San Diego County CA Archives History - Books .....Chapter II Father Serra And The Missions 1922
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Book Title: City Of Sandiego And San Diego County

[photo] VIEW OF MISSION VALLEY In which is the Old Mission, established by the
Mission Fathers in the Eighteenth Century


CHAPTER II
FATHER SERRA AND THE MISSIONS

    On July 1, 1769, there arrived at San Diego the man who more than any other
man was instrumental in establishing on these shores an orderly, constructive,
useful civilization. He was Fr. Junipero Serra, Franciscan missionary. Full of a
religious faith which gave inspiration not only to those who lived with him but
to those who came after him, and possessing an administrative capacity of high
order, he left a real milestone in the progress of civilization on the western
shores of America. Against what obstacles he worked it is hard to picture. With
what simple sweetness of character, with what great love and with what clear
wisdom he overcame those obstacles every written line that comes from him and
his associates speaks with eloquence. For good reason is Fr. Junipero Serra
famous; for good reason do all San Diegans, of whatever religion, acclaim the
name of this beloved padre and gladly join in tribute to his memory.

    When Serra came to San Diego to found the first of the California missions
at this port he was fifty-six years old; yet he entered upon the task, at which
younger men might well have hesitated, with the same enthusiasm and devotion
which he had shown as a youth. Never faltering, never losing confidence, always
displaying great talents not only as a religious leader but as an administrator,
he kept at his work until the very end of his life, some fifteen years after he
reached San Diego. Small wonder is it that John Steven McGroarty, gifted
California writer, was inspired to write his notable "Mission Play," which in
recent years has done much more to draw a compelling picture for thousands of
the period which Father Serra typifies than could be done on many pages of
printed words. No less credit is due to Father Serra and his devoted associates,
and those who labored in their path in later years, from the fact that Spain, in
sending the missionaries to California, sought to secure territory. No less
credit is theirs because Spanish statecraft, in the fear that others might claim
this land, resolved to occupy and try to hold it. As one historian has said, the
Americans, long before established on the Atlantic coast of America and ever
moving west across the continent, might have penetrated the perils of the
unknown lands to the Pacific coast. Perhaps the English, ever ranging the seven
seas, might have come around and seized the hospitable haven which Cabrillo had
entered in 1542. Another historian, an indefatigable searcher after historical
truth—Fr. Zephyrin Engelhardt—attributes the action of Spain to the fear that
Russia might gain the prize. At any rate, Spain acted. But with the soldiers
came the Franciscan Fathers, ready and eager to serve, and theirs was the real
conquest.

    Early in 1769, Inspector-Gen. Don Jose de Galvez, by order of Carlos III,
king of Spain, sent two expeditions, by sea and two by land, instructing that
all four should meet at San Diego. The little "paquebot" San Carlos sailed from
La Paz, Mexico, on or about January 9, 1769, after impressive ceremonies at
which Fr. Serra is said to have presided. This vessel was in command of Capt.
Vincente Vila, and on it came Fr. Fernando Parron, a Franciscan, as chaplain.
More than a month later, or on February 15th the San Antonio, another little
ship under the Spanish flag, left San Jose del Cabo. Her commander was Capt.
Juan Perez, and with him came two Franciscans, Fr. Juan Viscaino and Fr.
Francisco Gomez. One land party, starting also from the peninsula of what is now
Lower California was under Don Gaspar de Portola, Governor of Lower California.
The other was under Capt. Fernando Rivera Moncada. With the first party coming
by land was Fr. Juan Crespi. Father Serra himself arrived only two days later
than Portola, coming to the port with Portola's main force, which the governor
had preceded.

    The first of the two little vessels to arrive was the San Antonio. It must
be remembered that in these days mariners lacked the accurate data and delicate
instruments by which vessels proceed in these days. Cabrillo on his chart had
set San Diego at the wrong latitude, and both the San Carlos and the San Antonio
went up to the Santa Barbara channel, many miles north of San Diego, before the
error was discovered. The San Antonio reached San Diego harbor on April 11,
1769, nearly two months out. Anchor was cast near what was named Point
Guijarros, now, doubtless, Ballast Point, a name well known to all commanders of
craft plowing through the Pacific. There the San Antonio waited for her sister
vessel, which did not arrive until April 29. Such were the difficulties of
sailing in those days.

    Captain Vila of the San Carlos in his diary tells in what condition both
crews were, and his words, preserved all these years, show vividly with what
trials and tribulation the two sea expeditions had moved throughout the latter
part of their voyage. The San Carlos had only two seamen in good condition as
the result of scurvy, which had broken out on both ships. More than half the
soldiers aboard were seriously ill, and Don Pedro Prat, the surgeon, was
prostrated bv the same disease. On the San Antonio conditions were even worse.
When that vessel arrived two of the crew had died, and many of the others were
very ill. When the San Carlos entered the harbor. Captain Perez of the San
Antonio was in poor health. It was with difficulty that the weakened sailors
still working on the San Carlos were able to bring that craft alongside the
other. That was May 1, and on the same day, writes Captain Vila, a party went
ashore to explore and seek a good watering place, which the San Antonio's men
had not yet found. The party returned to the ships that evening. bringing an
interesting description of the Indian village which was then on the bank of the
San Diego river:

    "The officers and the Missionary Fathers reported that they had walked about
three leagues along the shore [of Point Loma and Dutch Flats] and at that
distance had come to an Indian rancheria on the banks of a river with excellent
water; that the Indians inhabiting the village to the number of thirty-five or
forty families scattered along the stream in small rude huts, were very friendly
and gentle; and that the country was pleasant and green, abounding in various
odoriferous plants, wild grapes and game."

    The remark which Captain Vila makes concerning the "river with excellent
water" is of some interest in view of the fact that the San Diego River's bed is
usually, in recent years, dry by the end of April—at least on the surface,
although its sands yield generously of good water if one digs a few feet.
Costanso, a civil engineer of the San Carlos party, agrees with Captain Vila in
the description of the river, leading to the conclusion that there must have
been heavy winter or late spring rains that season.

    As the sun was rising well over the hills the next morning, Captain Vila
took up his anchor and, with the San Antonio's launch out ahead, doubtless to
keep the larger craft out of trouble, went farther into the harbor, anchoring in
seven fathoms of water. Later in the day, while the sun was sinking behind Point
Loma, a party went oft in the launch to bury the dead seamen on the shore.
Several days later Vila sent out another exploring party to the mouth of the
river. where it was found that at high tide a boat could enter and get plenty of
fresh water. Meanwhile the launch of the San Antonio went far up the harbor, in
the direction of what is now National City, and found the harbor extensive.

    The next day, May 6, it was decided to start construction of a rough
hospital near the river mouth and at the distance of a cannon shot from the
little boats in which the two sea expeditions had come, and when the site had
been selected, work was begun the next day, Father Viscaino being in charge.
There was still much sickness among the members of the expedition, and Captain
Vila himself wrote that he was unable to walk: only eight men able to work were
left in the party ashore. It is easy to imagine the sufferings and worries of
the two sea expeditions, far from home and aid. most of the members ill and some
of them dying. The land expedition with which Fr. Juan Crespi came arrived on
May 14, and Father Crespi, in a letter which he wrote more than a month later,
reporting to the Father Guardian of San Fernando College. Mexico, gave this
summary of the conditions prevailing at the sorely stricken little camp:
Twenty-three soldiers and sailors had died, nearly all the rest were very ill
and most of them could be saved from death "only by a miracle." The land
expedition had come in good shape, all of the party of about eighty arriving in
good health.

    In view of the distress of the sea expeditions, it was decided to send the
San Antonio with such sailors as were able to work, to San Blas to report what
had occurred and come back with more seamen. The San Antonio, however did not
get away until July 9, and on the voyage of twenty-one days down the coast nine
of Captain Perez' men died. Such were the ravages of the disease with which the
Spanish forces had to compete.

    Father Crespi's letter gives an interesting description of the native
Indians. Although Captain Vila's men had reported that at the rancheria near the
mouth of the San Diego river was a settlement of only about forty families,
Father Crespi in his letter wrote that on the way up the land expedition had
passed many rancherias and that inland from the harbor were many more Indians,
gentiles, than at the harbor's shores. The natives, he wrote, using terms which
showed his solicitude, were wretched. On the way north the expedition had had a
good chance to observe the habits of these people. The males went perfectly
naked; the women, however were "decently covered", fibre and animal skins
forming their garments. Both men and women were much painted. The cartilage of
the male Indian's nose was pierced and filled with a piece of shell. All of the
natives were active, wrote Father Crespi. Then Father Crespi told about the San
Diego River which had been running so wide a few weeks before. Its bed, so an
exploring party found, was dry in many places, with a streamlet here and there:
even three leagues up there was no running water. Still, Father Crespi spoke
hopefully of the possibility of raising good crops, in which the Franciscan
Fathers did notable work in later years, always contending against conditions of
which they had to learn as they went along and against which they accomplished
veritable wonders. In fact, the great work of irrigation by which this
"semi-arid" section has been made to produce fruits and vegetables for a
nation's consumption was started by these same fathers in the early days. The
remains of the dam and irrigation works by which they experimented successfully
are still visible at the site of the Mission dam, a few miles up the river.

    Let us, however, go back to the newcomers at the mouth of the river. Such as
were able to be around were either exploring the nearby country or attending to
the sick when, on June 29, Don Gaspar de Portola, who had come on ahead of his
party with a few men, arrived at the harbor. Two days later, just before noon,
the main body of the expedition, Father Serra being with this force of about
sixty men, arrived. More than forty were natives of Lower California.

    There was much rejoicing at the reunion. The next day was Sunday, and the
Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and a solemn High Mass of
Thanksgiving was offered in honor of St. Joseph, patron of the expedition.
Father Engelhardt estimates that about 119 survivors, many of those very ill, of
the 219 who had started from Lower California in the four expeditions,
celebrated the reunion.

    On July 3, Father Serra wrote to Father Palou, who was Presidente of the
order in Lower California after Father Serra had left for Upper California.
Because this was the first letter of this great missionary after his arrival in
San Diego and because it shows in a way not only his enthusiasm but his orderly
mind and observant eye, it is reproduced herewith in full. It is a rather
peculiar fact that one historian's translation which this writer examined and
compared with the Spanish text given in Father Palou's "Vida" was far from
complete and that another, evidently made with more care, was not strictly
accurate. A third, given in Father Engelhardt's work on the missions of
California, was not only complete but accurate. It is herewith reproduced.

BLESSED BE JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH.
    Rev. Father Lector and Presidente Francisco Palou—My dear Brother and Senor:
I shall rejoice if Your Reverence be in good health and laboring with much
consolation and success in firmly establishing your new mission field of Loreto
and of the others; and if, as soon as possible, the reinforcement of new
missionaries comes, so that everything may be established in good order for the
consolation of all. Thanks be to God, I arrived here day before yesterday, the
first of the month, at this truly beautiful and justly famed Port of San Diego.
I here came up with all who had preceded me by land as well as by sea, except
those who had died. Here are our companions, the Fathers Crespi, Vizcaino,
Parron, Gomez, and myself, all well, thanks be to God. Here are the two ships;
the San Carlos is without sailors, for all have died of scurvy, save one and a
cook; the San Antonio, otherwise El Principe, whose captain is Don Juan Perez, a
countryman from Rivera de Palma, arrived here twenty days before the other,
although she had set sail a month and a half later. Just as she was about to
sail for Monterey, the San Carlos arrived. While the crew of the San Antonio
endeavored to succor those of the San Carlos, they themselves were infected, so
that eight of them died. In the end, it was resolved that the San Antonio should
return from here to San Bias and bring up sailors for herself and for the San
Carlos, and that thereupon both should sail. We shall see in what condition the
San Jose arrives. If she comes in good condition, she, the last ship, will be
the first to depart.

    Two things have caused the disaster on the San Carlos. The first were the
defective barrels from which it was unexpectedly discovered water had escaped,
so that of four barrels not enough was left to fill one. Hence they were obliged
to hasten to land to take water; but what they obtained was of poor quality, and
from drinking it the crew began to take sick. The second cause was the
misapprehension under which all labored, His Excellency as well as the rest,
that this port lay between latitude thirty-three and thirty-four degrees; for
some authors claim the one and some the other. Galvez had given strict orders to
Captain Vila as also to the other captain to sail out into the ocean and proceed
as far as latitude thirty-four degrees and then to cruise in search of said
port; but since this port is actually not in a higher latitude than thirty-three
degrees and thirty-four minutes, according to the observations made by the
officials here, the ships passed far beyond this port, so that when they looked
for it, they failed to find it; and this caused the voyage to be prolonged.
Furthermore, as the crew already ill reached a colder climate and continued
using the unwholesome water, they were also much prostrated that, if they had
not made for the port soon, all would have perished; for they were already
unable to let down the launch to obtain water or to do any other work. Father
Fernando labored faithfully with the sick, and although he became feeble,
nothing particular happened to him, and now he is already in good health. I
shall not let him embark again, and he is glad to stay here.

    On this occasion I am writing at some length to the Inspector-General, to
the College, and to our Father Commissary-General. Hence I am somewhat tired. If
it had not been that Captain Perez, seeing me so occupied, diverted himself
otherwise. I believe he would have sailed away and I should have been unable to
write at all. With regard to the journey of Fr. Juan Crespi in company with the
captain. he tells me that he is writing a letter to Your Reverence and sending
it by this same bark, so that I have nothing to say. So far as 1 am concerned,
the journey has been truly a happy one, without any noteworthy break in my
health. 1 started out from the frontier mission with my foot and leg in the
worst condition: but God operated so that each day I was more relieved, and made
the journey as if had no such malady. At present the foot is altogether as sound
as the other: but from the ankle to half way up, the leg is like the foot was
before, one sore; but there is no swelling nor more pain than an occasional
itching: in fact, it is not worth mentioning.

    I have suffered neither hunger nor want; nor have the Indians Neophytes who
came with us suffered: and so all have arrived sound and strong. I have kept a
diary. On the first occasion, I shall transmit to Your Reverence a part of it.
The missions in the regions which we have seen will all thrive very well,
because there is good land and sufficient water. On the road hither and for
great distances back, there are no rocks nor thorns; but there are hills,
indeed, very high and continuous, though composed only of earth. Some roads are
good, others are bad: more, however, are of the latter kind, though it is no
matter of importance. About half way or earlier from where we started, we began
to encounter many arroyos and ravines overgrown with poplar trees. There are
pretty and large wild vines; in some places they are loaded down with grapes. In
various arroyos along the road and in the place where we are now, besides wild
grapevines, there are various roses of Castile. In fine, it is a good country,
very much different from the land of Old California.

    From May 21, when we left San Juan de Dios, as I wrote Your Reverence, until
July 1, when we arrived here, save eight days during which we rested the
animals, one day here and another there, we have journeyed even* day. However,
the longest march was six hours: of such days there have been but two. On the
other days the march lasted four or four and a half hours, from two to three,
and even only one and a half hours, as on each day the diary states, and that.
too. at the pace of the pack-mules. From this it may be inferred that, when one
is well equipped and the roads are more direct, many leagues of the superfluous
circuits could be cut off. The road is not very long. I believe that after this
trouble is taken, it would be a matter of about twelve days for the Fathers; and
the soldiers right now declare that, lightly burdened, they would go to the
frontier Mission of San Fernando de Velicata in much less time.

    The natives are exceedingly numerous, and all of this coast of the South Sea
along which we came from the Ensenada at Todos Santos, so-called on the maps and
charts, live well on various seeds and on fish which they catch from rafts made
of tules and formed like canoes, with which they venture far out on the sea. The
Indians are very friendly. All the males, men as well as boys, go naked. The
women and girls are decently covered as far as the breast. In that manner they
would approach us, on the road as well as in the camps. They would treat us with
such confidence and ease as if they had known us all their life. When we wished
to give them something to eat, they would say they did not want that, but
clothing. Only for things of this kind would they barter their fish with the
soldiers and muleteers. All along the road were seen rabbits, hares, and
sometimes a deer, and very many antelopes.

    The expedition by land, the governor tells me, he will continue together
with the captain (Rivera) three or four days from now. He will leave us here, he
says, with eight leather-jacket soldiers as guards and some sick Catalonian
soldiers who may serve in the same capacity when they have recovered. The
mission has not been founded, but I shall take steps in that direction as soon
as they depart. My friend, I had written so far, when my countryman, the
captain, came and told me that he could wait no longer without loss, and so I
conclude with saying that the Fathers here earnestly recommend themselves to
Your Reverence; that we are well and contented: that I recommend myself to
Father Martinez and the other companions to whom I intended to write, but
cannot: I shall do so at the first opportunity. Because the captain tells me he
is going to sail for the south. I am sending this letter to Father Ramos, that
he may read it and forward it to Your Reverence, whose life and health God may
keep many years. From this port and proposed new mission of San Diego in
northern California, July 3, 1769. B. L. M. de V. R., your most affectionate
brother and servant. Fr. Junipero Serra.


    On July 9, the San Antonio, with Capt. Perez in command and with such
sailors aboard as could work, set sail for San Blas to report the situation to
Don Jose de Galvez, and arrived at that port twenty-one days later, with nine of
the crew having died on the voyage down the coast. On July 14 Portola set out in
command of a land expedition to search for Monterey Bay. Only a small force was
left behind in San Diego—six or eight soldiers, a corporal, blacksmith,
carpenter, servant, eight Christian Indians, who had come from Lower California,
and Dr. Pedro Prat. Meanwhile, so Palou records, Father Serra's zeal did not
allow him to forget the principal object of his coming and on July 16,
anniversary of the day on which the Spaniards had gained a great victory over
the Mohammedans, in 1212, he, assisted by Fathers Vizcaino and Parron, raised
the cross where he had planned that the chapel of the mission at San Diego was
to stand, selecting a site which he regarded as most appropriate for the
building of the city, "within sight of the harbor." It was only a rude
structure, hands being few and weak—one of a few simple huts, roofed with tules,
but a provisional church to serve until a better chapel could be erected. This
was the formal beginning of the Mission San Diego de Alcala.

    Father Serra and Father Parron tried to attract to the chapel, with gifts
and expressions of affection the Indians who swarmed about, but the Indians, of
course, could not understand Spanish, seemed to care for little but gifts of
cloth, refusing all food as if it had been poison, and day by day became more
insolent, and prone to thievery, molesting even soldiers and sailors who lay
sick abed. The refusal of the Indians to accept food from the newcomers was
doubtless a boon to the Spanish party, for it had need of all the provisions it
had brought; as Father Palou wrote later, the little group at San Diego, if the
Indians had taken food as eagerly as they took cloth, would have been left to
starve.

    It soon became evident to the Spaniards that the Indians were going to
attempt to attack the party, and on August 15 the attempt was made in earnest,
when some of the soldiers happened to be away from the little settlement. The
Indians saw the soldiers depart, and, coming in large force, armed with bows and
arrows, fell upon the Mission, intent on stealing everything on which they could
lay their hands. The soldiers came back in haste, having slipped on their
leather jackets, which seem to have been ample protection against the arrows of
the Indians, and sped after the invading horde. The Indians hastily withdrew,
letting loose a volley of arrows. The soldiers had come to the opinion that it
was time to teach the Indians a lesson and began shooting their guns at the
robbers, of whom at least several were killed and a number wounded. The Indian
arrows also did some execution, Joseph Maria, the servant of the fathers, being
killed, and Father Vizcaino receiving a wound in the hand which left it partly
crippled as long as he lived. Two others of the party were wounded, but slightly.

    The lesson was apparently not lost on the Indians, who, when they did
venture back, were not allowed to bring their weapons into the stockade which
the Spanish party soon erected and who offered no more violence for some time.
Also, they displayed a considerable change of attitude when they brought their
wounded to the Spanish doctor for treatment, which was gladly and effectively
given.

    Father Serra, according to his faithful biographer, Father Palou, was deeply
concerned not only over the battle but because he was making little apparent
headway in gaining converts. Much of his hope rested on the assistance which he
was getting from an Indian boy of about fifteen years, who had shown more
friendliness than his companions for the fathers and the rest of the party and
of whom it is quaintly related that he refrained from stealing anything. Him the
Spaniards and the fathers treated with some extra consideration that he might
become an interpreter, as he later did. When he learned a little Spanish, Father
Serra besought him to bring a small child, with the consent of the parents, that
it might be baptized, or, as Father Palou relates, "as he would like to make him
a Christian like ourselves, by putting a little water on his head, and in that
way he would become a child of God and of the Father and a brother to the
soldiers, who would also give him clothing that he might go about dressed like
the Spaniards." In a few days the boy returned with a crowd of Indians, one of
whom carried a little boy, indicating by signs that he was willing to have him
baptized. Joyful at this, Father Serra gave the man a piece of cloth to cover
the infant, invited the corporal to act as sponsor and summoned the other
soldiers to act as witnesses. Father Serra went through with part of the
ceremony and then began to pour out the water for baptism. At that point the
savage snatched the boy and ran, leaving Father Serra holding the baptismal
shell. The other Indians also ran away. The soldiers, incensed at the incident,
were for following and inflicting punishment, but were dissuaded by the father,
who, bowed in sorrow, went about for days with his countenance filled with the
pain he felt and which he recalled at many times in later years, when he often
had to stop to dry his tears in the relation of what had happened. In view of
the success of the mission in later years, the incident may seem now to the
casual reader to have been of small importance, but to Father Serra it was
important, and he felt it deeply.

    Despite the careful nursing of their comrades and the good work-done by
Doctor Prat, 19 more of the little force died before Portola's expedition,
having failed to find Monterey Bay, returned, discouraged, to San Diego, on
January 24, 1770. Father Serra had failed to gain a convert, but had hoped that
when Portola came back his men would do much to make the mission permanent.
Portola, however, was about ready to abandon the whole project relating to Upper
California and at last declared that if, by the Feast of St. Joseph, March 19,
the ship San Antonio or another did not arrive with needed supplies, he would
start the return march to Lower California.

    Even then Father Serra did not give up his plans for California. For he
wrote to Father Palou on February 10 that he would stay.

    "If we see that the provisions are exhausted and also our hope," he wrote,
"then I shall remain with only Father Juan [Crespi] to endure to the very last.
May God give us of his holy grace!"

    The days went, one after another, in waiting doubtless impatient on the part
of Portola and his men, but patient and hopeful on the part of the immortal
Serra. At last, as the day set by Portola was coming near, Father Serra went
aboard the San Carlos, still in the harbor and told Captain Vila of his
determination to remain in California with Father Crespi.

    "If you agree," he told Captain Vila, "we will come aboard as soon as the
[land] expedition leaves and when the other packet boat arrives we will go up by
sea in search of Monterey."

    To this, Palou writes, Captain Vila assented, and, having decided to keep
the matter secret, Father Serra returned to the Mission, where, as is portrayed
with historical accuracy and in a colorful, dramatic way in McGroarty's Mission
Play, Father Serra continued to hope for relief. When he saw that the feast day
of St. Joseph was "now at hand" he proposed to Portola that they should make a
novena, or nine days' devotion, to the patron saint of the expedition. This was
agreed upon, and the novena was made, with all attending. The day before that
set for departing came at last. That same afternoon the prayer of Father Serra
was answered and all at this little outpost of. civilization, almost to be
abandoned, saw a ship. It was just a glimpse, but all were certain that relief,
so long expected, had arrived. The vision, says Father Palou, was sufficient to
suspend the plan to leave the town, and all were encouraged to remain,
attributing the arrival to a miracle. After four days the San Antonio, for this
was the ship, came sailing in, and then it became known to the waiting
expedition by how little a circumstance had the ship entered the harbor. The
captain explained that he had been acting under instructions from Galvez to sail
directly to Monterey and had first sailed past San Diego. But the San Antonio
lost one of her anchors and her captain, knowing that one was to be had from the
San Carlos, had put back.

    "In sign of thankfulness," Father Palou wrote, "they agreed that a high mass
should be said, in honor of St. Joseph, and that it should be celebrated with
the greatest solemnity on the 19th of each month. This the venerable father
continued to do with the most holy devotion up to the very last day of his life."

    It might seem to the reader that the account of Father Serra's coming, his
establishment of the mission and the fulfilment of his hopes to this period have
 been treated of at considerable length; the writer, however, believes that the
fullness of the narrative to this point is amply justified when due
consideration is given to the relative importance of the events. For it must be
remembered that much of the history of San Diego and of California depends on
the steadfast faith of Father Serra. And as Smythe said in his history of San
Diego, prepared about fifteen years ago, "a noble monument should be raised by
Protestant hands to the memory of the Catholic Fathers."

[photo] THE SAN DIEGO MISSION First built in California under the direction of
Father Junipero Serra

    Other events, up to the establishment of the second mission at San Diego, or
rather, its removal to the north bank of the San Diego River, some six miles up,
may be summarized briefly.

    When the San Antonio had reached this port and conferences were held, it was
agreed that two expeditions, one by sea, one by land, should go to Monterey.
Father Serra went on the San Antonio on April 16, Fathers Parron and Gomez with
a small guard, remained at the mission. Both expeditions reached Monterey safely.

    By March, 1771, the mission already had baptized some neophytes, had,
according to Captain Fages, made a good beginning as regards temporary buildings
and cultivation, and had received from Lower California a considerable shipment
of cattle. But by 1772 conditions had grown nearly intolerable. Father Crespi,
visiting the mission, found very little to eat, no tallow candles and no wine
for masses. In August of that year the situation was relieved by the arrival of
supply ships. Soon after that, Father Serra, who had returned from other labor
in the north, ran against new difficulty. When he reminded Captain Fages that
the viceroy had given instructions covering the establishment of three more
missions, Fages gave curt reply, to the effect that the commander of California
had such matters in his charge. After a conference with his associates. Father
Serra decided to go to the College of San Fernando, Mexico. There having made a
statement of the situation in writing, practically all that he sought was
granted by Viceroy Bucareli. The rulings included one that the missionaries
should rule the mission Indians as a father rules his family. Father Serra thus
fortified, returned to San Diego March 13, 1774.

    On January 1, 1774, there went into effect a new set of regulations for the
military government of San Diego, by which San Diego was made a Presidio. The
commander at Monterey was put in charge of all the troops in California. The
force at San Diego, according to Father Engelhardt, comprised the following
officers, with yearly salaries: lieutenant, $700; sergeant, $450: two corporals,
$400 each; 22 soldiers. $365 each; two carpenters for work at the mission and
presidio, $300 each; two blacksmiths for the same kind of service, $300 each;
storekeeper, $1,000. Sergt. Jose Francisco de Ortega, was made commander of the
new presido, with rank as lieutenant. Don Rafael Pedro Gil was appointed
storekeeper.

    It was in the summer of 1773 that the missionaries determined to select a
grain field farther up the valley: where it was believed that more rain fell and
where irrigation could be practiced. The site selected was that of the mission
to which San Diegans now refer as the Old Mission. By the end of 1774 the
mission had been removed there. It is interesting to note the character of the
buildings, as described by Father Serra. First there was the church, made with
poles and roofed with tules: then a house containing living rooms for the
Fathers, a large warehouse, a house for shepherds and muleteers, a smithy, a
house for servants, thirteen houses for Indians and a corral for horses.

    By this time there had been baptized at the mission 106 persons of whom 19
had died, leaving 97 living at the mission. These figures were compiled by
Father Serra from the reports of the missionaries.

  For nearly a year after that the mission at its new site went along in peace
and with success. In November, 1775, however, there came a savage mob of Indians
who overwhelmed the sleepy guards stationed at the mission and not only burned
most of the mission buildings but killed Fr. Luis Jayme, who with Fr. Vincente
Fuster, was stationed there. There had been numerous baptisms of Indians in the
preceding month, and these, with the many already converted, had made what
Father Palou describes as a good-sized settlement. Soon after the baptisms in
October, however, two Indians apostasized and fled. It seems that the sergeant
at the presidio went in search of them and did not find them. He reported,
however, that they had gone from rancheria to rancheria, exhorting the Indians
to wipe out the mission and presidio. The result was that the Indians planned to
attack both mission and presidio at the same time. That they failed was
certainly not attributable to the Spanish soldiers, who in view of the warnings
they seem to have had, might have been expected to double their watchfulness.
And it certainly was not lack of numbers which prevented the savages from
attaining their end, for it is recorded that the party which attacked the
mission numbered 800. Another party, doubtless also of considerable strength,
was to attack the presidio. The plan miscarried to the extent that the band
assigned to make the assault at the presidio saw the flames at the mission,
which evidently was fired by the savages too early for the other band to reach
its destination and that latter horde, fearing that the alarm had been given to
the presidio, desisted from assault.

    The attack was made late in the night of November 4. The soldiers and
Fathers had gone to sleep, and the sentinels, Father Palou relates, had given
themselves to sleep. The Christian Indians at the mission were threatened with
death if they left their beds, and the savages swept on to the vestry, breaking
open chests and stealing whatever they could find. Then they went on to the
soldiers' quarters, where there was a fire around which the guards slept, and
from this a brand was taken by which the invaders set fire to various parts of
the mission. The four soldiers and the Fathers awoke. These four guards with the
blacksmith, two carpenters and two boys, formed the only defenders of the place.
Against these the cowardly, ignorant savages were arrayed in a horde.

    The blacksmith was soon mortally wounded. One of the carpenters was also
fatally wounded, but lived several days, in the course of which he made a will,
leaving his little all to the Indians of the mission.

    Father Jayme, it is recorded, did not seek the protection of the soldiers
but went straight to a large group of the attacking savages, greeting them with
his customary salutation, "Love God, my children!" The Indians, however, fell
upon him, dragged him to the river bed, stripped him to the waist, fired arrow
after arrow into his body and then beat him cruelly and savagely until all sign
of life was gone. When his body was recovered the next day, Father Palou
related, there was not a sound spot on it except his consecrated hands.

    The Indians, too cowardly to rush the defenders, kept up the attack until
daylight, when they withdrew. Meanwhile the soldiers, facing heavy odds, made a
gallant defense while the mission buildings about the little adobe structure,
which they made their fortress, were burning. When the assailants departed, the
Christian Indians who had been held helpless, came forth, and one of them was
sent to the presidio, while a party went out to find Father Jayme.

    The mission had been reduced to ashes, the books, records and manuscripts
had all been destroyed, and, with the death of Fr. Luis Jayme, the enterprise
had suffered a loss which might have been regarded as staggering. Yet Father
Serra, at Mission Carmelo, Monterey, on hearing the news—imparted, by the way,
in a blunt fashion by the spleenful Captain Rivera—said:

    "Thanks be to God! That land is now irrigated. Now the conversion of the
Dieguinos will succeed."

    With such fortitude and confidence did this leader in spiritual conquest
face the issue. And he lived to see a new mission on the site of the old, with a
happy band of Indian converts living in and about—a new mission so substantial
and free from danger of fire that its ruins today are in fairly good state of
preservation.

    The soldiers, it seems, were keen for punishment of the savages, one Indian
chief being flogged so severely that he died. Father Palou relates that the
missionaries did all they could to establish a policy of kindness and
forgiveness. Captain Rivera, however, was apparently determined upon another
policy, in pursuance of which he dragged one Indian neophyte who had repented
his participation in the attack, from the sanctuary he had obtained in the
warehouse buildings which the Fathers then (February, 1776) were using as a
chapel. This Rivera and his men did, in spite of the protest of Father Vicente,
who thereupon declared the captain and his assistants to be excommunicated.
Father Engelhardt in his history says the records fail to show whether this
decree was lifted.

    At any rate Father Serra, who, as has been told, was determined to go ahead,
soon started plans to restore the mission, and despite hindrance from military
sources, in which Rivera seems to have been the principal one if not the only
one, succeeded. In this Father Serra was enthusiastically supported by Viceroy
Bucareli, who also instructed that the work of establishing the mission at San
Juan Capistrano should proceed.

    Before November, 1776, there were enough buildings for a good beginning. By
the next spring there were a chapel, surprisingly well equipped in view of the
difficulty in transporting any articles in those days; houses of two apartments
for the Fathers, with the modest beginning of a library, so dear to these
missionaries; a warehouse, to whose supplies Mission San Gabriel contributed
generously—a concrete example of the manner in which the missions co-operated—a
kitchen and harness room, and a dormitory. With these, Fr. Vincente Fuster says
in his annual report, the mission already had a good little farm, on which wheat
and barley had been sown, and quite an assortment of livestock, always a
considerable item in the mission's work of providing income and sustenance for
its Indian converts. It is interesting to note the characteristically careful
manner in which he took account of the livestock: 102 head of cattle: 304 sheep
and goats, eight tame horses, five unbroken colts, seventeen mares, one stud,
one tame burro, a drove of mules with another stud, twelve foals and four young
mules and eighteen other mules; some of which were not able to do much.

    In the peaceful years that came after the burning of the original and frail
mission buildings at the valley site there came many improvements and
extensions, in which the keen administrative ability of the missionaries stands
out clearly.

    The annual report of Fr. Francisco de Lasuen made at the end of 1777, shows
remarkably good progress, a new church of adobe with the thatched roof having
been prepared. It was of good size, too—about 14 by 80 feet. But Father Lasuen
and his associates had already determined to improve upon that; timber had been
cut in the valley of San Luis, he wrote, for a new edifice, to be more spacious
and of more stable character. Various articles used in the church ceremonies had
been sent from Mexico and from Mission San Carlos, and notable additions made to
the little library. Mission San Luis Obispo and Mission San Juan Capistrano,
then in its infancy, had made other donations. With all this help and other that
was given, and despite the hard work of the Fathers and the neophytes, the task
was by no means easy. In view of the lack of mechanical equipment such as the
modern farmer, or "rancher," has, it is plain that the task was a great one.
There were a hundred and one details to consider every day, apart from the
religious services; there was an abundance of Indian labor, it is true, but it
was sadly ignorant, inefficient, shiftless, thoughtless, and, many times,
downright lazy, if a criterion may be had of the Indians who remain today, the
wash from that period. And, indeed, testimony is not lacking that the habits of
slothful savagery, in which the males were willing to rest lazily while the
women did the hard work, prevailed in that day and that to overcome this
situation there was necessary a wonderful patience on the part of the Fathers.

    The task ahead seemed too great and the prospect of success little, as
Fathers Lasuen and Figuer faced it: and they applied for permission to retire to
the college in Mexico. They were dissuaded, however, by the undismayed Father
Serra, who appealed to them in such an eloquent way to remain that they stayed.
Father Figuer, indeed, remained at his post until death came December, 1784,
while Father Lasuen remained here until September, 1785.

    The task, as has been said, was a great one and the greatest part of it was
to teach the Indians. Even in later years this was a work that required the
utmost patience. For as Father Engelhardt has aptly said, the older Indians,
even those kept more or less under good influences, away from temptations to
revert to savagery, or from the demoralizing influences often to be found at the
presidio, were always children; at least nearly all of them remained so as to
intellect. Patient explanation accomplished wonders, to be sure, but there
seemed to be here an almost insurmountable obstacle. Still, the Indians picked
up a good deal of Spanish, and to assist in the work of making simple things
clear, the Indian language was used. It became evident early in the history of
the mission that an appeal must be made "through the stomach" to form a
foundation on which the Fathers could build a groundwork of proof that
Christianity and its influences were far better than paganism and barbarity. So
they felt obliged to provide means by which their charges should, if possible,
be clothed, fed, usefully employed and even amused.

    By no means did the Mission Fathers confine their work to the mission itself
and its immediate surroundings. Frequently they went long distances, usually on
foot, but sometimes, if haste were necessary, on horseback, to comfort the sick
or baptize those near death who sought that service. On some occasions, at
least, there seem to have been hampering restrictions governing the soldiers who
might have assisted more on such journeys.

    Through it all the Fathers seem, to an unprejudiced student of the history
of that period to have labored with an unselfish devotion. They had taken the
vow of poverty, of which their simple garb was a visible symbol. Father
Engelhardt says they left their work "as poor as they had come." In addition, he
writes, nothing of what was made at the mission went to the college in Mexico;
while, on the other hand, at least in the later years of the mission, heavy
demands were made upon them by the soldiery, at the expense of the mission's
Indian charges.

    Some few travelers of and visitors in the period in which the missions held
their own have been sarcastic in writing about their hosts at the various
establishments. But many who rode the rough highways of the time have paid
generous tribute to the kindly hospitality to be found at the missions; and in
this list San Diego was no exception. What there was available of food was
always given to the guests, for whom a room was always provided if he wished to
spend the night; and for it all no pay was asked or expected or accepted.
Doubtless in those days the Fathers got rewards from such visits in the form of
news. There were no newspapers here in those days, and even letters were
infrequent; so the wayfarer, with his accounts of what had happened along his
route, or bringing late and important news from some point, was, beyond doubt,
the more welcome on that account.

    This hospitality was not confined to that period alone. William Heath Davis,
writing in later years about his journeys up and down the coast of California in
the early '30s, gave warm praise to these men at the missions. After visiting
several of the missions, including San Diego, in 1831, he also said that he was
"impressed with the neatness and order about them, and the respectable
appearance of the Indians." "The men," he wrote, "dressed in white shirts and
blue drill or cotton pants; many of them with shoes, which were manufactured at
the missions, from bullock hides, deer and elkskins, dressed and tanned there.
The government of the Indians was systematic and well designed." Davis also
wrote: "An instance is not known of Indians doing harm to any of the Padres, so
great was the respect in which the Fathers were held."

    Joseph Warren Revere, a navy officer who made a comprehensive tour along the
line of the missions and who later, in 1849, wrote a book containing his
observations, spoke in similar praise of the Mission Fathers, whose success
among the Indians he regarded as remarkable.

    There is little or no occasion for argument concerning what the Mission
Fathers accomplished for civilization on the Pacific coast. As William Heath
Davis says in his graphic way, they were "the original pioneers of California,
beyond all others." The buildings which they erected may be in ruins, but the
influences for good which they built up have remained throughout all the years.
They apparently went as far as humanly possible, in their time, in the work of
educating the poor miserable beings whom they found here. They gave them the
best elementary education they could have received—lessons in simple morality
and common thrift and industry. Those who seemed especially apt were encouraged
to go farther in schooling. So busy must they have been with the tasks of
administration, farming and husbandry merely to provide food and clothing that
it seems a wonder they could do anything in the way of educating their people;
yet they must have done a great deal on that line. They were men of education
broad for those days and by no means lacking in literary attainments, as is
amply proved by their writings. They were men of many other attainments in
knowledge and culture, and it appears that they did everything in their power to
spread the good which they had acquired throughout the strange land to which
they came. The love which was shown to these Fathers of the Missions by many who
lived under their influence is evidence of the service they gave. As has been
mentioned, the influence of the Fathers was spread many miles from the missions
themselves. Their garb indeed became more or less familiar throughout all of
California from beyond San Francisco to San Diego. The long, loose robe of
grayish hue, with the hood thrown back from the head in good weather; the
sandals in which they trudged along wearying miles; the girdle, with tassels
hanging down in front—all became known not only to the people of the country but
to the many who visited the coast in the years when the missions were flourishing.

    In the course of time, as the missions and the population about them grew,
the field of administration at the missions had to be broadened to include
trading, and in that, too, the padres showed themselves able and efficient. The
Americans and others who came in vessels from other coasts to do business on the
Pacific coast found them "first class merchants," to use a phrase from Davis'
history. His supercargo told him that they were "shrewd purchasers." Yet they
were universally recognized as men of the strictest probity— "strictly
reliable," as Davis remarks. The Fathers by the '30s indeed had built up an
extensive trading business. Much of it was among the missions themselves, which
was really one big family. For instance, the mission at Capistrano might need
more hides from San Diego, and San Diego might need more grain; the respective
wants were made known and an exchange was soon effected. Or, at any rate, what
one mission needed, it soon got from a neighbor, even if the need was supplied
as a gift. The missions also traded with fur hunters, supplied rancheros with
various good, accepting other commodities in payment. Davis, however, observed a
kindly rivalry among the missions to conduct each with growing success and for
each to stand on its own financial feet.

    As the years went on the spiritual influence and field of commercial
endeavor of the San Diego Mission were extended. The territorial extent included
many rancherias covering thousands of acres —the number not definitely
determined; one reason for this was that a few acres more or less in the great
domain of the day made little difference. When the mission holdings were deeded
to Santiago Arguello, in 1846, the legal papers set the extent at more than
58,000 acres; a little more than twenty-two acres, containing the mission
buildings, were left to the church and are still held by it. In 1822 the
mission's report showed that it had more than 30,000 head of stock, that being
the largest number so reported by Mission San Diego. The number gradually
decreased from that year on until by 1834 it was only about 11,000. The total
number of neophytes at the mission seems to have reached the maximum at about
the same period; the entry for 1824 being 1,829. Baptisms in 1784 had readied
only 1,075; they increased steadily to the year 1846, when the last Franciscan
Father left the mission, the number then having mounted to 7,126. By far the
most of these were Indians.

[photo] RUINS OF THE OLD MISSION DAM Built by the Franciscan Fathers.

    Among the mission's material results were a group of olive trees, of which
there are still survivors, first of California's thousands of such trees, now
famous as producers.

    One of the most interesting pieces of work done by the Fathers at the San
Diego Mission was the dam which they built, about three miles up the river from
the mission, in a gorge well fitted by nature for that purpose. With this they
constructed an extensive system of irrigation works, an early monument to the
triumph of man over the difficulties to be found in southern California, where
water must be stored up in rainy seasons to supply the needs of dry periods. In
this way the Franciscan Fathers, early in the 19th century, set an example
which, followed and improved upon in recent years, has made of southern
California a garden, blossoming even as the rose in summers, that would be dry
except for the water stored up from winter floods.

    Just when this dam was built the writer has been unable to find from records
available to him, but it seems clear that it was started early in the 19th
century and was finished doubtless by 1810. The tables which the Fathers
carefully kept of the products of the mission indicate this clearly. And,
although the remains bear no tablet such as may be found on modern structures of
the kind, with the names of engineers and other officials appearing thereon, the
ruins themselves tell of an engineering accomplishment of no small importance.
The river was dammed with a solid stone wall about 220 feet long, about thirteen
feet thick and coated with a cement as hard as rock— a cohesive substance which
had surprising merit. In the centre was a gateway twelve feet high and lined
with brick. The aqueduct, a small affair, but no less remarkable than the dam
for strength, was built of tiles, resting on cobblestones in that same
remarkable cement. Bancroft relates that the dam was still standing in 1874,
although the rushing waters had washed out a channel at one end and sand had
been washed up on the structure to such an extent that only a small part of the
dam itself was visible. The aqueduct was built down the gorge, which was so
precipitous that a man on horseback could not traverse it. In its three miles
the aqueduct crossed gulches from 15 to 20 feet deep, and its construction was
so good that after the foundations had been swept away it was supported by its
own strength in many places for many years.

    Remains of the dam are still to be seen, and it is of importance that they
have attracted the attention not only of tourists and casual visitors but of
engineers and experts seeking to increase the water supply of the city of San
Diego in recent years. In fact, for many years the old dam itself has drawn the
attention of builders and the site has been the centre of much formal and
informal discussion .among those interested in bringing more water to the city
for the needs of the future.

    The missions' influence began to wane in 1824, when Mexico, having ended the
power of Spain, enacted a colonization law, in the administration of which many
acres were given to supporters of a Mexican government. These grants seem to
have cut in upon mission holdings. In 1832 Mexico passed an act of
secularization, which amounted to confiscation of the Franciscan missions. The
end of the old mission days came in 1846, when Pio Pico, then governor of
California, sold mission property with a lavish hand.

    The growth of the mission to the general form to be observed in the present
ruins is described by Smythe as follows:

    "By 1783 the San Diego Mission had begun to assume something of its
permanent appearance. The church occupied a space eighty-two feet long by
fifteen wide, running North and South. The granary was nearly as large. There
was a storehouse, a house for sick women and another for sick men, a modest
house for the priests, a good sized larder, and these enclosed on three sides, a
square one hundred and fifty-one feet long, the remaining side being enclosed by
an adobe wall eight feet high. As the years went on the establishment was
gradually extended to provide a series of small shops around the patio for the
artisans and mechanics and accommodations for the increasing number of neophytes
outside the walls, but close at hand. It was not until 1804 that the buildings
took on the final shape which is preserved in the pictures of the mission
period. But the plan of the Fathers was always the same, with its low,
gently-slanting roofs, its interior square, its Roman towers; and the material
was always adobe, with burnt tile for roofs, windows, and doorways. The walls
were about four feet thick. There can be no question that the architecture
harmonized with the landscape, for it was the architecture of Spain in a
landscape resembling Spain in all essential aspects."

    It has seemed fitting to the writer at this point to refer again to Father
Serra, the beloved missionary who was responsible more than any other one man
for the construction and maintenance of the San Diego Mission and for the
success which it had. And that reference will be to his death, which was indeed
typical of his life. The story is told by Father Palou, his companion, in words
whose very simplicity is impressive. Father Palou hastened to Mission San
Carlos, Monterey, early in August, 1784, on receipt of a letter from Father
Serra, and found him very weak, although still going around on his duties. His
chief ailment, it seems, was a malady or heaviness, as Father Palou calls it, of
the chest. Strong plasters were applied by the royal surgeon from a newly
arrived packetboat, but apparently with no result except to increase his pain.
Yet Father Serra went about as if well, though his loving companions, seeing
him, knew he was not. Weaker and weaker he grew physically, for several days,
but never weaker in faith in the work which he had started of converting the
Indians. At one o'clock on the afternoon of St. Augustine's day, August 28, he
went, after taking a little broth, to his little room, saying, "Let us now go to
rest."

    His bed consisted of a few hard boards covered only with a blanket; which,
says Father Palou, he used rather as a cover than as a softening for his rude
couch. He always slept that way, says his faithful biographer, when on the road,
stretching out his blanket and a pillow, and lying always with a cross, about a
foot long which he "held on his breast. This cross he had carried since he had
been in the college in Mexico, and he never left it behind.

    As the venerable Father went inside they all thought it was to sleep and
some navy officers who were there and to whom he had recently spoken and
embraced, went away to dine. Father Palou, more solicitous, slipped into the
room a few minutes later and found him just as they had left him, "but now
asleep in the Lord."

    Humble, unselfish, shunning promotion that he might continue in his work of
founding missions and keeping them going to bring the pagan Indians to his
church: able yet modest, firm yet kindly, he was beloved by all with whom he had
toiled, and to his name Californians of this day, whether or not of Father
Serra's religion, are glad to point with pride, reverence and affection.

    In the years that followed American occupation of California the San Diego
Mission was sadly neglected. In the '50s, at various times the buildings were
occupied by U. S. troops. By the '80s the buildings "had fallen away to such an
extent that little was left except part of the church and dormitories. In the
'90s some effort was made to halt the decay of the structures, and in recent
years there was developed a movement in which public-spirited citizens of San
Diego joined in an effort to preserve what was left and to put up such
safeguards as they could to prevent further destruction; this has been a
movement in which Protestant and Catholic have worked gladly side by side; this
also was a movement for preservation of what remained rather than for
restoration, for which sufficient funds were not collected. In 1921, however,
the Legislature of the state of California passed a measure, which was approved
by Gov. William D. Stephens, by which $10,000 was appropriated for restoration
of the San Diego Mission. In this legislation the San Diego County
representatives, State Senator E. P. Sample and Assemblymen J. O. Bishop and R.
W. Colburn, had a part.

    The work of restoration was then taken up by the Native Sons of the Golden
West and the Native Daughters of the Golden West. The grand parlor of the Native
Sons appropriated $5,000 to assist in the work, and the local parlors of the
Native Sons and Native Daughters undertook the task of raising $10,000 more.
Extensive preliminary work was done in the summer of 1921; debris was removed
and various fragments of the buildings carefully secured. In September, 1921,
the San Diego Commission which had been working on preservation of the mission
and of which George W. Marston of San Diego is president and John Steven
McGroarty of Los Angeles vice president, issued a statement typical of the
sentiment held by San Diegans for the mission. It is as follows:

    "The restoration of the old Franciscan missions of California has long been
a cherished dream of the people of the Golden State and of her visitors who
delight in these vestiges of her romantic past. It is a desire that has never
been confined to any one class or creed of the population.

    "The pathetic, yet noble, ruins of these old missions, constituting, as they
do, the most important architectural monuments of the colonial periods anywhere
in the United States, speak eloquently still of those great, self-sacrificing
and holy men who founded California's civilization. Our present greatness is a
heritage of that immortal Franciscan missionary enterprise which began in 1769
with Fray Junipero Serra and his heroic companions.

    "The debt of gratitude which we owe to these first pioneers and those who
followed after them is incalculable. And there has ever been a desire to give
some form of expression to this gratitude on the part of each succeeding
generation of the newer peoples who have come into possession of California.

    "The form in which our gratitude should be shown is voiced in the quenchless
desire to see the missions restored. It is, therefore, with profound pleasure
that announcement is now made that a tangible and practical movement is at least
on foot to restore the mission. This was the first mission founded and the
pioneer settlement of white men in California, and it is appropriate that it
shall be the first to be restored.

    "The restoration of San Diego Mission to as nearly as possible its ancient
form and appearance will give example and encouragement that will result in
renewed activity throughout the state in the work of conserving and restoring
these monuments of such inestimable commercial, as well as sentimental and
archeological, value."

    San Luis Rey Mission, regarded as the finest of all the number which were
built along the California coast, was dedicated June 13, 1798, the founders of
this mission being Frs. Lasuen, Santiago and Peyri. It is about five miles from
Oceanside and about forty miles north of San Diego. The mission was not
completed until 1802. Its builders held fast to the Moorish style of
architecture, the structures being arranged in quadrilateral form, about 450
feet square, the church occupying one wing of the whole.

[photo] RUINS OF SAN LUIS REY MISSION, SAN DIEGO COUNTY

    It is recorded that the dedication ceremony was attended by fifty-four
Indian children. Father Peyri was left in charge of the mission, and he worked
with such zeal that within a week seventy-seven persons, had been baptized. San
Luis Rey was one of the most flourishing of the California missions, and at one
time had many cattle and sheep.

    In the course of the years the mission fell into a state of decay. Work of
restoration was begun in 1893 by Father O'Keefe of the Franciscan Order, who
passed away at Santa Barbara in August, 1915. The work which he started and
carried on despite the lack of sufficient funds at times, was practically
complete by 1916. Father O'Keefe established a parochial school, which was
enlarged in 1915 by the generosity of Jerome O'Neil, owner of the famous Santa
Margarita ranch, whose expanses stretch north from Oceanside for many miles.


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


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