SAN MIGUEL, ARCÁNGEL
Lasuen's third Mission, of 1797, was San Miguel, located near a large
ranchería named _Sagshpileel_, and on the site called _Vahiá_. 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.
[Illustration: SEEKING TO PREVENT THE PHOTOGRAPHER FROM MAKING A
PICTURE OF MISSION SAN MIGUEL ARCÁNGEL.]
[Illustration: OLD PULPIT AT MISSION SAN MIGUEL ARCÁNGEL.]
[Illustration: RESTORED MONASTERY AND MISSION CHURCH OF SAN FERNANDO
REY.]
[Illustration: CORRIDORS AT SAN FERNANDO REY.]