SANTA CRUZ
Lasuen found matters far easier for him in the founding of Missions than
did Serra in his later years. The viceroy agreed to pay $1000 each for
the expenses of the Missions of Santa Cruz and La Soledad, and $200 each
for the traveling expenses of the four missionaries needed. April 1,
1790, the guardian sent provisions and tools for Santa Cruz to the value
of $1021. Lasuen delayed the founding for awhile, however, as the
needful church ornaments were not at hand; but as the viceroy promised
them and ordered him to go ahead by borrowing the needed articles from
the other Missions, Lasuen proceeded to the founding, as I have
already related.
At the end of the year 1791 the neophytes numbered 84. In 1796 the
highest mark was reached with 523. In 1800 there were but 492. Up to the
end of that year there had been 949 baptisms, 271 couples married, and
477 buried. There were 2354 head of large stock, and 2083 small. In 1792
the agricultural products were about 650 bushels, as against 4300
in 1800.
[Illustration: RUINS OF MISSION LA PURÍSIMA CONCEPCIÓN.]
[Illustration: MISSION SANTA CRUZ.]
[Illustration]
[Illustration: RUINED WALLS OF MISSION LA SOLEDAD.]
The corner-stone of the church was laid February 27, 1793, and was
completed and formally dedicated May 10, 1794, by Padre Peña from
Santa Clara, aided by five other priests. Ensign Sal was present as
godfather, and duly received the keys. The neophytes, servants, and
troops looked on at the ceremonies with unusual interest, and the next
day filled the church at the saying of the first mass. The church was
about thirty by one hundred and twelve feet and twenty-five feet high.
The foundation walls to the height of three feet were of stone, the
front was of masonry, and the rest of adobes. The other buildings were
slowly erected, and in the autumn of 1796 a flouring-mill was built and
running. It was sadly damaged, however, by the December rains. Artisans
were sent to build the mill and instruct the natives, and later a smith
and a miller were sent to start it.
In 1798 the padre wrote very discouragingly. The establishment of the
villa or town of Brancifort, across the river, was not pleasing. A
hundred and thirty-eight neophytes also had deserted, ninety of whom
were afterwards brought in by Corporal Mesa. It had long been the
intention of the government to found more pueblos or towns, as well as
Missions in California, the former for the purpose of properly
colonizing the country. Governor Borica made some personal explorations,
and of three suggested sites finally chose that just across the river
Lorenzo from Santa Cruz. May 12, 1797, certain settlers who had been
recruited in Guadalajara arrived in a pitiable condition at Monterey;
and soon thereafter they were sent to the new site under the direction
of Comisionado Moraga, who was authorized to erect temporary shelters
for them. August 12 the superintendent of the formal foundation,
Córdoba, had all the surveying accomplished, part of an irrigating canal
dug, and temporary houses partially erected. In August, after the
viceroy had seen the estimated cost of the establishment, further
progress was arrested by want of funds. Before the end of the century
everybody concerned had come to the conclusion that the villa of
Brancifort was a great blunder,--the "settlers are a scandal to the
country by their immorality. They detest their exile, and render
no service."
In the meantime the Mission authorities protested vigorously against the
new settlement. It was located on the pasture grounds of the Indians;
the laws allowed the Missions a league in every direction, and trouble
would surely result. But the governor retorted, defending his choice of
a site, and claiming that the neophytes were dying off, there were no
more pagans to convert, and the neophytes already had more land and
raised more grain than they could attend to.
In 1805 Captain Goycoechea recommended that as there were no more
gentiles, the neophytes be divided between the Missions of Santa Clara
and San Juan, and the missionaries sent to new fields. Of course nothing
came of this.
In the decade 1820-1830 population declined rapidly, though in
live-stock the Mission about held its own, and in agriculture actually
increased. In 1823, however, there was another attempt to suppress it,
and this doubtless came from the conflicts between the villa of
Brancifort and the Mission. The effort, like the former one, was
unsuccessful.
In 1834-1835 Ignacio del Valle acted as comisionado, and put in effect
the order of secularization. His valuation of the property was $47,000,
exclusive of land and church property, besides $10,000 distributed to
the Indians. There were no subsequent distributions, yet the property
disappeared, for, in 1839, when Visitador Hartwell went to Santa Cruz,
he found only about one-sixth of the live-stock of the inventory of four
years before. The neophytes were organized into a pueblo named Figueroa
after the governor; but it was a mere organization in name, and the
condition of the ex-Mission was no different from that of any of
the others.
The statistics for the whole period of the Mission's existence,
1791-1834, are: baptisms, 2466; marriages, 847; deaths, 2035. The
largest population was 644 in 1798. The largest number of cattle was
3700 in 1828; horses, 900, in the same year; mules, 92, in 1805; sheep,
8300, in 1826.
In January, 1840, the tower fell, and a number of tiles were carried
off, a kind of premonition of the final disaster of 1851, when the walls
fell, and treasure seekers completed the work of demolition.
The community of the Mission was completely broken up in 1841-1842,
everything being regarded, henceforth, as part of Brancifort. In 1845
the lands, buildings, and fruit trees of the ex-Mission were valued at
less than $1000, and only about forty Indians were known to remain. The
Mission has now entirely disappeared.