and after Yizcayno. Knowing so much, the wonder is that these navigators
did not know more. They named, and noted on their chart, yet did not know
our Bay of San Francisco. Yearly for centuries they coasted by. A priest or
soldier standing upon the deck of this old-timed ship, might gaze upon a glori-
ous land that overhung the western sea ; with hills on hills a swelling pile,
glowing in sunsets that had gilded them through countless ages. But, save in
the casual visits of the earliest navigators, we know not that foot of white man
yet had pressed the soil of California. The world was busy in commerce and
Hi war. But the breeze still rufiled the vacant waters, dimpled the idle grass,
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 275
and fanned the sultry sides of the solitary mountains of California. These
slopes and plains pastured but the deer and elk. A despicable type of man, in
petty groups, wandered through these valleys, of which the bear was more the
lord than he. No other human tenant occupied the most delightful of the habi-
tations of man, nor had from the creation down.
The Spaniards were at best but feeble navigators. Witness the galleons
making a tedious progress in the latitude of calms. Anson says that the in-
structions to their commanders were, in his day, to keep within the latitude of
30 degrees, if possible, as if they feared to encounter the stiffer breezes further
north, an instruction, however, not always followed, as their chart demonstrates.
To vessels such as then were built or to be found in Mexican or South Ameri-
can ports the daily winds from the northwest, which in summer roughen the
sea all along the coast to Cape San Lucas, were gales against which it was
dangerous and almost hopeless to attempt to make head. This labor had not
diminished from the days of Cabrillo and Vizcayno. These most beneficent
northwest trade-winds cut off California from Spanish America by sea. By
land the desert tracts of the Gila and Upper California, both unexplored,
barred the approach from the south; and to the east the human imagination
had not yet traversed the interval from the Atlantic ocean. In 1769 the
history of mankind may be said to have begun upon this coast. In this wise
it begun.
Charles the Fifth, on the 17th day of November, 1526, addressed these
words to his Indies :
" The kings, our progenitors, from the discovery of the West Indies, its
islands and continents, commanded our captains, officers, discoverers, colonizers,
and all other persons, that, on arriving at those provinces, they should, by
means of interpreters, cause to be made known to the Indians that they were
sent to teach them good customs, to lead them from vicious habits and the
eating of human flesh, to instruct them in our holy Catholic faith, to preach to
them salvation, and to attract them to our dominions."
The same spirit breathes through every part of the laws of the Indies, as
they were issued for successive centuries, which may be seen by reference to
the code in which they are compiled.
The ministers who executed these pious purposes of the king were mainly
the soldiers of the cross. Christian priests converted our savage ancestors in
the forests of the north of Europe, and laid the foundations of the great re-
public of European states, of which the cement is modern civilization.
Christian priests endeavored to repeat that grand achievement in America. A
sublime contemplation ! They interposed the cross and staid the descending
sword and the still swifter destruction of private greed. Their powerful pro-
tector was the King of Spain, when both continents were almost entirely Span-
ish. Their dusky converts who acknowledged the dominion of Christ were
saved as subjects of the king, were admitted to civil rights, and mingled their
blood with that of the descendants of the Visigoths. In the lineaments and
complexion of the Spanish American we still behold the native Indian whom
the church preserved. Exalted charity ! at least in motive ; and although the
teacher could riot foresee that the same lesson would not effect the same re-
sult in pupils so diverse, it was not their fault that they did not raise the
crouching Indian to the level of the conquering German.
In 1767 the Jesuits being banished from the Spanish dominions, Lower Cali-
fornia was transferred to the charge of another celebrated order, the Francis-
cans. Into this field, when it had been wrested from the Society of Jesus, the
Franciscans were led by one who was born in an island of the Medi-
terranean, the son of humble laborers. From his infancy Father Junipero Serra
was reared for the church. He had already greatly distinguished himself in the
conversion and civilization of heathen savages in other parts of Mexico ; and
276 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
afterwards had preached revivals of the faith in Christian places, illustrating 1 ,
as we are told, the strength of his convictions and the fervor of his zeal by
demonstrations which would startle us now coming from the pulpit such as
burning his flesh with the blaze of a candle, beating himself with a chain, and
bruising his breast with a stone which he carried in his hand. Further, this
devout man was lame from an incurable sore on his leg, contracted soon after
his landing in Mexico ; but he usually travelled on foot none the less. You have
before you the first great pioneer of California ! His energies were not destined
to be wasted in the care of missions which others had founded. He entered
immediately upon the spiritual conquest of the regions of the north. Josef de
Galvez, then visitor general, a very high officer, (representing the person of the
king in the inspection of the working of every part of the government of the
province to which he was sent,) and who afterwards held the still more exalted
position of minister general for all the Indies, arrived at this time in Lower
California, bringing a royal order to despatch an expedition by sea to re-discover
and people the Port of Monterey, or at least that of San Dieogo. Father Ju-
nipero entered with enthusiasm into his plans, and after consulting with him
and learning the condition of the missions and the latitude of the most northern,
Galvez, the better to fulfil the wishes of his majesty, determined, besides the
expedition by sea, to send another which should go in search of San Diego by
land, at which point the two expeditions should meet and make an establish-
ment. And he further resolved to found three missions, one at San Diego, one
at Monterey, and another mid-way between these, at San Buena Ventura. A
fleet, consisting of two small vessels, at this time came over to Lower California
from an Bias; the San Carlos and the San Antonio, otherwise the Principe.
Of these the San Carlos was the capitania or flag-ship. Galvez, a really great
man, labored with great diligence and good nature to get them ready for sea;
with his own hands assisting the workmen, such as there were to be found in
that remote corner of the world, in careening the vessels, and the fathers in
boxing up the ornaments, sacred vases, and other utensils of the church and
vestry, and boasting in a letter that he was a better sacristan than Father
Junipero, because he had put up the ornaments, &c., for his mission, as he called
that of San Buena Ventura, before that servant of God had those for his of San
Carlos, and had to go and help him. Also, that the new missions might be
established in the same manner with > those of Sierra Gorda, where Father Ju-
nipero had formerly labored, and with which he was much pleased. Galvez
ordered to be boxed up and embarked all kinds of household and field utensils,
with the necessary iron-work for cultivating the lands, and every species of
seeds, as well those of old as of new Spain, without forgetting the very least,
such as garden-herbs, flowers, and flax, the land being, he said, in his opinion,
fertile for everything, as it was in the same latitude with Spain. For the same
purpose, he determined that from the furthest north of the old missions the
land expedition should carry two hundred head of cows, bulls, and oxen, to
stock that new country with large cattle, in order to cultivate the whole of it,
and that in proper time there should be no want of something to .eat.
Father Junipero blessed the vessels and the flags, Galvez made an impressive
harangue, the expedition embarked, and the San Carlos sailed from La Paz, in
Lower California, on the 9th day of January, 1769. The whole enterprise was
commended to the patronage of the Most Holy Patriarch St. Joseph. On the
San Carlos sailed Don Vicente Villa, commander of the maritime expedition ;
Don Pedro Fages, a lieutenant commanding a company of twenty-five soldiers
of the Catalonian volunteers ; the engineer, Don Miguel Constanzo ; likewise
Dr. Pedro Pratt, a surgeon of the royal navy, and all the necessary crew and
officers. With them for their consolation went the Father Friar Fernando Par-
ron. Galvez, in a small vessel, accompanied the San Carlos as far as Cape San
Lucas, and saw her put to sea with a fair wind on the llth day of January,
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 277
1769. The San Antonio, the other vessel, went to Cape San Lucas, and Galvez
set to work with the same energy and heartiness to get her ready. She sailed
on the 15th day of February, 1769. The captain of the San Antonio was Don
Juan Perez, a native of Majorca, and a distinguished pilot of the Philippine
trade. With him sailed two priests, Fathers Juan Vizcayno and Francisco
Gomez. The archives of this State contain a paper of these times which cannot
but be read with interest. It is the copy of the receipt of the commander, Vin-
cente Villa, containing a list of all the persons on board the San Carlos, and an
inventory of eight months' provisions. It reads thus :
OFFICERS AND CREW, SOLDIERS, ETC., OP THE SAN CARLOS.
The two army officers, the father missionary, the captain, pilot, and
surgeon 6 persons.
The company of soldiers, being the surgeon, corporal, and twenty-
three men 25 persons.
The officers of the ship and crew, including two pages, (cabin boys
doubtless) 25 persons.
The baker and two blacksmiths 3 persons.
The cook and two tortilla makers 3 persons.
Total , 62 persons.
Dried meat, 187 arrobas, (25 pounds,) 6 libras; fish, 77 arrobas, 8 libras ;
crackers, (common,) 267 arrobas, 3 libras ; crackers, (white,) 47 arrobas, 7 libras ;
Indian corn, 760 fanegas; rice, 37 arrobas, 20 libras ; peas, 37 arrobas, 20 libras ;
lard, 20 arrobas; vinegar, 7 tinajas, (jars;) salt, 8 fanegas ; panocha, (domestic
sugar,) 43 arrobas, 8 libras ; cheese, 78 arrobas ; brandy, 5 tinajas ; wine, 6 tin-
ajas ; figs, 6 tinajas ; raisins, 3 tinajas; dates, 2 tinajas ; sugar, 5 arrobas ; choco-
late, 77 arrobas; hams, 70 arrobas; oil, (table,) 6 tinajas ; oil, (fish,) 5 tinajas;
red pepper, 12 libras ; black pepper, 7 libras ; cinnamon, 7 libras ; garlic, 5
libras ; 25 smoked beef tongues ; 6 live cattle ; 70 tierces of flour, each of 25
arrobas, 20 libras ; 15 sacks of bran ; lentiles, 23 arrobas ; beans, 19 arrobas,
20 libras ; one thousand dollars in reals (coin) for any unexpected emergency.
Besides 32 arrobas of panocha (domestic sugars,) 20 for the two missions of San
Diego and Monterey, one half to each, and the remaining 12 arrobas for the grat-
ification of the Indians, and to barter with them. 16 sacks of charcoal ; 1 box
of tallow candles of 4J arrobas ; 1 pair of 16-pound scales ; 2 pounds of lamp
wick.
The original of this simple and homely document, but which enables us to
realize so clearly these obscure transactions, yet so full of interest for us, was
given unquestionably to Galvez, and this copy we may presume brought to
to California on this first voyage of the Santa Carlos to serve as her mani-
fest. It is dated the 5th of January, 1 769. Of the same date we have the
instructions of Galvez to Villa and Fages, addressed to each of them sepa-
rately that is, the original is given to Villa under the signature of Galvez
and a copy to Fages. They are long and minute. The first article declares
that the first object of the expedition is to establish the " Catholic religion
among a numerous heathen people, submerged in the obscure darkness of pagan-
ism, to extend the dominion of the King our lord, and to protect this peninsula^
from the ambitious views of foreign nations." He also recites that this project
had been entertained since 1606, when it was ordered to be executed by Philip
III, referring to orders which were issued by that monarch in consequence of
the report made by Vizcayno, but which were never carried into effect. He
enjoins that no labor or fatigue be spared now for the accomplishment of such
just and holy ends. San Diego, he says, will be found in latitude 33 degrees,
278 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
as set forth in the royal cedula of 1606, (one hundred and sixty-three years
before,) and that it cannot fail to be recognized from the landmarks mentioned
by Vizcayno. At the conclusion in his own handwriting we have the follow-
ing :
"NoTE. That to the fort or presidio that may be constructed, and to the
pueblo (village) of the mission which may be established at Monterey, there
shall be given the glorious name of San Carlos de Monterey. JOSEPH DB
GALVEZ," (with his rubric.)
When the San Antonio sailed she seems to have carried a letter from Galvez
to Pedro Fages, who had gone in advance on the San Carlos, for we have it now
in the archives. It is dated cape San Lucas, February 14, 1769. The body
of the letter is in substance : That the San Antonio arrived at the bay (Sari
Lucas) on the twenty -fifth of last month, (January ;) that she was discharged
and cleared of barnacles ; that he examined the vessel with his own eyes, and
found the keel thereof as sound as when it was placed in the vessel ; that the
necessary repairs had been made, and her cargo again placed on board, and that
to-morrow, if the weather permit, she will sail, and that he trusts in Providence
she will come safely into Monterey and find him (Fages) already in possession
of the country.
So far it is in the handwriting of a clerk. He then adds a postscript with his
own hand, addressed as well to Father Parron and the Engineer Constanzo as
to Fages. I read it, for it is pleasant to have, as it were, a personal acquaint-
ance with the eminent personage who directed the foundation of Upper Cali-
fornia, and to find him a gentleman of such manifest abilities, generous temper,
and enthusiasm :
"Mv FRIENDS : It appears that the Lord, to my confusion, desires infinitely
to reward the only virtue I possess, which is my constant faith, for everything
here goes on prosperously, even to the mines abounding in metals. Many peo-
ple are collecting, with abundance of provisions.
" I hope you will sing the Te Detim in Monterey, and in order that we may
repeat it here, you will not withhold the notice of the same an instant longer than
is necessary.
4 ' This is also for the Reverend Father Parron.
" JOSEF DE GALVEZ," (Rubrica.)
Just as active was he in getting off the land expedition. The chief command
was given to Don Gaspar de Portala, captain of dragoons, and then governor of
Lower California ; the second rank to Don Fernando Rivera y Moncada, captain
of a company of foot soldiers who carried leathern bucklers. And in imitation
of Jacob, Galvez, in view of the dangers of the route through savages and an
unknown country, divided the force into two parts, to save one if the other was
lost. Rivera was to lead the first and the governor to follow after. Rivera sets
out towards the north as early as September, 1768, collecting mules and mule-
teers, horses, dried meat, grain, flour, biscuits, &c , among the missions; en-
camps on the verge of the unexplored regions, and sends word to the visitor
general that he will be ready to start for San Diego in all of March. Father
Juan Crespi there joins him, and on the 24th day of March, which was Good
Friday, he begins the journey. This party consisted of the Captain Rivera,
Father Crespi, a pilot who went to keep a diary, twenty-five foot soldiers with
leathern bucklers, three muleteers, and a band of Christian Indians of Lower
California, to serve as pioneers, assistants to the muleteers, and for anything else
that might be necessary, and who carried bows and arrows. They spent fifty-
two days in the journey, and on the 14th day of May arrived, without accident,
at San Diego. Father Junipero Serra, president of the missions of Lower Cal-
ifornia, and of those that were to be founded, marched with Portala. The sea-
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 279
son of lent, the dispositions to be made for the regulation of the missions during
his absence, and the preparations for the expedition in its spiritual part, detained
him, so that it was May before he joined Portalaat the same encampment from
which Rivera had set out. The reverend father president came up in very bad
condition. He was travelling with an escort of two soldiers, and hardly able
to get on or off his mule. His foot and leg were greatly inflamed, and the more
that he always wore sandals, and never used boots, shoes, or stockings. His
priests and the governor tried to dissuade him from the undertaking, but he said
he would rather die on the road, yet he had faith that the Lord would carry
him safely through. A letter was even sent to Gralvez, but he was a kindred
spirit, and agreed with Father Junipero, who, however, was far into the wilder-
ness before the answer was received. On the second day out, his pain was so
great that he could neither sit nor stand, nor sleep, and Portala, being still
unable to induce him to return, gave orders for a litter to be made. Hearing this,
Father Junipero was greatly distressed on the score of the Indians, who would
have to carry him. He prayed fervently, and then a happy thought occurred
to him. He called one of the muleteers and addressed him, so runs the story,
in these words : " Son, don't you know some remedy for the sore on my foot
and leg ? " But the muleteer answered, " Father, what remedy can I know ?
Am I a surgeon ? I am a muleteeer, and have only cured the sore backs of
beasts." " Then consider me a beast," said the father, " and this sore which
has produced this swelling of my legs, and the grievous pains I am suffering,
and that neither let me stand nor sleep, to be a sore back, and give me the same
treatment you would apply to a beast." The muleteer, smiling, as did all the
rest who heard him, answered, " I will, father, to please you ; " and taking a
small piece of tallow, mashed it between two stones, mixing with it herbs,
which he found growing close by, and having heated it over the fire, annointed
the foot and leg, leaving a plaster of it on the sore. God wrought in such a
manner for so wrote Father Junipero himself from San Diego that he slept
all that night until daybreak, and awoke so much relieved from his pains that
he got up and said matins and prime, and afterwards Mass, as if he had never
suffered such an accident ; and to the astonishment of the governor and the
troop at seeing the father in such health and spirits for the journey, which was
not delayed a moment on his account. Such a man was Father Junipero Serra ;
and so he journeyed when he went to conquer California. On the first of July,
1769, they reached San Diego, all well, in forty-six days after leaving the
frontier. When they came in sight of the port the troops began firing for joy ;
those already there replied in the same manner. The vessels at anchor joined
in the salute, and so they kept up the firing, until, all having arrived, they fell
to embracing one another, and to mutual congratulations at finding all the ex-
peditions united and already at their longed-for destination. Here, then, we
have the officers and priests, soldiers and sailors, and laborers, mules, oxen and
cows, seeds, tools, implements of husbandry, and vases, ornaments, and utensils
for the church, gotten together to begin the work of settlement, conversion, and
civilization on the soil of California. The first day of July, ninety-one years
ago, is the first day of California. The year 1769 is our era. The obscure
events that I have noticed must yet by us be classed among its greatest occur-
rences, although it saw the birth of Napoleon and Wellington.
The number of souls then at San Diego should have been about two hundred
and fifty, but the San Carlos had had a very hard time at sea, not reaching
San Diego (which place she found with difficulty) until twenty days after the
arrival of the San Antonio, which sailed five weeks later. She had, of the
crew, but one sailor and the cook left alive ; all the rest had died of scurvy.
The first thin to be done was to found a mission and to look for Monterey,
which from Vizcayno's time had been lost to the world. For founding a mis-
sion this was the proceeding :
280 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES,
Formal possession of the designated spot was taken in the name of Spain.
A tent or arbor, or whatever construction was most practicable, was erected to
serve as a temporary church, and adorned as well as circumstances would per-
mit ; a father in his robes blessed the place and the chapel, sprinkling them
with water, which also he had first blessed for the occasion, and immediately
the holy cross, having first been adored by all, was mounted on a staff and
planted in front of the chapel. A saint was named as a patron of the mission,
and a father appointed as its minister. Mass was said and a fervent discourse
concerning the coming of the Holy Ghost delivered. That service, celebrated
with such candles or other lights as they might have, being over, the Veni
Creator Spiritus an invocation to the Holy Ghost was sung, whilst the con-
tinual firing of the soldiers during the ceremony supplied the place of an organ,
and the smoke of the gunpowder that of incense, if it was wanting.
The mission being founded, the next thing was to attract the Indians. This
was done in the simplest manner, by presents of food and cloth to the older ones,
and bits of sugar to the young ones. When they had learned enough of their
language to communicate with them, they taught them the mysteries of the faith,
and when they were able to say a few prayers and make in some sort a confes-
sion of faith, they were baptised and received into the fold of the Church. At
the same time they were drawn from a wandering life, collected in villages around
the mission Church, and instructed in the habits and arts of civilized life. To
keep them in the practice of their lessons, spiritual and secular, the father in
charge of the mission had over them the control of a master, and for them the
affection of a parent, and was supported in his authority by the soldiers at the
presidios, or an escort stationed at the mission itself.
This was the mode of accomplishing what Galvez in his instructions declared
to be the first object of the enterprise. And in this manner Father Junipero
begun the work at San Diego on the 16th day of July. An untoward incident
of a very unusual nature in California attended this first essay. The Indians,
not being permitted to steal all the cloth they coveted, surprised the mission
when only four soldiers, the carpenter, and blacksmith were present, and Father
Junipero would have been murdered then at the outset, but for the muskets,
leathern jackets, and bucklers, and mainly the valor of the blacksmith. This
man had just come from the communion, to which circumstance the fathers at-
tributed his heroism, and although he wore no defensive armor of skins, he
rushed out shouting vivas for the faith of Jesus Christ and death to the dogs,
its enemies, at the same time firing away at the savages.
On the 14th day of July the Governor Portala and a servant ; Father Juan
Crespi and Francisco Gomez ; Captain Fernando Rivera y Moncada, the second
in command, with a sergeant and twenty-six soldiers of the leathern jackets ;
Lieutenant Pedro Fages and seven of his soldiers the rest had died on the San
Carlos or were left sick at San Diego ; Don Miguel Constauzo, the engineer ;
seven muleteers, and fifteen Christian Indians, sixty five persons in all, with a
pack train carrying a large supply of provisions, set out to rediscover Monterey.
The mortality on board the San Carlos prevented any attempt at that time by
sea ; that vessel having to be laid up at San Diego, whilst all the efficient men
were transferred to the San Antonio, which was sent back with the news and