Santa Inez carries us for the first time over into the nineteenth
century, and its establishment may in a sense be regarded as marking the
term of the period of expansion in California mission history. A pause
of more than a decade ensued, during which no effort was made towards
the further spread of the general system; and then, with the planting
of two relatively unimportant settlements in a district thentofore
unoccupied the tally was brought to a close.
The missions which thus represented a slight and temporary revival of
the old spirit of enterprise, were those of San Rafael Arcangel and San
Francisco Solano. The former, located near Mount Tamalpais, between San
Francisco de Assis and the Russian military station at Fort Ross, dates
from the 17th December, 1817; the latter, situated still further north,
in the Sonoma Valley, from the 4th July, 1823. Some little uncertainty
exists as to the true reasons and purposes of their foundation. The
commonly accepted version of the story connects them directly with
problems which arose out of the course of affairs at San Francisco. In
1817 a most serious epidemic caused great mortality among the Indians
there; a panic seemed inevitable; and on the advice of Lieutenant Sola,
a number of the sick neophytes were removed by the padres to the other
side of the bay. The change of climate proved highly beneficial;
the region of Mount Tamalpais was found singularly attractive; and a
decision to start a branch establishment, or asistencia, of the mission
at San Francisco was a natural result. The patronage of San Rafael was
selected in the hope that, as the name itself expresses the "healing of
God," that "most glorious prince" might be induced to care "for bodies
as well as souls." While considerable success attended this new venture,
the condition of things at San Francisco, on the other hand, continued
anything but satisfactory; and a proposal based on these two facts was
presently made, that the old mission should be removed entirely from the
peninsula, and refounded in a more favorable locality somewhere in the
healthy and fertile country beyond San Rafael. It was thus that the name
of San Francisco got attached from the outset to the new settlement at
Sonoma; and when later on (the old mission being left in its place) this
was made into an independent mission, the name was retained, though the
dedication was transferred, appropriately enough, from St. Francis of
Assisi to that other St. Francis who figures in the records as "the
great apostle of the Indies."
Such is the simpler explanation of the way in which the last two
missions came to be established. It has, however, been suggested that,
while all this may be true as far as it goes, other causes were at work
of a subtler character than those specified, and that these causes were
involved in the development of political affairs. It will have been
noted that, though the threatened encroachments of the Russians had been
one of the chief reasons for this Spanish occupation of Alta California,
there had hitherto been no attempt to meet their possible advances in
the very regions where they were most to be expected--that is, in the
country north of San Francisco. In course of time, however, always with
the ostensible purpose of hunting the seal and the otter, the Russians
were found to be creeping further and further south; and at length,
under instructions from St. Petersburg, they took possession of the
region of Bodega Bay, establishing there a trading post of their Fur
Company, and a strong military station which they called Fort Ross. As
this settlement was on the coast, and only sixty-five miles, as the crow
flies, from San Francisco, it will be seen that the Spanish authorities
had some genuine cause for alarm. And the mission movement north of San
Francisco is considered by some writers to have been initiated, less
from spiritual motives, than from the dread of continued Russian
aggression, and the hope of raising at least a slight barrier against
it. However this may be, the two missions were never employed for
defensive purposes; nor is it very clear that they could have been made
of much practical service in case of actual need.