings at San Luis were already falling into decay, as the padre,
with far-seeing eye, was assured that the politicians had nothing but
evil in store for them. Consequently, he did not keep up things as he
otherwise would have done. He was an outspoken, frank, fearless man, and
this undoubtedly led to his being chosen as the example necessary to
restrain the other padres from too great freedom of speech and manner.
In 1834 San Luis had 264 neophytes, though after secularization the
number was gradually reduced until, in 1840, there were but 170 left.
The order of secularization was put into effect in 1835 by Manuel Jimeno
Casarin. The inventory of the property in 1836 showed $70,000. In 1839
it was $60,000. In 1840 all the horses were stolen by "New Mexican
traders," one report alone telling of the driving away of 1200 head. The
officers at Los Angeles went in pursuit of the thieves and one party
reported that it came in full sight of the foe retiring deliberately
with the stolen animals, but, as there were as many Americans as
Indians in the band, they deemed it imprudent to risk a conflict.
In December of 1846, when Frémont was marching south to co-operate with
Stockton against the Southern Californians, San Luis was thought to
harbor an armed force of hostiles. Accordingly Frémont surrounded it one
dark, rainy night, and took it by sudden assault. The fears were
unfounded, for only women, children, and non-combatants were found.
The Book of Confirmations at San Luis has its introductory pages written
by Serra. There is also a "Nota" opposite page three, and a full-page
note in the back in his clear, vigorous and distinctive hand.
There are three bells at San Luis Obispo. The largest is to the right,
the smallest in the center. On the largest bell is the following
inscription: "Me fecit ano di 1818 Manvel Vargas, Lima. Mision de Sn
Luis Obispo De La Nueba California." This latter is a circumferential
panel about midway between the top and bottom of the bell. On the middle
bell we read the same inscription, while there is none on the third.
This latter was cast in San Francisco, from two old bells which
were broken.
From a painting the old San Luis Obispo church is seen to have been
raised up on a stone and cement foundation. The corridor was without the
arches that are elsewhere one of the distinctive features, but plain
round columns, with a square base and topped with a plain square
moulding, gave support to the roof beams, on which the usual red-tiled
roof was placed.
The _fachada_ of the church retreats some fifteen or twenty feet from
the front line of the corridors. The monastery has been "restored," even
as has the church, out of all resemblance to its own honest original
self. The adobe walls are covered with painted wood, and the tiles have
given way to shingles, just like any other modern and commonplace house.
The building faces the southeast. The altar end is at the northwest. To
the southwest are the remains of a building of boulders, brick, and
cement, exactly of the same style as the asistencia building of Santa
Margarita. It seems as if it might have been built by the same hands.
Possibly in the earlier days Santa Margarita was a _vista_ of San Luis,
rather than of San Miguel, though it is generally believed that it was
under the jurisdiction of the latter.