San Diego County CA Archives History - Books .....Chapter I The Spanish Discoverers 1922 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 19, 2007, 4:43 pm Book Title: City Of Sandiego And San Diego County [photo] CROSS ERECTED AT OLD TOWN Where San Diego had its beginning, in honor of Father Junipero Serra. Here he, with the aid of a few devoted followers, established the first Mission in San Diego. CHAPTER I THE SPANISH DISCOVERERS Sailing from Natividad in Mexico, then already a substantial unit in the vast colonial empire which had been put under the proud flag of Spain, Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo brought two little ships into San Diego harbor in September, 1542. And these two clumsy little boats, as far as the pages of history reveal, brought to the shores of California the first white men, the first Europeans, to set foot on the soil of what is now the Golden State of the Union. Columbus had made his discovery of America just 50 years before; the proud Balboa had waded into the waters of the Pacific and claimed the ocean for the king forty-two years before; Cortez had long before started his conquest of Mexico; more than a score of years had elapsed since Magellan had pushed through the straits which bear his name; the Dominion of Spain had been extended over a vast expanse of a continent new to Europe; gold-seekers, soldiery of fortune, hardy mariners had pushed on for new conquests. As Cabrillo's little craft struggled against wind and sea on their way into the unchartered waters to the north, the tattered, hungry, discouraged survivors of the proud band that had set out with De Soto •and had crossed to the Mississippi in search of a new El Dorado were fighting their way back to Mexico. Such were some of the settings of the period. Cabrillo, like Magellan, was a Portuguese, but in the service of Spain, whose rulers hired whom they best could to do the work of carrying on further the flag of that proud nation, then at about the zenith of its power. The little ships which he commanded were the San Salvador and the Victoria. It seems almost a miracle in these days that men could conquer the perils of the sea in such craft as those—bulky, clumsy, towering high above the water, carrying little canvas and very hard to handle. Yet, after many days on the run up from the Mexican port, they turned at Point Loma and came into the great harbor of San Diego. Cabrillo himself called it large and good, and his enthusiastic praise of its sheltering qualities grew when a heavy storm arose outside, yet made no impression on his little craft, riding- safely at anchor behind the point. A party of men was sent ashore for a new supply of fresh water and, going to the sandy bed of the San Diego River, found some, but on their way back to the ship the men lost their way, mistaking False Bay, now known under the more dignified name of Mission Bay, for the hospitable harbor where they had left their comrades; so they had to camp out for the night, but that meant no hardship in San Diego climate, and they got back safely the next day. Then the Indians came up, and it is said that they, using signs, gave the explorers to understand that other white men were traveling on horseback in the interior. At any rate, Cabrillo remained six days, took observations with his crude instruments and, making a somewhat serious error, placed the harbor at latitude 34 degrees, 20 minutes north, whereas the latitude actually is 32 degrees and more than 41 minutes. Then he sailed on to the north for new discoveries, only to fall, a few months later, on an island later named for him and to receive injuries from which he died. News of Cabrillo's discoveries at last got back to Mexico, and, in the course of months, to Spain. But nothing came of that news for many years. It was sixty years later, as far as the records show, before other Spanish ships came into San Diego harbor. They were commanded by Don Sebastian Viscaino, who set sail from Acapulco in May, 1602, with two ships, a frigate and a small vessel. With him came three Carmelite priests. They did not reach San Diego until November 5, so slow was their voyage. Viscaino was not the discoverer of San Diego, that honor having gone to Cabrillo, but he left his name stamped on San Diego history by what he did here. For it was he who named the Coronado Islands, that stately group of rocky isles which tower above the sea a few miles below the harbor; it was he who gave the port its name, San Diego de Alcala, and it was he who made some real observations of what he found here. For one thing he gave a very interesting description of Point Loma which he said was covered with a forest of tall and straight oaks and other trees—thus giving to scientists and local historians of much later years a topic of no little interest, for the majestic point for many years has been bare of anything resembling a real forest. Yet there seem to have been many trees, though not very tall, on the point in later years, and indeed, much of the other terrain around the bay seems to have been covered with trees in those days. A new generation of Indians was there, but they were doubtless of the same kind that Cabrillo and his men had seen. The harbor was just as safe, and Viscaino's party was enthusiastic about it. He and his associates were convinced, too, that here was a good place for settlement. Yet it was not settled for more than a century and a half, long after men spoke the name of Viscaino. When his little fleet sailed back, it took the word of San Diego's importance, but the word was not a signal for action. While Spain worked elsewhere, while England and France and Holland sent colonies to the Atlantic shores of America, the Pacific coast of the country was left alone—not forgotten, of course, but neglected. When the settlement of San Diego—the first in California—was accomplished, the hardy sons of England had made colonies all up and down the Atlantic. The Puritan colony at Plymouth, Massachusetts, was nearly 150 years old. Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Virginia, were all well settled; their men had fought the Indians and were pushing the frontier slowly westward. England's ruler had insisted on galling injustices which had aroused those colonies almost to the point of rebellion. The Massachusetts legislature had boldly stated the rights of the colonists, other colonies had followed. While the first settlers of San Diego were on their way up to the harbor from Mexico the Virginia Assembly met and passed ringing resolutions against Crown taxation of the colonies and trial in England of colonists charged with treason. The people were aflame with the resentment which later brought on the war of the revolution. Such were the conditions in the east when an expedition was started to the west by Spain for the settlement of California. And while this settlement was being made, with crude and humble beginnings, a new nation, to be a great and powerful nation, was being born across the continent. Yet many more years were to elapse before the pioneers of that new nation came across the land and the two waves of civilization met on the Pacific shores. Additional Comments: CITY OF SAN DIEGO AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY THE BIRTHPLACE OF CALIFORNIA BY CLARENCE ALAN McGREW SAN DIEGO Assisted by a Board of Advisory and Contributing Editors WITH SELECTED BIOGRAPHY OF ACTORS AND WITNESSES IN THE PERIOD OF THE CITY AND COUNTY'S GREATEST GROWTH AND ACHIEVEMENT VOLUME I ILLUSTRATED THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 1922 Copyright 1922 The American Historical Society File at: http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ca/sandiego/history/1922/cityofsa/chapteri260gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cafiles/ File size: 8.0 Kb