San Luis Obispo County CA Archives History - Books .....Chapter V Secularization And Decay 1883 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com August 5, 2006, 2:03 am Book Title: History Of San Luis Obispo County California CHAPTER V. SECULARIZATION AND DECAY. Hidalgo's Insurrection—Mexican Independence — Native Civil. Sen-ice Reform—A Clerical Soldier—Independence in California—Theory of the Missions—Government Interference— Colonists against the Missions—Pacheco and Avila Killed— Rival Governors—Arrival of Gen. Jos6 Figueroa in 1833— Decree of Secularization—Distribution of Property and Lands —Political Government of the Villages—Restrictions—General Regulations—Provisional Regulation for the Secularization of the Missions—Pious Fund—The Hijar Colony—Santa Ana's Revolution—Land Grants—Secularization Completed—Death of Governor Figueroa—The Missions of Alta California— Wealth and Population—Varying Statements. WHILE the missions were moving on in the even tenor of their way, with a happy or a depressed people, as the priests in charge were devoted to their trusts, or hard and avaricious tyrants, changes and revolutions were occurring in the central Government of Mexico; but the spreading wave of these disturbances did not reach the distant outposts of California until many years afterwards. Father Hidalgo, a priest of Mexico, on the 15th of September, 1810, at the head of a small party, arose in insurrection against the Government of Spain, and that is the day since celebrated by the Mexican people as the day of their independence, although it was not until 1822 that their independence was acknowledged. In 1824 a Republican Constitution and form of Government was adopted similar to that of the United States in its general features. In this system California was regarded as a Territory. Of this insurrection a native Californian writes:— . For three hundred years the power of Spain had dominated Mexico; and during that long period no man had arisen possessed of the necessary fortitude to combat and reform the misgovernment of the European tyrants; alone, without friends, resources, or arms, depending solely on the grandeur of his enterprise, and taking advantage of the unguarded security of the oppressors, the Priest Hidalgo, struck the first blow for independence, on the 15th of September, 1810, and in a few months found himself at the head of a numerous and well disciplined army. It was, however, his fate to die in the cause. He was taken prisoner, and ascended the scaffold—to him a throne of glory—and cheerfully surrendered his life for the regeneration of his country. The war which he had inaugurated—cruel, fratricidal, horrible—continued for eleven years. The sacred blood of Hidalgo was the fertilizer which brought forward a band of heroic martyrs—Morelos, Allende, Guerrero, Bravo, Abasolo, Mina, Galeanar, Matamoras and Rayon; all of whom offered up in a grand holocaust their lives on the sacred altar of liberty. These sanctified and completed the work begun by Hidalgo. MEXICAN INDEPENDENCE. The war of independence was long, and several severe battles were fought, the Spanish commander, Don Augustin de Iturbide, winning the battles of Valadolid in 1813, and Puruaran in 1814. The revolt seemed crushed out, but in 1818 Iturbide espoused the cause of Mexico, and through many changes at last declared for a Mexican Empire, and was proclaimed Emperor by the soldiers, May 18; 1822, under the title of Augustin I. By his arrogance and disregard of constitutional restrictions he was forced to abdicate, and was banished in March, 1823, Congress allowing him a pension of $20,000 per annum in consideration of his services in 1820. He retired to Italy, but returned in 1824 to make another effort for the crown, was recognized upon landing at Soto la Marina, and was ordered by the Governor of Tamaulipas to be shot, and was executed at Padilla, July 19, 1824. Through the long War of Revolution, and the changes of Government, California remained undisturbed and the Spanish Governors, Don Jose Joaquin de Arrillaga, Don Jose Arguillo, and Don Pablo Vicente de Sola continued in the peaceful occupation of their offices. NATIVE CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. The news of the execution of Iturbide set an example to the Indians of San Diego, which they followed in a very effective manner to produce the abdication of a bad chief. The Chief of the San Diego Indians was very obnoxious to his subjects, so they held a great feast, and in imitation of the gente de razon (civilized people) condemned him to death, and proceeded to execute him by tying him and burning him alive. The feast continued for eight days. When rebuked by the priests for having acted so cruelly, they replied: "Have you not done the same in Mexico? You say your King was not good. Well, our Capitan was not good, and we burned him, and if the new one shall be bad, we will burn him also." So seldom, in civilized life, is the wicked official punished, that a commendable instance of it is thought worthy of a place in history. A CLERICAL SOLDIER. There were a few other disturbances, one of which, occurring at Santa Ynez, has been related by Mr. Stephen C. Foster, an old resident of Los Angeles, as follows:— The sight of the old mission of Santa Ynez recalled to mind an incident that occurred there at the time of the outbreak in 1822. When the Indians rose there were two Spanish priests in the mission. One of them fell into the hands of the Indians, and was put to death under circumstances of the most atrocious cruelty. The other, a powerful man, succeeded in breaking away, and escaped to the guard-house where, as in all missions, a guard of four soldiers, commanded by a Corporal, was always kept as a sort of police force. The Indians were destitute of fire-arms, but their overwhelming numbers and the showers of arrows they directed against the portholes, had quite demoralized the garrison when the priest appeared and took command. It must have been a singular scene. The burly friar with shaven crown, and sandalled, clad in the gray gown, girt with the cord of St. Francis, wielding carnal weapons, now encouraging the little garrison, now shouting defiance to the swarming assailants. "Ho father," cried a young Indian acolyte, "is that the way to say mass?" "Yes, I am saying mass, my son. Here (holding up his cartridge box) is the chalice; here (holding up his carbine) is the crucifix, and here goes my benediction to you, you _____," using one of the foulest epithets the Spanish language could supply, as he leveled his carbine and laid the scoffer low. A large force was finally collected from the different towns; the Indian converts were followed into the Tulare Valley and captured; the ring-leaders were shot, and the others were brought back to the missions, when my informant had occasion to go to Monterey, and on his way, having occasion to call at San Luis Obispo, found there the hero of Santa Ynez. "Welcome, countryman," was his greeting. "The same to you, father," was the reply; "but, father, they tell me you are in trouble." "Yes, my son, the President of the missions has suspended me from the exercise of clerical functions for one year, on account of the unclerical language I used at that affair at Santa Ynez. The old fool! he knew I was a soldier before I became a priest, and when those accursed Indians drove me back to my old trade, how could I help using my old language?" Then taking a couple of decanters out of the cupboard he continued, "Here, countryman, help yourself. Here is wine; here is aguardiente. The old fool thinks he is punishing me. Behold, I have no mass to say for a year, and nothing whatever to do but eat, drink, and sleep." INDEPENDENCE IN CALIFORNIA. The independence of Mexico achieved, the people of California adopted the new order of things, and made declaration to the following effect:— In the presidio of Monterey, on the ninth day of the month of April, 1822: The Senor Military and Political Governor of this province, Col. Don Pablo Vicente de Sola, the Senors, Captains Commandantes of the presidios of San Francisco and Santa Barbara, Don Luis Antonio de Arguello, and Don Jose Antonio de la Guerra y Noriega, the Captains of the militia companies of the battalion of Tepic and Mazatlan, Don Jose Antonio Navarreth, and Don Pablo de la Portilla, the Lieut. Don Jose Maria Estudillo for the presidial company of San Diego, the Lieut. Don Jose Mariano Estrada for the presidial company of Monterey, the Lieutenant of Artillery, Don Manuel Gomez, and the reverend fathers, Friar Mariano Payeras and Friar Vicento Francisco de Sarria, the first as prelate of these missions, and the second as substitute of the reverend father president vicareo foraneo, Friar Jose Jenan, having assembled in obedience to previous citations (convocatorias) in the hall of the Government House, and being informed of the establishment of the kingdom of the empire, and the installation of the sovereign provisional gubernative junta in the capital of Mexico, by the official communication and other documents, which the said Governor caused to be read in full assembly, said that, for themselves, and in obedience to the orders intimated by the new Supreme Government, recognizing, from this time, the province as a dependent alone of the Government of the Empire of Mexico, and independent of the dominion of Spain, as well as of any other foreign power. In consideration of which the proper oaths will be taken, in the manner prescribed by the provisional regency, to which end the superior military and political chief will give the necessary orders, and the respective commandantes of presidios and the ministers of the missions will cause the fulfillment of the same to appear by means of certificates, which will be transmitted, with a copy of this act, to the most excellent minister, to whom it corresponds, and they signed, PABLO VICENTE DE SOLA, JOSE DE LA GUERRA Y NORIEGA, LUIS ANTONIO ARGUELLO, JOSE M. ESTUDILLO, MANUEL GOMEZ, PABLO DE LA PORTILLA, JOSE MARIANO ESTRADA, FR. MARIANO PAYERAS, FR. VICENTE FRANCISCO DE SARRIA, JOSE M. ESTUDILLO. One of the signers of this instrument, Don Pablo Vicente de Sola, was at that time Governor under Spain, and held over for a year as Governor still, under the kingdom of the empire, as expressed in the declaration, and two others are the chief of the ecclesiastical authorities, the whole being either priests or soldiers. THEORY OF THE MISSIONS. Steps were soon taken by the new Government of Mexico to advance the secular power over the ecclesiastical. The theory of the establishing of the missions is clearly stated in the opinion rendered by Judge Felch, of the Board of Land Commissioners, in deciding the case of the Catholic Church, in the name of Bishop Alemany, as claimant of the mission lands, as follows:— The missions were intended, from the beginning, to be temporary in their character. It was contemplated that in ten years" from their first foundation they should cease. It was supposed that within that period of time the Indians would be sufficiently instructed in Christianity, and the arts of civilized life, to assume the position and character of citizens; that these mission settlements would then become pueblos; and that the mission churches would become parish churches, organized like the other establishments of an ecclesiastical character in other portions of the nation where no missions had ever existed. The whole missionary establishment was widely different from the ordinary ecclesiastical organization of the nation. In it the superintendence and charge was committed to priests, who were devoted to the special work of missions, and not to the ordinary clergy. The monks of the College of San Fernando and Zacatecas, in whose charge they were, were to be succeeded by the secular clergy of the national church; the missionary field was to become a diocese; the President of the missions to give place to a bishop; the mission churches to become curacies; and the faithful in the vicinity of each parish to become the parish worshipers. GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE. Acting on this theory the steps were taken to bring the priests under control. Instead of ten years having proven sufficient to civilize the Indians, fifty years had elapsed, and he was still a helpless savage. Accordingly, in 1824 and 1826, the Mexican Government passed laws manumitting the Indians, and suspending the pay of the priests. This action on the part of the Government proved premature. Released from restraint the Indian retrograded and took to the woods, and commenced a series of robberies that threatened the existence of the colonies. His education: had taught him the vices of civilization, which took the place of the rude virtues which characterized them in their natural state. Idle, dissipated, and incapable of self-control, he became a nuisance to the settlers, and stock, by hundreds, were run off into the hills and canons A year later, the law, being disastrous in its effects, was repealed, and most of the Indians returned to their work, and things went on somewhat as before. COLONISTS AGAINST THE MISSIONS. The breach was not healed but widened. The vicious element which had come in with the discharged soldiers of the war for liberty, sometimes carried things with a high hand, ever inciting the Indians to insurrection. Manuel Victoria, who was appointed to succeed Jose Maria de Echeandia for the express purpose of reforming these abuses and restraining the criminal element, was a man of much ability, but had a military turn of mind which could not brook insubordination, and a few cases of summary punishment aroused the people into open hostility. The outbreak commenced at San Diego, and was headed by Jose Maria Avila. Victoria's friends, however, put down the incipient insurrection, and kept Avila in irons to await the Governor's pleasure. Governor Victoria, hearing of the trouble, left Monterey with a small escort, and reached San Fernando December 4, 1831. PACHECO AND AVILA KILLED. A party of the insurgents reached Los Angeles the same evening, and induced a number of citizens to espouse their side. Avila was released, and, placing himself at the head of the dissatisfied, swore that he would kill Victoria, or die in the attempt. The two parties met about eight miles west of the city on the Santa Barbara road, near the Cahuenga Pass, and both parties halted for a parley, but Avila, putting spurs to his horse, rushed upon Victoria, wounding him severely in the side. The thrust was partially parried by Romualdo Pacheco, who, before he could recover his guard, was run through by Avila. While the lance was still quivering in Pacheco's body, Victoria drew a pistol, and shot Avila dead, Pacheco and Avila both falling from their horses nearly at the same moment. A sudden panic seized both parties at such a prospect of civil war. Victoria and his party, who were termed Mexicans, went to the Mission San Gabriel, carrying the wounded Governor with them, while Avila's party, who termed themselves Californians, returned to the town. Victoria resigned his position, and left for San Blas on the ship Pocahontas, January 15, 1832. The bodies of the slain were found as they fell, and were taken to town the same evening. They were buried side by side by mutual friends. RIVAL GOVERNORS. For some time after the expulsion of Victoria, there was much confusion in regard to the matter of Governor Avila's partisans pronounced for Echeandia, but finally rallied around Pio Pico, who became Governor ad interim, Los Angeles being the capital de facto. Echeandia retired to the mission of San Juan Capistrano, and, organizing a body of vagrant Indians, under the pretense of maintaining law and order, commenced plundering all in the surrounding country who would not recognize him as Governor. The northern part of the State adhered to Victoria, notwithstanding his abdication, and set up, as his representative, Capt. Augustin V. Zamorano. There was little law and order until the ARRIVAL OF GEN. JOSE FIGUEROA, IN 1833, Who was a man of much executive ability, and succeeded in restoring something like security to life and property. In August, 1834, the Governor, whose title was Gefe Politico (Political Chief), issued the following directions for the enforcement of the law of August 17, 1833. DECREE OF SECULARIZATION. ARTICLE I. The political chief, according to the spirit of the law of August 17, 1833, and in compliance with instructions received from the Supreme Government, jointly with the religious missionaries, will convert the missions of this territory partially into villages—beginning in the approaching month of August, 1835, with ten, and the rest thereafter successively. 2. Religious missionaries shall be relieved from the administration of temporalities, and shall only exercise the duties of their ministry so far as they relate to spiritual matters, whilst the formal division of parishes is in progress, and the Supreme Diocesan Government shall provide parochial clergy. 3. The Territorial Government shall resume the administration of temporal concerns, as directed, upon the following foundations. 4. The approbation of this provisional regulation by the Supreme Government shall be requested in the most prompt manner. DISTRIBUTION OF PROPERTY AND LANDS. 5. To each head of a family, and all who are more than twenty years old, although without families, will be given from the lands of the mission, whether temporal (lands dependent on the season) or watered, a lot of ground not to contain more than 400 yards in length and as many in breadth, nor less than 100. Sufficient land for watering the cattle will be given in common. The outlets or roads shall be marked out by each village, and at the proper time the corporation lands shall be designated. 6. Among the said individuals will be distributed, ratably and justly, according to the discretion of the political chief, the half of the movable property, taking as a basis the last inventory which the missionaries have presented of all descriptions of cattle. 7. One-half or less of the implements and seeds indispensable for agriculture shall be allotted to them. 8. All the surplus lands, roots, movable securities, and property of all classes, shall be under the charge and responsibility of the steward or agent whom the political chief may name, subject to the disposal of the Supreme Federal Goverment. 9. From the common mass of this property, shall be provided the subsistence of the missionary monks, the pay of the steward and other servants, the expenses of religious worship, schools, and other matters of cleanliness or ornament. 10. The political chief, as the person charged with the direction of temporal concerns, shall determine and order beforehand the necessary qualifications, all the charges to be distributed, as well to carry this plan into execution as for the preservation and increase of the property. 11. The missionary minister shall select the place which suits him best for his dwelling and that of his attendants and servants; he is also to be provided with furniture and necessary utensils. 12. The library, holy vestment, and furniture of the church shall be in charge of the missionary ministers, under the responsibility of the person who officiates as sexton (and whom the said father shall select), who shall be paid a reasonable salary. 13. Inventories shall be made of all the property of each mission, with a proper separation and explanation of each description; of the books, charges and dates of all sorts of papers; of the credits, liquidated and unliquidated, with their respective remarks and explanations; of which a return shall be made to the Supreme Government. POLITICAL GOVERNMENT OF THE VILLAGES. 14. The political government of the villages shall be organized in accordance with existing laws. The political chief shall take measures for the election and establishment of Boards of Magistrates. 15. The internal police of the villages shall be under the charge of the Board of Magistrates; but as to the administration of justice, in matters of dispute, these shall be under the cognizance of inferior judges, established constitutionally in the places nearest at hand. 16. Those who have been emancipated shall be obliged to join in such labors of community as are indispensable, in the opinion of the political chief, in the cultivation of the vineyards, gardens, and fields, which for the present remain unapportioned, until the Supreme Government shall determine. 17. Emancipated persons shall render the minister such services as may be necessary for his person. RESTRICTIONS. 18. They shall not sell, mortgage, nor dispose of the lands granted to them, neither shall they sell their cattle. Contracts made in contravention of these prohibitions shall be of no effect, and the Government shall seize the property as belonging to the nation, and the purchasers shall forfeit their money. 19. Lands, the proprietors of which die without heirs, shall revert to the nation. GENERAL REGULATIONS. 20. The political chief shall name the commissioners he may deem necessary for carrying out this system and its incidents. 21. The political chief is authorized to determine any doubt or matter involved in the execution of this regulation. 22. Whilst this regulation is being carried into operation, the missionaries are forbidden to kill cattle in any large number, except so far as is usually required for the subsistence of the neophytes (converted Indians) without waste. 23. The unliquidated debts of the mission shall be I paid, in preference, from the common fund, at the places and upon the terms which the political chief may determine. PROVISIONAL REGULATION FOR THE SECULARIZATION OF THE MISSIONS. That the fulfillment of this law may be perfect, the following rules will be observed:— 1st. The commissioners, so soon as they shall receive their appointment and orders, shall present themselves at the respective missions, and commence the execution of the plan, being governed in all things by its tenor and these regulations. They shall present their credentials respectively to the priest under whose care the mission is, with whom they shall agree, preserving harmony and proper respect. 2d. The priest shall immediately hand over, and the commissioners receive the books of account and other documents relating to property claims, liquidated and unliquidated; afterwards, general inventories shall be made out, in accordance with the 13th article of this regulation, of all property-such as houses, churches, workshops, and other local things—stating what belongs to each shop, that is to say, utensils, furniture, and implements; then what belongs to the homestead, after which shall follow those of the field, that is to say, property that grows, such as vines and vegetables, with an enumeration of the shrubs, if possible, mills, etc.; after that the cattle and whatever appertains to them; but as it will be difficult to count them, as well on account of their numbers, as for the want of horses, they shall be estimated by two persons of intelligence and probity, who shall calculate, as nearly as may be, the number of each species to be inserted in the inventory. Everything shall be in regular form in making the inventory, which shall be kept from the knowledge of the priests, and under the charge of the commissioner or steward, but there shall be no change in the order of the work and services, until experience shall show that it is necessary, except in such matters as are commonly changed whenever it suits. 3d. The commissioner, with the steward, shall dispense with all superfluous expense, establishing rigid economy in all things that require reform. 4th. Before he takes an inventory of articles belonging to the field, the commissioner will inform the natives, explaining to them with mildness and patience, that the missions are to be changed into villages, which will only be under the government of the priests, so far as relates to spiritual matters; that the lands and property for which each one labors, are to belong to himself, and to be maintained and controlled by himself, without depending on any one else; that the houses in which they live are to be their own, for which they are to submit to what is ordered in these regulations, which are to be explained to them in the best possible manner. The lots will be given to them immediately to be worked by them as the 5th article of these regulations provides. The commissioner, the priests, and the steward, shall choose the location, selecting the best and most convenient to the population, and shall give to each the quantity of ground which he can cultivate, according to his fitness and the size of his family, without exceeding the maximun established. Each one shall mark his land in such manner as may be most agreeable to him. 5th. The claims that are liquidated shall be paid from the mass of property, but neither the commissioner nor the steward shall settle them without the express order of the Government, which will inform itself on the matter, and according to its judgment determine the number of cattle to be assigned to the neophytes, that it may be done, as heretofore, in conformity with what is provided in the 6th article. 6th. The necessary effects and implements for labor shall be assigned in the quantities expressed by the 7th article, either individually or in common, as the commissioners and priests may agree upon. The seeds will remain undivided, and shall be given to the neophytes in the usual quantities. 7th. What is called the " priesthood" shall immediately cease, female children whom they have in charge being handed over to their fathers, explaining to them the care they should take of them, and pointing out their obligations as parents. The same shall be done with the male children. 8th. The commissioner, according to the knowledge and information which he shall acquire, shall name to the Government, as soon as possible, one or several individuals, who may appear to him suitable and honorable, as stewards, according to the provisions of the 8th article, either from among those who now serve in the missions, or others. He shall also fix the pay which should be assigned to them, according to the labor of each mission. 9th. The settlements which are at a distance from the mission, and consist of more than twenty-five families, and which would desire to form a separate community, shall be gratified, and appropriation of the funds and other property shall be made them as to the rest. The settlements which do not contain twenty-five families, provided they be permanently settled where they now live, shall form a suburb, and shall be attached to the nearest village. 10th. The commissioner shall state the number of souls which each village contains, in order to designate the number of municipal officers and cause the elections to be held, in which they will proceed conformably, as far as possible, to the law of June 12, 1830. 11th. The commissioner shall adopt all executive measures which the condition of things demands, giving an account to the Government, and shall consult the same upon all grave and doubtful matters. 12th. In everything that remains, the commissioners, the priests, stewards, and natives will proceed according to the provisions of the regulation. JOSE FIGUEROA. AUGUSTIN V. ZAMORANO, Secretary. Monterey, August 9, 1834. The missionaries had but little to comfort them. The laymen, or secular part of the community, had out-talked them, out-worked them. What was called the PIOUS FUND Had previously been confiscated. This fund, producing about $50,000 a year, had been set apart as a fund for the propagation of the true faith, but the Mexican Congress had encroached upon it several times, but had hardly dared to appropriate it in toto; but when Santa Ana vaulted into power, he absorbed it without a pang of remorse. Still the immense flocks and crops of grain would have served the purposes of the poor Franciscan friars very well, but these were now to go. It is said the padres hoped for a providential interference, for a counter revolution, for anything that would stay the spoiler, but no help came. Mexico was far away, and the clamor for the spoliation of the missions was stronger there than in California. THE HIJAR COLONY. In 1834 a colony, composed of both men and women, under the leadership of Jose Maria Hijar, was dispatched for Upper California, with full authority to take possession of all the missions, including the stock, agricultural machinery, also directions to General Figueroa to surrender the administration of the Government to him on his arrival. Of all the schemes for the spoliation of the missions, this seems to have been the most reprehensible. The expenses of the expedition, which were advanced by the Mexican Government, were to have been repaid in tallow. In fact, the whole organization was for speculative purposes; a steal in which the Government was to share! Little wonder that the Californians had no respect for the parental Government. The party landed at San Diego, and disembarked a part of the colony; the rest proceeded to Monterey, where a storm threw them on the coast. When Hijar presented his water-soaked credentials for the surrender of the keys of power to him, he was met by a later paper. SANTA ANA'S REVOLUTION. President Farias, the patron of Hijar, had been dethroned, and Santa Ana had vaulted into power. General Figueroa was ordered to continue as Governor, and the disappointed Hijar and his companions went to swell the ranks of the rabble, hungry for the mission spoils. It is said that they were, of all who had ever come to California, the most unfitted for usefulness. Goldsmiths, where jewelry was unknown; carpenters, where the houses were made of adobe; blacksmiths, where rawhide was used instead of iron; painters, musicians, and artists, shoemakers and tailors, but never a farmer, composed the crowd. They were loud in their complaints, and finally became so importunate that the most disaffected were sent back to Mexico. LAND GRANTS. During these years of trouble, large quantities of the land had been alienated from the church or missions. The condition, in the application for a grant, was that the "land was not needed for the cattle and herds of the missions. The fathers were not in a condition, with so many malcontents around them, to refuse their assent to this condition, and so the lands were allotted to the influential families in vast quantities. Having lands, it was no great affair to stock them from the herds which fed thereon, and thus a new set of proprietors came into power. SECULARIZATION COMPLETED. Hemmed in on all sides, abandoned by the Mexican Government, and plundered by the Californians, the fathers saw that ruin was inevitable, and commenced to realize on their property. Cattle were slaughtered by the thousand," the flesh being thrown away. Hitherto cattle and sheep were only killed as the meat was wanted, but anything now to save something from the wreck. One-half the hides were given for killing and skinning, and the plains were strewn with the rotting carcasses. In the meantime the machinery for disposing of the mission property had been set in motion by the Government. Administrators of the mission property were appointed. There was but little to administer upon, and when they left there was nothing! The destruction of the missions was complete. Happily, land cannot well be destroyed; cattle soon multiplied, and in a few years the ranches were as well stocked as ever. The Indians who had homes at the missions, who had learned to consider the property as theirs, were relegated to barbarism, and kept up a predatory warfare on the herds until the coming of the Americans. The well-stocked ranches of the coast were a prey to all. Bands from the Mojave, the San Joaquin plains, and even from more distant quarters, would raid the cattle ranches, driving off for food, by preference, the horses. Oregon Indians also joined in the plunder, and, in one instance at least, a band came from the Rocky Mountains. "Peg-leg" Smith, a noted mountaineer and scout, led a band of Indians, about 1840, from Bear River into California, and drove off 1,700 head of horses. Many well-informed Mexicans are of the opinion that but for the conquest by the Americans, the destruction of the cattle ranches by the Indians was inevitable, and only a matter of time. The reader will recollect that Sonora, in Mexico, was nearly depopulated by the ravages of the Apaches. DEATH OF GOVERNOR FIGUEROA. He was probably the most able and honorable man ever at the head of California affairs. The tide of destruction swept over the country in spite of all his efforts to establish order. Disgusted with the rapacity of the people, and perplexed beyond measure with the general dishonesty of the officials, he sickened and died September 29, 1835, aged forty-three. The "Most Excellent Deputation," in session at Monterey, with that universal ability to recognize the merit of a countryman after he is dead, hastened to pass resolutions of appreciation and respect, extolling him as the "Father of his country." His remains were carried in an American vessel to Santa Barbara and deposited in a vault of the mission with military honors. THE MISSIONS OF ALTA CALIFORNIA. The following list presents the name, date of founding, and locality of each and all of the missions of Alta California:— San Diego de Meala, July 16, 1769, San Diego River, five miles from bay, San Diego County. San Carlos de Monterey (Carmel Mission), June 3, 1770, Monterey, and subsequently removed to the Carmel River, Monterey County. San Antonio de Padua, July 14, 1771, sixty miles southeast of Monterey, and thirty-six northwest from San Miguel, Monterey County. San Gabriel de los Temblores, September 8, 1771, on San Gabriel River, eleven miles southeasterly from Los Angeles, but removed to present site, nine miles east of the city, Los Angeles County. SAN LUIS OBISPO DE TOLOSO, September 1, 1772, on northwest bank of San Luis Creek, in present city of San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo County. Nuestra Senora de los Dolores (San Francisco), October 9, 1776, on San Francisco Bay, now in the city of San Francisco. San Juan Capistrano, November 1, 1776, about midway between Los Angeles and San Diego, Los Angeles County. Santa Clara, January 18, 1777, town of Santa Clara, Santa Clara County. San Buenaventura, March 31, 1782, town of San Buenaventura, Ventura County. Santa Barbara, December 4, 1786, town of Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara County. La Purissima Concepcion, December 8, 1787, Mission Viejo (or old mission) on south side of Santa Ynez River; Mission Nueva on north side, three miles from first, near Lompoc, Santa Barbara County. Santa Cruz, August 28, 1791, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz County. La Soledad, October 9, 1791 on Salinas River, Monterey County. San Jose, June 11, 1797, fourteen miles northeast of San Jose and twenty-nine southeast of Oakland, Alameda County. San Juan Bautista, June 24, 1797, on the Pajaro River, San Benito County. SAN MIGUEL ARCHANGEL, July 25, 1797, on Salinas River, thirty-four miles north of San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo County. San Fernando del Rey, September 8, 1797, valley of San Fernando, twenty miles northwest of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County. San Luis Rey de Francia, June 13, 1798, forty-five miles northwest of San Diego, San Diego County. Santa Ynez, September 17, 1804, Santa Ynez River, Santa Barbara County. San Rafael, December 14, 1819, San Rafael, Marin County. San Francisco de Solano, August 25, 1823, Sonoma, Sonoma County. WEALTH AND POPULATION. In 1802, when Baron Humboldt visited California, he estimated the population as follows: Converted Indians, 15,562; whites and mulattoes, 1,300; total, 16,862. The wild Indians were numerous, but being regarded as bestias (beasts), they were thought unworthy of notice, and not counted. At San Luis Obispo were 374 males and 325 females; total, 699. At San Miguel were 309 males and 305 females; total, 614. Mr. Alexander Forbes, in his work on California, gives the population, amount of grain produced, and number of live stock owned by the missions in 1835 as follows:— San Luis Obispo—211 men, 103 women, 7 girls, 8 boys; total population, 329. San Miguel—349 men, 292 women, 61 girls, 46 boys; total population, 748. San Luis Obispo—(grain) wheat, 875 bushels; corn, 150 bushels; beans, 50 bushels; barley, 50 bushels. San Miguel—wheat, 1,498 bushels; corn, 90 bushels; beans, 23 bushels; barley, 142 bushels. San Luis Obispo—stock, 2,000; horses, 800; mules, 200; asses, 50; sheep, 1,200; swine, 24. San Miguel— stock, 3,762; horses, 950; mules, 106; asses, 28; sheep, 8,999; swine, 60. In 1835 the total population of California was 23,025; of this number only 4,342 were of the free race, the balance, 18,683, Indians subject to the missions. VARYING STATEMENTS. Mr. Forbes says the count from which his figures were obtained was made in 1831, but he thought it would hold good for 1835, the date of writing his book. There is a wide difference between his figures and those commonly reported. This difference is unsatisfactorily accounted for by saying that the fathers, to avoid permitting their wealth to be known to the secular authorities, would have their stock driven away from the missions and to secluded places when the officers came to make the periodical counts and estimates of their property. Another statement was published by Rev. Walter Colton, in his book entitled "Three Years in California," published in 1850. This gentleman was Chaplain in the United States Navy, and was appointed Alcalde of Monterey by Com. Robert F. Stockton, in 1846. He says:— The mission of San Luis Obispo, when under the charge of Father Luis Martinez, had 87,000 cattle, 2,000 tame horses, 3,500 mares, 3,700 mules, and 72,000 sheep. This careful business manager took $100,000 with him when he left for Spain, in 1828. The San Miguel Mission in 1821 had 91,000 cattle, 1,100 tame horses, 3,000 mares, 2,000 mules, 170 yoke of oxen, and 47,000 sheep. All the other missions were equally rich in live stock; while the specie in the coffers of the fathers, and value of the gold and silver ornaments of the churches, exceeded half a million dollars. The total number of horned cattle aggregated upwards of 700,000 head. The many years of occupancy and control by the priests, the unlimited extent of their grazing grounds and the supplies furnished them from the "Pious Fund" in Mexico, would justify the expectation of great wealth and the area covered by the remains of their buildings particularly at San Miguel, indicate the presence of a large population. Additional Comments: Extracted from: HISTORY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY CALIFORNIA WITH Illustrations and Biographical Sketches OF ITS PROMINENT MEN AND PIONEERS. OAKLAND, CAL. THOMPSON & WEST 1883. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/sanluisobispo/history/1883/historyo/chapterv422nms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cafiles/ File size: 39.9 Kb