LA SOLEDAD
The Mission of "Our Lady of Solitude" has only a brief record in written
history; but the little that is known and the present condition of the
ruins suggest much that has never been recorded.
Early in 1791 Padre Lasuen, who was searching for suitable locations for
two new Missions, arrived at a point midway between San Antonio and
Santa Clara. With quick perception he recognized the advantages of
Soledad, known to the Indians as _Chuttusgelis_. The name of this
region, bestowed by Crespí years previous, was suggestive of its
solitude and dreariness; but the wide, vacant fields indicated good
pasturage in seasons favored with much rain, and the possibility of
securing water for irrigation promised crops from the arid lands. Lasuen
immediately selected the most advantageous site for the new Mission, but
several months elapsed before circumstances permitted the erection of
the first rude structures.
On October ninth the Mission was finally established.
There were comparatively few Indians in that immediate region, and only
eleven converts were reported as the result of the efforts of the first
year. There was ample room for flocks and herds, and although the soil
was not of the best and much irrigation was necessary to produce good
crops, the padres with their persistent labors gradually increased their
possessions and the number of their neophytes. At the close of the ninth
year there were 512 Indians living at the Mission, and their property
included a thousand cattle, several thousand sheep, and a good supply of
horses. Five years later (in 1805) there were 727 neophytes, in spite of
the fact that a severe epidemic a few years previously had reduced their
numbers and caused many to flee from the Mission in fear. A new church
was begun in 1808.
On July 24, 1814, Governor Arrillaga, who had been taken seriously ill
while on a tour of inspection, and had hurried to Soledad to be under
the care of his old friend, Padre Ibañez, died there, and was buried,
July 26, under the center of the church.
For about forty years priests and natives lived a quiet, peaceful life
in this secluded valley, with an abundance of food and comfortable
shelter. That they were blessed with plenty and prosperity is evidenced
by the record that in 1829 they furnished $1150 to the Monterey
presidio. At one time they possessed over six thousand cattle; and in
1821 the number of cattle, sheep, horses, and other animals was
estimated at over sixteen thousand.
[Illustration: ANOTHER VIEW OF THE WALLS OF MISSION LA SOLEDAD.]
[Illustration: MISSION SAN JOSÉ. SOON AFTER THE DECREE OF
SECULARIZATION. From an old print.]
[Illustration: 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
of _Comisario Prefecto_ during 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.