THE MISSION ESTABLISHMENTS IN CALIFORNIA.—THEIR ORIGIN, OBJECTS,
LOCALITIES, LANDS, REVENUES, OVERTHROW.
The missions of California are the most prominent features in her
history. They were established to propagate the Roman faith, and extend
the domain of the Spanish crown. They contemplated the conversion of the
untutored natives, and a permanent possession of the soil. They were an
extension of the same system which, half a century previous, had
achieved such signal triumphs on the peninsula and through the northern
provinces of Mexico. The founders were men of unwearied zeal and heroic
action; their enterprise, fortitude, and unshaken purpose might rouse
all the slumbering strings of the religious minstrel.
In Alta California these missions formed a religious cordon the entire
extent of the coast. They were reared at intervals of twelve or fourteen
leagues in all the great fertile valleys opening on the sea. The first
was founded in 1769; others followed fast, and before the close of the
century the whole twenty were in effective operation. Each establishment
contained within itself the elements of its strength, the sources of its
aggrandizement. It embraced a massive church, garnished with costly
plate; dwellings, storehouses, and workshops, suited to the wants of a
growing colony; broad lands, encircling meadows, forests, streams,
orchards, and cultured fields, with cattle, sheep, and horses, grazing
on a “thousand hills,” and game in every glade; and above all, a faith
that could scoop up whole tribes of savages, dazzling them with the
symbols of religion, and impressing them with the conviction that
submission to the padres was obedience to God.
These vast establishments absorbed the lands, capital, and business of
the country; shut out emigration, suppressed enterprise, and moulded
every interest into an implement of ecclesiastical sway. In 1833, the
supreme government of Mexico issued a decree which converted them into
civil institutions, subject to the control of the state. The consequence
was, the padres lost their power, and with that departed the enterprise
and wealth of their establishments. The civil administrators plundered
them of their stock, the governors granted to favorites sections of
their lands, till, with few exceptions, only the huge buildings remain.
Their localities will serve as important guides to emigrants in quest of
lands adapted to pasturage and agriculture, and their statistics will
show, to some extent, the productive forces of the soil. These have been
gathered, with some pains, from the archives of each mission, and are
grouped for the first time in these pages. They are like the missions
themselves—skeletons. California, though seemingly young, is piled with
the wrecks of the past; around the stately ruin flits the shade of the
padre; his warm welcome to streaming guests still lingers in the hall;
and the loud mirth of the festive crowds still echoes in the darkened
arches. But all these good olden times are passed—their glorious
realities are gone—like the sound and sunlit splendors of the wave
dashed and broken on the remorseless rock.
MISSION OF DOLLORES.
This mission is situated on the south side of the bay of San Francisco,
two miles from the town. Its lands were forty leagues in circumference.
Its stock, in 1825, consisted of 76,000 head of cattle, 950 tame horses,
2000 breeding-mares, 84 stud of choice breed, 820 mules, 79,000 sheep,
2000 hogs, 456 yoke of working-oxen, 18,000 bushels of wheat and barley,
$35,000 in merchandise, and $25,000 in specie. It was secularized in
1834 by order of Gen. Figueroa, and soon became a wreck. The walls of
the huge church only remain. Little did the good padre who reared them
dream of the great town that was to rise in their shadows!
MISSION OF SANTA CLARA.
This mission is situated in the bosom of the great valley that bears its
name, six miles from the embarcadero which strands the upper bend of the
great bay of San Francisco. Around it lie the richest lands in
California—once its own domain. In 1823 it branded, as the increase of
one year, 22,400 calves. It owned 74,280 head of full-grown cattle, 407
yoke of working-oxen, 82,540 sheep, 1890 trained horses, 4235 mares, 725
mules, 1000 hogs, and $120,000 in goods. The church is a gigantic pile,
and was once adorned with ornaments of massive silver. The property was
secularized in 1834 by order of Gen. Figueroa, when the frolicking
citizens of the Pueblo de San José began to revel on its ruins. It has
still a fine vineyard, where the grape reels and the pear mellows.
MISSION OF SAN JOSÉ.
This mission was founded in 1797, fifteen miles from the town which
bears its name, and at the terminus of a valley unrivalled in fertility.
It supplied the Russian Company with grain, who sent yearly several
large ships for stores for their northern settlements. It is stated, in
the archives of this mission, that the mayordomo gathered 8,600 bushels
of wheat from 80 bushels sown; and the following year, from the grain
which fell at the time of the first harvest, 5200 bushels! The priest
told me that Julius Cæsar deposited in the temple of Ceres 362 kernels
of wheat, as the largest yield of any one kernel in the Roman empire;
and that he had gathered and counted, from one kernel sown at this
mission, 365—beating Rom in three kernels! This mission had, in 1825,
3000 Indians, 62,000 head of cattle, 840 tame horses, 1500 mares, 420
mules, 310 yoke of oxen, and 62,000 sheep It has still a vineyard, in
which large quantities of luscious grapes and pears are raised. It was
secularized in 1834; and the old church bell, as if indignant at the
change, has plunged from its chiming tower.
MISSION OF SAN JUAN BOUTISTA.
This mission looms over a rich valley, ten leagues from Monterey—founded
1794. Its lands swept the broad interval and adjacent hills. In 1820 it
owned 43,870 head of cattle, 1360 tame horses, 4870 mares, colts, and
fillies. It had seven sheep-farms, containing 69,530 sheep; while the
Indians attached to the mission drove 321 yoke of working-oxen. Its
storehouse contained $75,000 in goods and $20,000 in specie. This
mission was secularized in 1834; its cattle slaughtered for their hides
and tallow, its sheep left to the wolves, its horses taken by the
dandies, its Indians left to hunt acorns, while the wind sighs over the
grave of its last padre.
MISSION OF SAN CARLOS.
This mission, founded 1770, stands in the Carmel valley, three miles
from Monterey. Through its ample lands flows a beautiful stream of
water, which every governor of the country, for the last thirty years,
has purposed conducting to the metropolis. Its gardens supply the
vegetable market of Monterey. Its pears are extremely rich in flavor. In
its soil were raised, in 1826, the first potatoes cultivated in
California. So little did the presiding padre think of this strange
vegetable, he allowed the Indians to raise and sell them to the whalers
that visited Monterey, without disturbing their profits. He was
satisfied if the Indians would give him one salmon in ten out of the
hundreds they speared in the stream which swept past his door. This
mission, in 1825, branded 2300 calves; had 87,600 head of cattle, 1800
horses and mares, 365 yoke of oxen, nine sheep-farms, with an average of
about 6,000 sheep on each, a large assortment of merchandise, and
$40,000 in specie, which was buried on the report of a piratical cruiser
on the coast. It was secularized in 1835. The church remains; but the
only being I found in it was a large white owl, who seemed to mourn its
fall.
MISSION OF SANTA CRUZ.
This mission stands near the coast on the northern side of the bay of
Monterey, in a tract of land remarkable for its agricultural capacities,
which it developed in the richest harvests. In 1830 this mission owned
all the lands now cultivated or claimed by the farmers of Santa Cruz. It
had 42,800 head of cattle, 3200 horses and mares, 72,500 sheep, 200
mules, large herds of swine, a spacious church, garnished with $25,000
worth of silver plate. It was secularized in 1834 by order of Gen.
Figueroa, and shared the fate of its Carmel sister. Only one padre
lingers on the premises, and he seems the last of a perished race.
MISSION OF SOLEDAD.
This mission is situated fifteen leagues southwest of Monterey, in a
fertile plain, known by the name of the “llano del rey.” The priest was
an indefatigable agriculturist. To obviate the summer drought, he
constructed, through the labor of his Indians, an aqueduct extending
fifteen miles, by which he could water twenty thousand acres of land. In
1826 this mission owned about 36,000 head of cattle, and a greater
number of horses and mares than any other mission in the country. So
great was the reproduction of these animals, they were given away to
preserve the pasturage for cattle and sheep. It had about 70,000 sheep,
and 300 yoke of tame oxen. In 1819 the mayordomo of this mission
gathered 3400 bushels of wheat from 38 bushels sown. It has still
standing about a thousand fruit trees, which still bear their mellow
harvests; but its secularization has been followed by decay and ruin.
MISSION OF SAN ANTONIO.
This mission is situated twelve leagues south of Soledad, on the border
of an inland stream, upon which it has conferred its name. The buildings
were inclosed in a square, twelve hundred feet on each side, and walled
with adobes. Its lands were forty-eight leagues in circumference,
including seven farms, with a convenient house and chapel attached to
each. The stream was conducted in paved trenches twenty miles for
purposes of irrigation: large crops rewarded the husbandry of the
padres. In 1822 this mission owned 52,800 head of cattle, 1800 tame
horses, 3000 mares, 500 yoke of working-oxen, 600 mules, 48,000 sheep,
and 1000 swine. The climate here is cold in winter, and intensely hot in
summer. This mission, on its secularization, fell into the hands of an
administrator, who neglected its farms, drove off its cattle, and left
its poor Indians to starve.
MISSION OF SAN MIGUEL.
This inland mission is situated sixteen leagues south of San Antonio, on
a barren elevation; but the lands attached to it sweep a circuit of
sixty leagues, and embrace some of the finest tracts for agriculture. Of
the sethe Estella tract is one; its fertility is enough to make a New
England plough jump out of its rocks; and a hundred emigrants will yet
squat in its green bosom, and set the wild Indians and their war-whoop
at defiance. In 1822 this mission owned 91,000 head of cattle, 1100 tame
horses, 3000 mares, 2000 mules, 170 yoke of working-oxen, and 47,000
sheep. The mules were used in packing the products of the mission to
Monterey, and bringing back drygoods, groceries, and the implements of
husbandry. But now the Indian neophytes are gone, the padres have
departed, and the old church only remains to interpret the past.
MISSION OF SAN LUIS OBISPO.
This mission stands fourteen leagues southeast of San Miguel, and within
three of the coast. It has always been considered one of the richest
missions in California. The presiding priest, Luis Martinez, was a man
of comprehensive purpose and indomitable force. His mission grant
covered an immense tract of the richest lands on the seaboard. Every
mountain stream was made to subserve the purposes of irrigation. He
planted the cotton-tree, the lime, and a grove of olives, which still
shower their abundant harvests on the tables of the Californians. He
built a launch that run to Santa Barbara, trained his Indians to kill
the otter, and often received thirty and forty skins a week from his
children of the bow. His storehouse at Santa Margarita, with its high
adobe walls, was one hundred and ninety feet long, and well stowed with
grain. His table was loaded with the choicest game and richest wines;
his apartments for guests might have served the hospitable intentions of
a prince. He had 87,000 head of grown cattle, 2000 tame horses, 3500
mares, 3700 mules, eight sheep-farms, averaging 9000 sheep to each farm,
and the broad Tulare valley, in which his Indians could capture any
number of wild horses. The mayordomo of this mission in 1827, scattered
on the ground, without having first ploughed it, 120 bushels of wheat,
and then scratched it in with things called harrows, and harvested from
the same over 7000 bushels. This was a lazy experiment, but shows what
the land may yield when activity shall take the place of indolence.
Father Martinez returned to Spain, taking with him $100,000 as the
fruits of his mission enterprise. On the secularization of the mission
in 1834, the property fell a prey to state exigency, and private
rapacity A gloomy wreck of grandeur only remains.
MISSION OF LA PURISIMA.
This mission is located eighteen leagues south of San Luis, at the base
of a mountain spur, in the coast range; its lands covered about thirteen
hundred square miles, and were at one time so filled with wild cattle,
the presiding priest granted permits to any person who desired to kill
them for their hides and tallow, the meat being thrown away. Thousands
in this shape fell under the lasso and knife, and still the mission
numbered in 1830 over 40,000 head of cattle sufficiently domesticated to
be corralled, 300 yoke of working-oxen, 2600 tame horses, 4000 mares,
30,000 sheep, and 5000 swine, which were raised for their lard—no one
eating the meat. The horses on this mission were celebrated for their
beauty and speed; they performed feats under the saddle worthy of the
most brilliant page in the register of the turf. But now the steed and
his rider are gone, and the willow sighs over the mouldering ruin.
MISSION OF SANTA INEZ.
This mission is seven leagues to the southward of La Purisima, and
thirteen north of Santa Barbara. Its lands were more circumscribed than
those of other missions; still it had vast herds of cattle and sheep,
and its horses vied in beauty and strength with those of its sister
missions. Its property, in 1823, was valued at $800,000. A portion of
its lands remain unalienated, and must be held for the benefit of its
Indian neophytes, or accrue to the public domain. The last government
decree left the whole in the hands of an administrator, who thought more
of his own revenues than the claims of the poor Indians whom law had
betrayed.
MISSION OF SANTA BARBARA.
This mission is twelve leagues south of Santa Inez. Between the two a
steep mountain range shoulders its way to the sea. No wheeled vehicle
has ever been driven over it, except that which transported the
field-piece attached to Col. Fremont’s battalion. The mission being near
the beautiful town of Santa Barbara, its profuse hospitality contributed
largely to the social pleasures of the citizens. Its vintage never
failed, and its friendly fires ever burnt bright; many a gay merrianda
has kindled the eye of beauty in its soft shade. The main building is
elaborately finished for California. The lands of the mission embraced
many leagues. In 1828 it had 40,000 head of cattle, 1000 horses, 2000
mares, 80 yoke of oxen, 600 mules, and 20,000 sheep. It is now under a
civil administrator, and a portion of its lands still remain vested in
their original object. Around this mission emigrants will ere long
settle in great numbers, and devote themselves to agriculture and the
cultivation of grapes, olives, figs, for which the climate is peculiarly
adapted.
MISSION OF SAN BUENAVENTURA.
This mission is situated about nine leagues south of Santa Barbara, near
the seaboard. Its lands covered an area of fifteen hundred square miles,
of which two hundred are arable land. In 1825 it owned 37,000 head of
cattle, 600 riding horses, 1300 mares, 200 yoke of working-oxen, 500
mules, 30,000 sheep, 200 goats, 2000 swine, a thrifty orchard, two rich
vineyards, $35,000 in foreign goods, $27,000 in specie, with church
ornaments and clothing valued at $61,000. It was secularized in 1835,
and has since been under a civil administrator, but all its wealth soon
became a wreck. A small portion of its lands remain, and will tempt the
horticultural emigrant to its fertile bosom.
MISSION OF SAN FERNANDO.
This mission, founded 1797, is situated about sixteen leagues south of
San Buenaventura, in the midst of a beautiful plain, and has always been
celebrated for the superior quality of the brandy distilled from its
grapes. In 1826 it owned 56,000 head of cattle, 1500 horses and mares,
200 mules, 400 yoke of working-oxen, 64,000 sheep, and 2000 swine. It
had in its stores about $50,000 in merchandise, $90,000 in specie; its
vineyards yielded annually about 2000 gallons of brandy and as many of
wine. Its secularization was followed by the dispersion of its Indians
and ruin of its property. The hills, at the foot of which this mission
stands, have, within the last ten years, produced considerable
quantities of gold. One house exported about $30,000 of it. This was the
first gold discovered in California, and the discovery was made three or
four years previous to that on the American Fork. The marvel is the
search for it did not extend further.
MISSION OF SAN GABRIEL.
This mission, located a little below los Angeles, was founded in 1771,
and for several years led the others in enterprise and wealth. Its lands
cover one of the most charming intervals in California; the soil and
climate are both well adapted to fruit. In its gardens bloomed oranges,
citrons, limes, apples, pears, peaches, pomegranates, figs, and grapes
in great abundance. From the latter were made annually from four to six
hundred barrels of wine, and two hundred of brandy, the sale of which
produced an income of more than $12,000. In 1829 it had 70,000 head of
cattle, 1200 horses, 3000 mares, 400 mules, 120 yoke of working-oxen,
and 54,000 sheep. The charming rancho of Santa Anita belongs to this
mission; it is situated on a gentle acclivity, where fruit trees and
flowers scatter their perfume; while a clear lake lies calmly in front,
to which the leaping rivulets rush in glee. Here the emigrant will find
more charms in the landscape than he has left behind, and a more balmy
air than he ever yet inhaled.
MISSION OF SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO.
This mission, situated eighteen leagues south of San Gabriel, was
founded in 1776, and was for many years one of the most opulent in the
country. Its lands extended fifteen leagues along the seaboard, and back
to the mountains, where they swept over many ravines of fertile soil and
sequestering shade. Through these roamed vast herds of cattle, sheep,
and horses; while the sickle, pruning-knife, and shuttle gleamed in the
dexterous hand of the domestic Indian. The earthquake of 1812 threw down
the heavy stone church, as if in omen of the disasters which have since
befallen the mission. The cattle have gone to the shambles, the Indians
are in exile, the mass is over, and the shuttle at rest.
MISSION OF SAN LUIS REY.
This mission, located near the sea, and twelve leagues south of San
Juan, was founded in 1798 by padre Peyri, who had devoted himself for
years to the improvement of the Indians. The buildings occupy a large
square, in the centre of which a fountain still plays; along the front
runs a corridor, supported by thirty-two arches, ornamented with
latticed railings; while the interior is divided into apartments suited
to the domestic economy of a large establishment. Here the wool of the
sheep which grazed on the hills around, was woven into blankets, and
coarse apparel for the Indians, while the furrowed field waved for miles
under the golden grain. The reeling grape, the blushing peach, the
yellow orange, the mellow pear, and luscious melon filled the garden,
and, loaded the wings of the zephyr with perfume. In 1826 it had three
thousand Indians, 70,000 head of cattle, 2000 horses, 140 yoke of tame
oxen, 300 mules, 68,000 sheep, and a tract of land, around half of which
you could not gallop between sun and sun. Its massive stone church still
remains, and the remnants of its greatness are now in the hands of an
administrator who little heeds the object which animated its founder.
MISSION OF SAN DIEGO.
This mission, situated fourteen leagues south of San Luis Rey, and near
the town that bears its name, was founded in 1769 by padre Junipero
Lerra, and was the first established in Alta California. Its possessions
covered the whole tract of land which circles for leagues around the
beautiful bay upon which its green hills look. Here the first cattle
were corralled, the first sheep sheared, the first field furrowed, the
first vineyard planted, and the first church bell rung. The Indian heard
in this strange sound the invoking voice of his God, and knelt
reverently to the earth. The success of this mission paved the way for
the establishment of others, till the whole coast was sprinkled with
their churches, and every green glade filled with their wild converts
and lowing herds. But the padres and their neophytes are gone, and all
the memorials that remain are a cumbrous ruin. Gigantic skeletons of
things that were!
THE RAILROAD TO CALIFORNIA.
The facilities of social and commercial intercourse between our Atlantic
and Pacific borders, yet to be created, present a problem of great
practical importance. The present route, _via_ Chagres and Panama, may
be regarded as a necessity to be superseded as soon as practicable, by a
railroad directly across the continent, within our own jurisdiction.
Besides the formidable political objections to being dependent on
foreign powers for a connection between our remotest and most important
commercial points, the distance, _via_ Chagres and Panama, or by any
railroad or canal across the Isthmus yet to be made, in connection with
the effects of a hot climate on animal and vegetable products, as
subjects of trade between our Atlantic and Pacific coasts, present most
insuperable obstacles to a permanent reliance on that route. It is now
ascertained, that instead of thirty days between New York and San
Francisco, or forty days to the mouth of the Columbia river by steam, or
three to six months by sailing craft, either of these points may be
reached in seven to eight days by railroad direct, avoiding altogether
the deleterious effects of climate on articles of trade, as well as on
health and life. These two considerations, so potent and overruling in
commercial intercourse, will undoubtedly prove paramount to all
antagonistic interests, and the railroad, directly across, may be
regarded as already decided by the demands of trade between these remote
parts of our present extended domain.
But what shall be the plan, Mr. Whitney’s or a government enterprise? If
the government undertake it, the chances are a thousand to one, that,
like the Cumberland road, it will be broken down by party strifes.
Neither of the two great parties of the country would, in any
probability, risk the responsibility of taking it on its shoulders as a
government work. Shall it, then, be done by a corporate company, with an
adequate loan of public credit, as has been proposed? Besides other
insuperable objections to a plan of this kind, of a party political
character, it must be seen, that all transport on a road built on this
plan, must pay a toll to satisfy the interest of the capital invested;
whereas, on the Whitney plan, no toll will be exacted, except to keep
the road and its machinery in repair. This difference, in its operation
on trade and commerce, will be immense, sufficient, as any one may see,
to decide the question at once and forever between the two plans. The
company proposed will have to _borrow_ its capital, the interest of
which must be provided for by tolls. This tax on trade and intercourse
will necessarily prevent that grand movement of commercial exchanges
between the Atlantic and Pacific states, between the United States and
Asia, and between Europe and Asia, which is the great object of the
enterprise. But the Whitney plan does not borrow, but _creates_, by its
own progress, out of the increased value of the lands through which it
passes, the capital required to build the road; and thus dispensing with
all tolls to pay for the use of capital, it will invite and secure the
passage on this line of the great bulk of commerce around the entire
globe, and between the great masses of the industrial and producing
portions of the human family, which, as will be seen, lie on one great
belt of the earth, demanding precisely the direct and cheap channel of
intercommunication here proposed, instead of the circuitous, long, and
expensive routes of commerce heretofore used.
Moreover, on the company plan, the increased value of the lands on the
route, will all go to the corporation; whereas, on the Whitney plan, it
will go to the people of the United States, whose property it is, and to
the benefit of that trade and commerce which it sets in motion.
The Whitney plan, once executed, will merge in one the interests of our
population on the Pacific slope of this continent and those of our
population on the Atlantic slope, and by that means they will remain one
forever. But the failure of this enterprise, by the neglect of Congress
to authorize it, would make the interests of these two vast regions
forever independent of and opposed to each other. Such a dereliction of
duty, so apparent, would ere long, as a natural if not necessary
consequence, create an independent nation on the Pacific.
THE END.
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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. P. 206, changed “buck was not be captured” to “buck was not to be
captured”.
2. P. 263, changed “flea is not be trifled with” to “flea is not to be
trifled with”.
3. Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in
spelling.
4. Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed.
5. Portraits of Hon. Wm. M. Gwin and Jacob R. Snyder are not present.
6. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.
7. Denoted superscripts by a caret before a single superscript
character.