Santa Cruz County CA Archives History - Books .....Chapter IV Annals Of The Pueblo And Mission From 1800 To 1822 1893 ************************************************ 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 September 19, 2006, 4:00 am Book Title: Memorial And Biographical History Of The Coast Counties Of Central California. CHAPTER IV. ANNALS OF THE PUEBLO AND MISSION FROM 1800 TO 1822. INDUSTRY and the tools of industry, at the beginning of the new century, at the pueblos as well as at missions and presidios, were exceedingly rude, and there were but few mechanics in the province to use them. There were a number of tanneries and jabonerias or soap-making establishments scattered throughout the country, and a two story granary and a house for looms had been built in Santa Cruz in 1793. Artisans in March, 1796, from another district, with the help of the natives built a flour mill, utilizing water power at Santa Cruz, and also a few looms at San Luis Obispo. Four mill stones were ordered made at Santa Cruz for San Carlos mission. Metates or hand-mills for grinding grain were in common use at that time in nearly every home. Buildings were mostly of adobe, the roofs being covered either with tile or, where timber was scarce, with earth overlaid with a coating of brea or asphaltum. The useful grains and domestic animals were brought to Alta California by the first settlers and as the result showed contributed in a wonderful degree to the prosperity of the country. What has been known for many years in California as the "mission grape," was brought from Spain to Mexico, and to lower California, and from the latter province here, probably very soon after the founding of the first missions. There is little reason to doubt that olives, pears, and possibly apricots and peaches, with an inferior variety of apples, had a very early introduction, but precisely when is a matter of uncertainty; while oranges were brought to the southern missions very much later. Before 1800 attention had been directed to the raising of hemp, which met with some success at the pueblo of San Jose; coarse hemp cloth being used to some extent by the neophytes at San Carlos. The increase in live-stock from the small number first brought from la Baja to Alta or northern California in 1769, had been regular and rapid, except during the year of drought in 1794-'95, when many animals died for want of grass. All the ranches had a large amount of stock at the end of the century, more particularly the ranch del Rey in the Salinas valley, with its branches at San Francisco and San Diego; the cattle and sheep being the main dependence of the presidios, while the horses were used principally in the cavalry service. The valleys and low hilly regions of California were the natural habitat of various nutritious grasses, and it is not strange that live-stock, especially neat cattle, in the early times when there were no fences and the whole country was an open common, should have multiplied very rapidly, despite all drawbacks, such as the increasing slaughter for food, by both man and wild beast, which latter for many years were extraordinarily plentiful. The principal grasses were wild oats, alfileria, "filaree" or pin-grass, and bur-clover. The wild-oat ranges were liable to be "eaten out" or fed so closely as to prevent seeding, especially on ranges where the stock increased rapidly. The same was liable to happen, and in later years did happen, with alfileria ranges; but to "eat out" the bur-clover was next to impossible, for no matter how closely fed or how dry the season might be, this very valuable natural grass would yield seed even if barely above ground; and its spiral, rolling seed would, with the aid of the wind, "sow itself," thus each year making sure of a crop the succeeding year. The increase of stock was so great in after years, or during the first half of the present century, that horses being considered less valuable than neat cattle, were either killed off or permitted to wander off, or, in a number of cases during a drought they were driven to the interior where they became wild. After the great influx of people, drawn hither by the gold mines in the early '50s, the "wild horses" of the "Tulares" were caught, as animals without owners, in large numbers and tamed and broken by the settlers of the coast counties. Prior to the founding of Branciforte, which was a source of considerable expense to the government, the annual appropriation from the royal treasury in Mexico, for the maintenance in California of the military and civil officers and employes of the crown, amounted to over $60,000 and subsequently to $80,000. The military force maintained in California during the decade 1791-1800, was 280 men of the presidial companies, besides governor and surgeon, and after 1796, ninety Catalan volunteers and artillerymen. Of these twelve were commissioned officers, thirty-five non-commissioned officers and about 240 privates. The salaries were: Governor, $4,000; Captain of Catalan volunteers, $840; Alferez (ensign), $400; and minor officers smaller amounts. The officers of both civil and military governor in California during the Spanish regime seemed to have been filled by the same person. The population of the Santa Cruz Mission, in 1796, was a little over 500. Father Francisco Gonzales was in charge of this mission from 1797 until 1805. The question was agitated in 1796-'97 of separating Upper and Lower California into two separate provinces in order to secure a more convenient and efficient government of each district, but as very little action was taken in that direction the final separation did not occur until 1804, when it was brought about in a very quiet manner and with no noticeable change in the northern portion. In 1801 $15,000 were furnished by the viceroy for the support of Branciforte and for the continuance of work at that pueblo, which at a later period, however, was suspended. Goycoechea reported that Branciforte lacked all the advantages enjoyed by the other pueblos, inasmuch as the mission was in possession of all the available lands in the vicinity. Besides the character of the settlers was not such as to justify the expectation of success in building up a self-sustaining and self-govering [sic] town. Comandante de la Guerra rather uncharitably wrote the governor that they were not so bad as other convicts sent to California, but that their absence for a couple of centuries, at a distance of a million leagues, would prove beneficial to the province and redound to the service of God and the king! But it should be said in extenuation of these settlers, that without lands, or with only a small quantity obtainable, not much ought to have been expected of them in the way of town building. The fact was the mission entirely overshadowed the pueblo. In 1806 the latter had only seven small mud and timber houses, thatched with tule, and the number of inhabitants, including several invalids and their families from Monterey and elsewhere, were only forty-six. The other pueblos, San Jose and Los Angeles on the contrary, were situated in the midst of fertile valleys at some distance from a mission with large amounts of land available, which served to draw to them a better class of settlers than those of Branciforte. Under all the circumstances it is therefore, not surprising that Branciforte gradually fell into decadence. Vicente Mojica was alcalde in 1802 and Felipe Hermandez in 1805; of other years, there is no record. In 1807 the missionaries, Caranza and Quintana insisted that the lands of the town from which fields might be assigned to vecinos or neighboring residents and invalids extended only to the Rancho de Bravo or the Soquel and to Aptos or Corralitos, and that all other lands belonged to the mission. The population of California in 1810 was estimated at about 21,000, of whom about one-tenth were gente de rason, or people of reason, there being very little increase during the following twenty years. Live-stock was estimated at that time at 140,000 head of ganado mayor (large animals), and 157,000 head of small animals, mostly sheep. About 84,000 bushels of grain were the average annual yield of all the missions at that period. The missions, considered as estates of the king, were capable, in case of a conquest of this country by another power, of furnishing abundant supplies of all kinds. The governor and others strongly protested against the sending of convicts to California. It is recorded that of the sixteen convicts, in 1803, under the control of the authorities of the Monterey jurisdiction, eight were at Branciforte, five at San Jose, two at the presidio, and one at the ranch Buena Vista. An order was issued to the effect that in granting pueblo lots, settlers should be entitled to receive them first, if there were not enough for all, as invalids could depend on their pensions. Langsdoff, in his "Voyages," mentions that in 1806, the cattle had become so numerous in the valleys around San Francisco bay and at Santa Cruz, that the governor had been compelled to send out soldiers to slaughter 20,000 head. In 1812, Father Quintana was murdered by his neophytes at Santa Cruz, and Governor Arrillaga died two years later. Captain Jose Arguello became acting governor, until the appointment of his successor, Pablo Vicente de Sola, who assumed the duties of the office the next year. In 1818, "el ano de los Insurgentes" all the inhabitants of the province, were greatly excited because of news received, that two privateers were fitting out at the Sandwich Islands for an attack on California. Governor Sola issued orders to all the comandantes, to be on the alert, and there was everywhere the greatest activity displayed in preparation for the coming of the piratical vessels, and provision was made for concentrating, with the utmost promptness, as large a force as possible, at whatever point the enemy might attempt to land. It seems that Bouchard, who was in command of the piratical crafts, sailed under some sort of letters of marque, and under the flag of the insurgents of Buenos Ayres, who with the people of other Spanish American countries had raised the standard of revolution against the mother country, Spain. Of course, the church took sides, as a rule, against the revolutionists, although in Mexico, Hidalgo, a priest, led the revolt of that country against Spain to a successful issue. Bancroft gives a minute account of the excitement at Santa Cruz, caused by the expected incursion of Bouchard's forces and robbery of that mission. Padre Ramon Olbes believed, or affected to believe, that the Branciforte settlers would join the insurgents in robbing the mission, and he subsequently charged that on the approach of the vessels, they had sacked the mission, intending to lay the blame on the insurgents, who, however, by not landing, left them in the lurch. Governor Sola ordered an investigation, Olbes in the meantime having abandoned the mission and gone with his neophytes to Santa Clara Joaquin Buelna, comisionado, was instructed by the governor to go to the mission and carry away everything movable. Before the completion of his task, however, Bouchard appeared, but was unable to land on account of the rough surf. Joaquin Castro, the mayordomo of the mission, with some of the neophytes, returned and found Buelna hard at work moving the mission goods. When he found that this was being done by order of the governor, he joined his force to that of the coinisionado. A portion of the goods were inventoried by Buelna, and taken to the pueblo; some were buried and some were taken by Castro to Santa Clara. The friars, after getting over their fright, which was mostly without cause, finally admitted that the danger had been exaggerated. Olbes went back to his mission, and matters went on as before. Although the two pirate or insurgent vessels, anchored in the bay of Monterey and engaged in a fight with the fort, of which an account is given elsewhere in this volume, there is no evidence that any of Bouchard's men landed at Santa Cruz. This advent of the "insurgentes" or pirates on this coast in 1818, created a great sensation throughout California. Governor Pio Pico, who is still, 1892, living at Los Angeles, at the age of ninety-one years, having been born May 5, 1801, has recounted to the writer how his father Sergeant Jose M. Pico of the artillery company at San Diego was sent in 1818 to San Gabriel to put down a rising of the neophytes, and that during the same year he was recalled to San Diego to assist in the defense of that port against some pirates, which, however, sailed by in sight without entering the harbor, although the inhabitants and military authorities had made ample preparations to receive them. The fathers in charge of the missions at Santa Cruz, from 1811 to 1820 were: Quintana, Rodriquez, Tapis, Marquinez Escudi, Olbes and Gil. In 1817, the control of the rancho Bolsa de Salispuedez, was temporarily transferred by the pueblo to the missions. In 1816, Governor Sola gave the comisionado of Branciforte, minute instructions as to the government of the town, requiring watchfulness against gambling and other vices, and insisting that religious duties be enforced; prohibiting all intercourse between citizens and Indians; enjoining industrious habits on the settlers, and finally, that full reports must be made "de los torrenos y de las cosechas" (i. e., of the lands and of the crops ). The total population of Spanish or mixed blood, known as gente de razon in 1820, was estimated at something over 3,000 souls; and of foreigners not of Spanish or Indian parentage, twelve; of these Thomas Doak and Daniel Call, who came in 1816, and Joseph Chapman in 1818, were Americans; John Gilroy in 1814, and John Rose in 1818, were Scotchmen; Thomas Lester in 1817, and I. Thomas in 1818, were Englishmen; John Mulligan in 1814 or 1815, was an Irishman; Jose Bolcof in 1815, was a Russian; Juan Cristobal in 1816, M. J. Pascual and Fisher or Norris in 1818, were negroes. There were at this time (1820), twenty missions and thirty-seven missionaries. Of these Father Senan was the only one left who came before 1790. The total neophyte population in 1820 was estimated to have been a little over 20,000 souls. The mission register up to this date showed that there had been altogether of gente de razon, 250 marriages, 1,375 births, and 535 deaths. The estimate of mission cattle was 140,000 head; horses, 18,000; mules, 1,900; and sheep, 190,000 head. The amount of grain raised during the preceding ten years averaged nearly 114,000 bushels per year, or between 5,000 and 6,000 bushels for each mission. The president of the missions in 1820 was Father Senan, Payeras having been elected prefect. The missions mainly supported the provincial government, including the presidios during this period, as no aid came from Mexico. The settlers at the pueblos were not inclined to labor with their own hands, but were accustomed to get the Indians to till lands for one-third or one-half the crops, living themselves on the balance. Although timber was abundant in the Santa Cruz mountains, there were no sawmills and all the lumber had to be hewn or sawed by hand. Mention is made in the local records that in 1816, Sergeant Pico was directed to build a bridge across the Pajaro river. The weather reports show that the season of 1816-'17, was a very wet one, and that of 1820-'21 was a dry one. The fathers complained that soldiers, as well as Indians, often killed the tame cattle while slaughtering the wild ones. Additional Comments: Extracted from: Memorial and Biographical History of the Coast Counties of Central California. Illustrated. Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast from the Earliest Period of its Discovery to the Present Time, together with Glimpses of its Auspicious Future; Illustrations and Full-Page Portraits of some of its Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers, and Prominent Citizens of To-day. HENRY D. BARROWS, Editor of the Historical Department. LUTHER A. INGERSOLL, Editor of the Biographical Department. "A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants."-Macaulay. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/santacruz/history/1893/memorial/chapteri454nms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cafiles/ File size: 16.8 Kb