San Luis Obispo County CA Archives History - Books .....Chapter I Earliest History 1883
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Book Title: History Of San Luis Obispo County, California

CHAPTER  I.
EARLIEST HISTORY.

California's Genealogy—Spanish Possession of America—The Name of
California—Seeking the Fabled Land—The Discovery—Further Explorations—Journey of
Cabeza de Vaca— The Voyage of Cabrillo—Coast of San Luis Obispo—The Northern
Coast—Death of Cabrillo—Voyage of Ferrelo— Landing of Sir Francis Drake—Drake's
Historian—Viscayno's Expedition in 1602—Bay of Monterey—Puerto Francisco—
Continued Voyage of Viscayno—Names on the California Coast—One Hundred and
Sixty-six Years Later—The Jesuits in California—Father Kino—Father
Salva-Tierra—Methods of Conversion—Expulsion of the Jesuits—Midnight Parting
—Father Junipero Serra—The Mission of Loreto.

CALIFORNIA traces her genealogy through centuries of great obscurity far back
into the mediaeval period, from the gold-hunters of 1849, to the conquest in
1846; to the patriarchal days of the great rancheros; to the pious padres who
gathered their neophytes within the sound of their Mission bells; to the
enthusiastic churchmen who propagated the faith in the wild regions of the new
world; to the period of Cortez; to Mexico; to Columbus; to Spain, where the
source is found. Over such a route came the civilization and the Christianity
that settled upon this coast and redeemed it from the dark shadow of savage
life. Of the savage races of the prehistoric period, whence they came, what
changes were effected, were there several distinct races and eras succeeding,
conquering, or replacing each other; their religion, manners, dress, and
customs; their degrees of intelligence, their methods of living, their means of
warfare, the chase and defense, we know but very little, learning that little
from their graves and the few marks and paintings found upon the rocks. The
learned and patient archaeologist digs and seeks among the graves, where he
reads the story told by the bones, the implements, the toys, and the refuse
which tell of their daily life. Great interest is given to such history because
of the skill and the patient enduring required to decipher it.

  Whether the ancient people came from the north and Asia, or were of the fabled
Atlantis, or of those who had peopled and left their monuments in Yucatan and
Central America, or were of the Toltecs or Aztecs, or whether they were,
suigeneris, native to the land and to the continent, are still questions for the
theorists of the future. They were the prior possessors of the land and entitled
| to mention in its history. Rude paintings on the rocks are evidence that at
one period, how remote is not known, a people occupied the land who were
superior in mind and thought and knowledge of art to those found by | the
earliest civilized explorers. The paintings and the remains will be further
referred to in this work. The aboriginal inhabitants, when first observed by the
discoverers of the coast, were in great numbers, and represented one of the
primitive stages of the human race, of the Stone Age, and as such they remained
long after civilization spread over the land, and fragmentary remnants still
exist. No development of the human race, to the Age of Bronze, to Iron, or to
any progressive step towards I civilization and enlightenment has been shown
among the aborigines of the Pacific Coast. As they were found so they had
existed through the long periods of man's existence.

SPANISH POSSESSION OF AMERICA.

  The discovery of America by Columbus in 1492 marks the era of the Western
Continent. Quickly were the Islands of the West Indies occupied. Havana soon
became an important city, and hence, in 1518, Hernando Cortez sailed with a
fleet and army for the invasion and conquest of Mexico. His success and the
great wealth acquired aroused an unexampled spirit of enterprise and adventure
in the people of Spain, and further conquests were made.

THE NAME OF CALIFORNIA.

  The splendor of the great discovery, the grand advance of Spain, the glowing
descriptions written by Vespucci, excited the people to the utmost enthusiasm,
and the new world and its possibilities formed rich themes for the literati of
the old world, and tales of imaginary lands and people were written. To one of
these California owes her name and her early discovery. The writer was Garcia
Ordonez de Montalvo. Hia work was entitled, "Las Sergas del muy Esforzado
Caballero Esplandian, hijo del Eccelente rey Amadis de Gaula." * This romance
first appeared in 1510, and was followed with numerous editions. In it we find
the following:—

  "Know that on the right hand of the Indies, there is an island called
California, very near the Terrestrial Paradise, which is peopled by black women,
without any men among them, because they are accustomed to live after the manner
of the Amazons. They are of strong and hardened bodies, of ardent courage, and
of great force. The island is the strongest in the world, from its steep rocks
and great cliffs. Their arms are all of gold, and so are the caparisons of the
beasts which they ride."

  Another passage reads:

  "In the island called California are many griffins, on account of the great
savageness of the country and the immense quantity of wild game to be found there."

  Other references are made to California. These are the first records of the
name appearing in literature. From whence he derived it or of what combinations
made, is not known, and having no other satisfactory source, to Garcia Ordonez
de Montalvo is given the honor of the name. His romance, extravagant in the
extreme, was so vivid in its descriptions, realistic and exciting in its
details, that it became one of the most" popular of the times. It was read
throughout Spain, and the excitable youth of the land carried its influence to
the new world. New adventures were incited by it, and the desire to discover the
island of California was inspired.

  *The original romance—Amadis de Gaula [Wales]—was written by Vasco de Lobeira,
a Portuguese, about 1402, and translated into Spanish by Montalvo between 1492
and 1504. At a later day Montalvo continued the story of Esplandian, the son of
Amadis and Oreana, under the above title. This succession of romances was
brought into ridicule by the "Don Quixote" of Cervantes.


SEEKING THE FABLED LAND.

  Cortez having achieved the conquest of Mexico, had been made the Viceroy by
the King, Charles V., with perpetual succession in his heirs. This, however, was
afterwards revoked, but he was given authority to conquer any country he might
discover northwest of Mexico. After some years of a life of ease and luxury at
his magnificent home -which he had erected in the pleasant valley of Cuernavaca,
he sighed for more adventure. The exciting story of Montalvo was still vividly
remembered,-and the hope probably lingered in the mind of the great
conquistador, to discover and conquer the land so "near to the Terrestrial
Paradise," peopled by women whose dresses and arms and the caparisons of the
beasts they rode were of pure gold—California, the land of El Dorado. To find
this fabled land he sent in 1535 an expedition commanded by Diego Bezerra de
Mendoza and Hernando Grijalva, and accompanied by a pilot named Ximenes. The
story of this expedition is told in a book published in Spain in 1568, entitled
"The True History of the Conquest of Mexico,"* by Captain Bernal Diez del
Castillo, who styles himself "one of the conquerors." Castillo was a
distinguished officer of the Spanish army, and accompanied Cortez on his
expedition, writing a book upon it, which is regarded, though rough in style, as
full of valuable information.

  * "Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de Nueva Espagna."


THE DISCOVERY.

  The commander, Mendoza, and the pilot, Ximenes, quarreled, and the latter slew
the former and assumed command of the ship. Ximenes continued the voyage and
discovered the island of Santa Cruz, which lies off the coast of lower
California. Landing upon this island, Ximenes became involved in a difficulty
with the natives and lost his life, or was possibly slain by some of his own
men. The vessel then returned to Navidad, the port of debarkation. Cortez was
annoyed by this failure, and determined to go himself, so with great labor he
fitted out an expedition of three vessels in the harbor of Tehuantepec, and in
1536 sailed with a number of Spanish colonists on his voyage of discovery, going
first to the island of Santa Cruz, and from thence, says Castillo, "set sail and
fell in with the land of California." The land appears to have been named in
advance of its discovery, as it was the imaginary land of Montalvo they were in
search of, and coming upon so large a body as the peninsula, believed they had
found, the land they sought. So Columbus, forty-four years preceding, in search
of a new route to the Indies, believed he had found them, and gave the name of
Indies—now called the West Indies— to the islands, and of Indians to the people.

  Thus we have again the euphonious name of California, and now affixed to a
permanent habitation and a home, and thus is recorded the origin of the name,
the search for and the finding of the land that has since borne the appellation.
The land discovered by Cortez was the peninsula, now called Lower California,
and he entered and named the bay of La Paz—the peaceful— so called from the
peaceful character of the inhabitants of the country, in contrast with the
violent people of Santa Cruz, who the year before had killed Ximenes and twenty
of his companions.

FURTHER EXPLORATIONS.

  Cortez explored the coast to some extent and returned to Acapulco. In the
following year, 1538, he despatched an expedition under Francisco de Ulloa to
further survey the coast. This commander continued his explorations, and in 1539
ascended to the head of the gulf, and to the mouth of the Colorado River,
proving that California was a peninsula, and not an island. But the belief in
the island as asserted by the novelist, seems to have been so deeply founded
that the report of a single navigator could not dispel it, and for a century
after the maps showed it an island with the mythical "Straits of Anian" bounding
it on the north.

  The gulf explored by Cortez for many years bore the name of the "Sea of
Cortez," and the name has so appeared on maps of quite recent date. The name of
"El Mar Rojo," was also given it from the discoloration of the waters in the
northern part by the Rio Colorado, or red river, whose waters are red with the
soil they carry.

JOURNEY OF CABEZA DE VACA.

  The head-waters of the gulf were reached about the same time by Alvaro Nunez
Cabeza de Vaca and his three companions, who had made the most remarkable
journey recorded in history. In 1527, he had lost his ship on the coast of
Florida, when, with upwards of one hundred men, he penetrated the wilderness in
the desperate undertaking to reach the Pacific Coast. After wandering in the
wilderness for a period of ten years, subsisting upon game and clothing
themselves with the skins of animals, the four remaining men of the party, one a
negro, arrived at Culiacan near the head of the Gulf of California. There he
observed valuable pearls in the possession of the savages, and gathering a large
quantity, made his way down the coast, and eventually arrived at Mexico. Showing
the pearls and relating his strange story, Cabeza de Vaca created a furor for
further discoveries in the gulf, and the expedition of Francisco de Ulloa was
sent out, which resulted in ascertaining the extent of that body of water, but
brought unfavorable reports of the value of the country.

THE VOYAGE OF CABRILLO.

  In 1542, the Viceroy of Mexico, Don Antonio de Mendoza, despatched an
expedition under Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, a Portugese navigator, to explore the
north-west coast. In September of that year, he discovered the bay of San Diego,
which he named the Port of San Miguel. If to Cortez belongs the honor of
discovering Lower California, to Cabrillo is due the honor of first beholding
the land of Upper California.

COAST OF SAN LUIS OBISPO.

  Sailing northward he entered the bay of San Luis Obispo, which he called the
bay of Todas Santos, or All I Saint's Bay. This was in the summer of 1542, just
half I a century after the discovery of the islands of the West I Indies by
Christopher Columbus, and is the first instance of the appearance of civilized
beings within the waters of this county or on its soil. During the pleasant
summer weather he had a fine opportunity to observe the coast, and he appears to
have enjoyed the work and performed his duties thoroughly as far north as Monterey.

  In the quiet waters south of Monterey he could send his boats to the shore at
almost every point, and he has left us a chart of the coast and a record of his
observations of exceeding great value. In his record he notes the great number
of savages seen at every point, and shows that their manners, character, and
dress were the same as they were found when the missionaries came two hundred
and twenty-seven years later. Their numbers, however, had greatly diminished.

  Sailing northward from Point San Luis, he discovered a deep indentation, which
he placed upon his chart as "Los Esteros," and in the bay the high conical rock
"El Moro." There Cabrillo supplied his ships with wood and fresh water. The
northwest point of the bay he called "Punta de los Esteros." Northwestward
sailed the old pioneer explorer and entered upon his chart the "Piedras
Blancas," and a bay which he called the "Bay of Sardines," anchoring and landing
there. This is now called the Bay of San Simon, or, at least, is supposed to be
the one thus designated by Cabrillo.

THE NORTHERN COAST.

  This brave old navigator is usually reported to have explored the coast as far
north as Cape Mendocino, which he named in honor of Don Antonio de Mendoza, the
Viceroy of Mexico under whose authority he sailed, but this is disputed by
Professors Bache and Davidson, of the United States Coast Survey, who contend
that the most northern point reached by Cabrillo was Punta de los Reyes, to
which he gave the name of El Cabo Mendozino—Cape Mendocino.

DEATH OF CABRILLO.

  From that point he returned to the island of San Miguel, off the coast of
Santa Barbara, for his winter quarters. There he died January 5, 1543.* He had
directed his pilot, Bartolomo Ferrelo, to assume command of the expedition and
to continue the exploration north as far as possible. Ferrelo afterwards named
the island where his commander died Juan Rodriguez. It is sometimes called San
Bernardo, and the harbor in 1852 was surveyed and named Cuyler Harbor by the
United States Coast Survey, in honor of Lieutenant Cuyler, United States Navy.

   *Some historians contend that Cabrillo died in San Simeon Harbor, and that
his bones still rest in the soil of San Luis Obispo County.


VOYAGE OF FERRELO.

  Ferrelo, in obedience to the instructions given him by Cabrillo, sailed to the
north as far as the present Cape Mendocino, which he discovered on the last of
February, 1543, and named it Cabo de Fortunas (Cape of Perils). In his voyage
north he discovered the islands since named the Farallones de las Frayles,* or
at least he made an examination and mention of them, as Cabrillo had seen them
on his voyage in 1542. Ferrelo appears to have encountered very severe weather
whenever in the vicinity of the bay of San Francisco, as on the northern passage
he spent five days in attempting to effect a landing on the Farallones, which he
was unable to make owing to the strong southwest winds and a heavy sea In the
March following, on his return toward the south he was swept onward in a storm
and did not examine the Golden Gate, although he marked a deep indentation in
that locality. The great bay of San Francisco remained unknown for over two
hundred years longer.

  *About 1775 they received their present name. After the voyages of Bodega and
Manulle under the orders of Bailio Frayle Don Antonio Bucarolli y. Visera. — U.
S. Coast Survey.


LANDING OF SIR FRANCIS DRAKE.

  The next footprint we find upon the coast was made in July or August, 1579, by
the semi-piratical expedition of Sir Francis Drake. He was not a surveyor or
explorer, but was seeking plunder in the Spanish ports of South America, and
such Spanish merchantmen as he could intercept at sea. When well loaded with
booty he sought a secluded point on the northwest coast to repair his ship, the
Golden Hind, preparatory to escape from the Pacific and carry his precious cargo
safely to England. He landed on the coast, as his narrator says, in a "faire
good baye within thirty-eight degrees of the line." A later report, entitled
"The World Encompassed," published in 1630, compiled from notes by Francis
Fletcher, the chaplain of the expedition, gives the latitude at 38º 30', and the
landing as having been made on the 17th of June, 1579. A biography of Drake says
he sailed from the coast after repairing his ship, on the 29th of September,
1579. The reports make his stay upon the coast as less than fifty days,
therefore there is a discrepancy in the time of his arrival and departure. That
he landed on the coast there is no dispute, but the precise locality is in
doubt. Professors Bache and Davidson, of the United States Coast Survey, locate
the place where he landed and effected his repairs as under Point Reyes, I now
called Drake's Bay, but Dr. Stillman, in his book entitled "Seeking the Golden
Fleece," contends that he entered the bay of San Francisco.

DRAKE'S HISTORIAN.

  The narrator of the expedition, after telling how the natives mistook them for
gods, and worshiped them, and offered sacrifices to them, much against their
will, and how Drake took possession of the country in the name of Queen
Elizabeth, says: "Our necessaire busines being ended, our General with his
companie travailed up into the countrey to their villages, where we found
heardes of deere by 1,000 in a companie, being most fat and large of bodie. We
found the whole countrey to be a warren of a strange kind of connies, their
bodies in bigness as be the Barbaric connies, their heads as the heads of ours,
the feet of a want (mole), and the taile of a rat, being of great length. The
people do eat their bodies and make great accompt of their skinnes, for their
king's coat was made out of them. Our General called this country Nova Albion,
and that for two causes: the one in respect of the white bankes and cliffes
which lie toward the sea; and the other because it might have some affinitie
with our country in name, which sometime was so called.

  "There is no part of the earth here to be taken up, therein there is not a
reasonable quantitie of gold or silver."

  "Our General set up a monument of our being there, as also of'her Majesty's
right and title to the same, viz., a plate nailed upon a faire great poste,
whereupon was engraven her Majesty's name, the day and yeare of our arrival
there, with the free giving up of the province and people into her Majesty's
hands, together with her highness' picture and arms, in a piece of fivepence of
current English money under the plate, whereunder was also written the name of
our General."

  The connies seen in such great numbers were undoubtedly the ground squirrel of
the present time, but the description is faulty regarding the "taile," as
instead, the annoying little animal has the bushy tail of the squirrel, and not
the long tail of the rat. The belief in the gold and silver may have arisen from
seeing the glistening particles of mica in the sand; or otherwise it was of the
usual exaggeration of the writers of the period in their reference to things in
the New World.

VIZCAYNO'S EXPEDITION IN l602.

  Don Gaspar de Zuniga, Count de Monterey, was Viceroy of Mexico in 1602, and
that year equipped a fleet of two large vessels, the Capitania (flag-ship), the
Almiranta, and a frigate, and dispatched them on a voyage of exploration along
the California coast, under the command of Sebastian Vizcayno, as
Captain-General, and Toribio Gomez as Admiral. The fleet sailed from Acapulco on
the 5th day of May, 1602, and from its complete equipment, size of ships, and
the men accompanying it, was a notable one for the age. Of these men were three
barefooted Carmelites, Father Andres de la Assumpcion, Father Antonio de la
Ascencion, and Father Tomas de Aquino. Also Capt. Alonzo Estevan Pcguero, a
person of great valor and long experience, j who had served in Flanders; Capt.
Gaspar de Alorcon, and Capt Geronimo Martin, who went as cosmographer, in order
to make drafts of the countries discovered. The ships carried a suitable number
of soldiers and seamen, and were supplied with all necessaries for a year. He
sailed slowly northward, exploring and surveying the coast of Lower California,
and entered the bay of San Diego on the 10th of November, 1602. On the 15th of
December he arrived at the

BAY OF MONTEREY.

  In his voyage in 1542, Cabrillo had entered the bay of Monterey, to which he
had given the name of the Bay of Pines. This was surveyed by Vizcayno and the
name changed to Monterey, in honor of the Viceroy under whose patronage and
orders he was sailing. On the day following their arrival formal possession was
taken of the country, a cross was erected under a large oak in a pleasant ravine
near the shore of the bay, and the fathers said mass. The place was described by
Father Andres as an excellent harbor, and secure against all winds. "Near the
shore are an infinite number of very large pines, straight and smooth, fit for
masts and yards, likewise oaks of a prodigious size for building ships. Here
likewise are rose trees, white thorns, firs, willows, and poplars; large clear
lakes, fine pastures, and arable lands," etc., etc. This glowing description was
given of the harbor and surrounding country for the edification of the King, and
as a guide to such explorers as should come after them. No wonder need be
expressed, therefore, at the failure of Gov. Gaspar de Portala to recognize it
when on his tour in search of Monterey, one hundred and sixty-seven years
afterwards.

PUERTO FRANCISCO.

  Vizcayno remained at Monterey until the 3d of January, 1603. One of his ships
he had sent home with the news and with the sick, and with the others he
continued north. In the records kept by Father Andres de la Assumpcion, as
reported by Father Venegas, a reference is made to the port of San Francisco
(Puerto Francisco), but showing that the port then referred to was not the
present bay of that name, and almost confirmatory of the assertion that the
great bay was then unknown as an officially declared fact, and at least unknown
to Vizcayno. He says: " On the 12th, having a fair wind, we passed the port of
San Francisco, and losing sight of the other ship, returned to the port to wait
for her. Another reason which induced the Capitania (flag-ship) to put into
Puerto Francisco was to take a survey of it and see if anything was to be found
of the San Augustin, which, in the year 1595 had, by order of his Majesty and
the Viceroy, been sent from the Philippines to survey the coast of California,
under the direction of Sebastian Rodriguez Cermenon, a pilot of known abilities,
but was driven ashore in this harbor by the violence of the winds. And among
others on board the San Avgustin was the pilot Francisco Volanos, who was also
chief pilot of this squadron. He was acquainted with the country, and affirmed
that they had left ashore a great quantity of wax and several chests of silk;
and the Gen eral was desirous of putting in here to see if there remained any
vestiges of the ship and cargo. The Capitania came to anchor behind a point of
land called La Punta de los Reyes." This, the Spaniards have contended, was all
that was known of the bay of San Francisco until it was discovered by Portala in
1769. Undoubtedly others had seen it and given verbal descriptions of it, but no
Government vessel or official had entered its waters, and all knowledge was in
the form of rumors and unofficial reports.

CONTINUED VOYAGE OF VIZCAYNO.

  Vizcayno, in the flag-ship Capitania, continued north as far as Cape
Mendocino, when the unpleasant weather and the crew disabled by the scurvy
caused him to turn southward and seek the warm climate, and medical relief, in
Mexico. The companion ship, the frigate, continued north as far as latitude 43º,
near Cape Blanco, and observed the mouth of a large river. Thus the whole coast
of California is passed, yet but little is known of it. Even at that date the
navigators were searching for the straits of Anian, hoping to pass thus from the
Pacific to the Atlantic.

NAMES ON THE CALIFORNIA COAST.

  There is much confusion regarding the names of the chief landmarks and bodies
of water on the coast, and probably some names have been floated from point to
point. Vizcayno is believed to have named San Diego, the Santa Barbara Islands
and Channel, Monterey, and Point Reyes, but still he refers to some of these as
if named before, and speaks of the Sierra de Santa Lucia as a landmark for the
ships from China; that is the galleons from the Philippine Islands to Acapulco,
which often made the coast about the latitude of 36º or 40º, this trade having
been established soon after the conquest of Mexico.

ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SIX YEARS LATER.

  A century and two-thirds of another elapse in the history of the world before
a succeeding effort is made to open to the world the land we live in. During
that long period many Kings of Spain had come, exercised their brief period of
tyranny, and passed away, each weaker than the preceding; Mexico had poured into
her lap the corrupting influence of her vast mineral wealth; France had sent its
colonies into Canada; the English had settled upon the Atlantic Coast, and
powerful colonies fighting for their independence had grown into existence; the
great valley of the lakes and of the Mississippi had been explored, and while
these important steps were taking place in the history and progress of the New
World, California, the fairest land of all the earth, was allowed to remain
under the benighted rule of the poor savage man but a degree removed from the
soulless animals which contended with him the right of occupancy. The voyage of
Vizcayno preceded by three years the first settlement of Virginia by the
colonists under Sir Walter Raleigh and Capt. John Smith; eighteen years before
the Puritans landed on Plymouth Rock; twenty-one years before the Dutch settled
on Manhattan Island, New York, and seventy-eight years before Penn made his
celebrated treaty with the Indians and laid the foundation of Philadelphia.

KING CHARLES III.

  In 1759 there came to the throne of Spain the most enlightened and able
monarch since the great Charles V. (I. of Spain), who was the ruler of the
greater part of Europe. This was Charles III., a man of energy, of progress, and
of liberal ideas, far in advance of the Spanish people whom he endeavored to
elevate to the plane of the other kingdoms of Europe.

THE JESUITS IN CALIFORNIA.

  In the preceding century, in 1697, license was granted to the Society of the
Order of Jesus, the Jesuits, to enter the peninsula of California. The special
warrants empowered the Fathers Kino and Salva-Tierra to enter California subject
to these conditions: that they waste nothing belonging to the King, nor draw
upon the Government treasury without express orders from His Majesty; that they
take possession of the country and hold it in the name of the King of Spain. The
powers given included the ecclesiastic, military; and civil Government of the
country.

  On the 10th of October, 1697, Father Salva-Tierra accompanied by Father
Ugarte, five soldiers, Esteban Rodriguez Lorenzo, Bartoleme de Robles Figueroa,
Juan Caravana, Nicolas Marques and Juan, with their commander, Don Luis de
Torres Tortolero, embarked for the scene of their future labors, the physical
and spiritual conquest of California, arriving safely and taking formal
possession of the country on the 25th of the month. The Lady of Loreto was
selected as the patroness of the conquest, and the place upon which they
established themselves was called Loreto.

FATHER KINO.

  Father Francis Kuhn, or Eusebio Francisco Kino, as he was called by the
Spaniards, was a German by birth, but spent the greater part of his life in the
service of the Jesuit Order of the Catholic Church as a missionary among the
Indians of Mexico. He was a most devout, able, and energetic priest, and many
noble deeds and long years of well-performed duties are recorded of him in
histories of Mexico and Lower California. His principal field was in Sonora,
where he spent many years in building up and caring for the mission of Primera.
He was a coadjutor of Salva-Tierra, and assisted in the support of the mission
at Loreto. In the year 1700 he made the journey from Sonora to California by
land, crossing the Colorado River near the junction of the Gila, being the first
white man to cross, and thus proved the extent of the peninsula. He was forced,
however, for the sake of a sick priest, to return without reaching his
destination at Loreto. He died in 1710 and was buried near his loved mission at
Primera. His grave is lost among the driving sands of that desolate region, but
his good deeds will live forever.

FATHER SALVA-TIERRA.

  Juan Maria Salva-Tierra was a native of Milan, born of noble parentage and
Spanish ancestry, in 1644. Having completed his education at Parma, he joined
the order of Jesuits, and went as a missionary to Mexico in 1675. He was robust
in health, exceedingly handsome in person, resolute of will, highly talented,
and full of religious zeal. For several years he conducted the missions of
Sonora successfully, when he was recalled to Mexico in consequence of his great
ability and singular virtues, and was employed in the chief offices of the
provinces. Having obtained from the Viceroy permission to occupy the peninsula
of California under the conditions previously stated, he went upon his mission
to Loreto, having as his associate Father Juan Ugarte, a native of Honduras.
After encountering a disastrous storm, suffering partial shipwreck, and touching
at several points on the coast, they came to San Dionysio, where they found a
fine watering-place in a deep and fruitful glen which they selected as their
future scene of labor. This place is situated on the eastern shore of the
peninsula, in latitude 25º 35' north, and may be considered the Plymouth of the
Pacific Coast. This historic and memorable expedition consisted of only two
galliots and nine men, being a corporal, five private soldiers, three Indians,
the captain of the vessel, and the two fathers.

  On the 19th of October, 1697, the little party of adventurers went ashore at
Loreto, and were kindly received by about fifty natives, who were induced to
kneel down and kiss the crucifix.

  After twenty years of earnest labor, privation, danger, and spiritual success,
Father Salva-Tierra was recalled to Mexico by the new Viceroy, for consultation.
He was then seventy years old; and, notwithstanding his age and infirmities, he
set out on horseback from San Blas for Tepic; but, having fainted by the way, he
was carried on a litter by the Indians to Guadalajara, where he died July 17,
1717, and was buried, with appropriate ceremonies, behind the altar in the
chapel of Our  Lady of Loreto.

METHODS OF CONVERSION.

  It is said of Father Ugarte that he was a man of powerful frame. When he first
celebrated the ceremonials of the church before the natives they were inclined
to jeer and laugh over solemnities. On one occasion a huge Indian was causing
considerable disturbance, and was demoralizing the other Indians with his
mimicry and childish fun. Father Ugarte caught him by his long hair, swung him
around a few times, threw him in a heap on the floor, and proceeded with the
rites. This argument had a converting effect, as he never rebelled again. As the
conversion of the natives was the main object of the settlement, and a matter of
the greatest importance; to the natives at least, no means were spared to effect
it. When the natives around the mission had been Christianized, expeditions
inland were undertaken to capture more material for converts. Sometimes many
lives were taken, but they generally succeeded in gathering in from fifty to a
hundred women and children, the men afterwards following. Two or three days'
exhortation (confinement and starvation) was generally sufficient to effect a
change of heart, after which the convert was clothed, fed, and put to work.
Father Ugarte worked with them, teaching them to plant, sow, reap, and thresh,
and they were soon good Christians.

  The imposing ceremonies and visible symbols of the Catholic Church are well
calculated to strike the ignorant savage with awe. Striking results were often
attained with pictures. When moving from one mission to another, and especially
when meeting strange Indians, the priests exhibited a picture of the Virgin Mary
on one side of a canvas, and Satan roasting in flames on the other side. They
were offered a choice, to become subjects of the Holy Mother, or roast in the
flames with Satan, and generally accepted the former, especially as it was
accompanied with food.

EXPULSION OF THE JESUITS.

  Charles III., the King of Spain, desiring to extend the power 6f his dominions
and increase their commercial prosperity, proposed in 1767 to rediscover and
occupy the important harbors of Alta California that had been so graphically
described by Vizcayrio, in 1603. The system of colonizing in that day was by
first sending missionaries into the country, taming and converting the Indians,
and thus open the way to settlement by civilized people. The church was
all-powerful throughout Spain and her possessions, the ecclesiastical power
controlling the Government, dominating its policy, and even holding the King in
subjection. The Jesuits were regarded as the most ambitious for political power
in connection with the church, and this order Charles determined to suppress,
and therefore on the 2d of April, 1767, issued a decree ordering their expulsion
from all parts of his dominions. The Jesuits had established the missions of
Lower California and continued in their possession for a period of seventy
years. In order to carry out his new policy it was necessary to supplant the
Jesuits with other orders of the church, and the missions of Lower California
were transferred to the Order of Dominicans; the Franciscans to take charge of
those to be founded in Alta California. The execution of this decree was
committed to Don Gaspar de Portala, the Governor of the province. Having
assembled the fathers of Loreto on the eve of the nativity, December 24th, he
acquainted them with the heart-breaking news. Whatever may have been the faults
of the Jesuits in Europe, they certainly had been models of devoted Christians
in .the New World. They braved the dangers of hostile savages, exposed
themselves to the malarious fevers incident to new countries, and had taken up
their residences far from the centers of civilization and thought, so dear to
men of cultivated minds, to devote themselves, soul and body, to the salvation
of the natives, that all civilized nations seem bent on exterminating. It is
probable that the simple-minded son of the forest understood little of the
mysteries of theology; and his change of heart was more a change of habit than
the adoption of any saving religious dogma. They abandoned many of their filthy
habits and learned to respect the family ties. They were taught to cultivate the
soil, to build comfortable houses, and to cover their nakedness with garments.
They had learned to love and revere the fathers, who were ever kind to them.

MIDNIGHT PARTING.

  After seventy years of devoted attention to the savages, after building
pleasant homes in the wilderness, and surrounding themselves with loving and
devoted friends, they received the order to depart. They took their leave on the
night of February 3, 1768, amidst the outcries and lamentations of the people,
who, in spite of the soldiers, who could not keep them back, rushed upon the
departing fathers, kissing their hands, and clinging convulsively to them. The
leave-taking was brief, but affecting. " Adieu, my dear children! Adieu, land of
our adoption! Adieu, California! it is the will of God!" And then, amid the sobs
and lamentations, heard all along the shore, they turned away, reciting the
litany of the Blessed Mother of God, and were seen no more.

  On the expulsion of the Jesuits from Lower California, the property of the
missions, consisting of extensive houses, flocks, pasture lands, cultivated
fields, orchards, and vineyards, was intrusted to the College of San Fernando in
Mexico, for the benefit of the Order of St. Francis de Assisi. The zealous
scholar, Father Junipero Serra, was appointed to the charge of all the missions
of Lower California.

FATHER JUNIPERO SERRA.

  Father Junipero, as he was called, was born of humble parents in the island of
Majorca, on the 24th of November, 1713, his childhood name being Miguel Jose
Serra. Like the prophet Samuel, he was dedicated to the priesthood from his
infancy, and having completed his studies in the Convent of San Bernardino, he
conceived the idea of devoting himself to the immediate service of God, and went
from thence to Palma, the capital of the province, to acquire the higher
learning necessary for the priesthood. At his earnest request, he was received
into the Order of San Francisco at the age of sixteen, and, at the end of one
year's probation, made his religious profession, September 15, 1731. Having
finished his studies in philosophy and theology, he soon acquired a high
reputation as a writer and orator, and his services were sought for in every
direction; but, while enjoying these distinctions at home, his heart was set on
his long-projected mission to the heathen of the New World. He sailed from Cadiz
for America, August 28, 1749, and landed at Vera Cruz, whence he went to the
City of Mexico, joined the College of San Fernando, and was made President of
the missions of Cerra Gorda and San Saba. On his appointment to the missions of
California, he immediately entered upon active duties, and proceeded to carry
out his grand design of the civilization of the Pacific Coast. The success with
which he prosecuted his great labors are more fully related in. other parts of
this volume.

  At length, having founded and successfully established nine missions, and
gathered into his fold many thousand wild people of the mountains and plains,
the heroic Junipero began to feel that his end was drawing near. He was then
seventy years old; fifty-three of these years he had spent in the active service
of his Master in the New World. Having fought the good fight and finished his
illustrious course, the broken old man retired to the mission of San Carlos at
Monterey, gave the few remaining days of his life to a closer communion with
God, received the last rites of the religion which he had advocated and
illustrated so well, and on the 29th"of August, 1784, gently passed away.

THE MISSION OF LORETO.

  Governor Portala immediately took possession of Loreto which afterwards became
the headquarters of the movement to establish missions in Alta California.

  The historic village of Loreto, the ancient capital of California, is situated
on the margin of the gulf, in the center of St. Dyonissius' Cove. The church,
built in 1742, is still in tolerable preservation, and, among the vestiges of
its former richness, has eighty-six oil paintings, some of them by Murillo and
other celebrated masters, which, though more than a hundred years old, are still
in a good condition; also, some fine silver work, valued at $6,000. A great
storm in 1827 destroyed many of the buildings of the mission. Those remaining
are in a state of decay. It was the former custom of the pearl-divers to
dedicate the products of certain days to Our Lady of Loreto; and, on one
occasion, there fell to the lot of the Virgin a magnificent pearl, as large as a
pigeon's egg, of wonderful purity and brilliancy. The fathers thought proper to
change its destination, and presented it to the Queen of Spain, who gratefully
and piously sent Our Lady of Loreto a magnificent new gown. Some people were
unkind enough to think the Queen had the better of the transaction.


Additional Comments:
HISTORY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY
CALIFORNIA

WITH

Illustrations and Biographical Sketches
OF ITS
PROMINENT MEN AND PIONEERS.


OAKLAND, CAL.
THOMPSON & WEST

1883.


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