As I have elsewhere shown, it was the plan of the Spanish Crown not only to christianize and civilize the Indians of California, but also to colonize the country. In accordance with this plan the pueblo of San Jose was founded on the 29th of November, 1776. The second was that of Los Angeles in […]

It must not be forgotten that one of the early methods of reaching California was inland. Travelers came from Mexico, by way of Sonora, then crossed the Colorado River and reached San Gabriel and Monterey in the north, over practically the same route as that followed today by the Southern Pacific Railway, viz., crossing the […]

IT is generally believed that the California Indian in his original condition was one of the most miserable and wretched of the world’s aborigines. As one writer puts it : ” When discovered by the padres he was almost naked, half starved, living in filthy little hovels built of tule, speaking a meagre language broken […]

In 1816—-19 the padres at San Diego urged the Governor to give them permission to erect a chapel at Santa Isabel, some forty miles away, where two hundred baptized Indians were living. The Governor did not approve, however, and nothing was done until after 1820. By 1822 the chapel was reported built, with several houses, […]

THE disastrous effect of the order of secularization upon the Indians, as well as the Missions themselves, has been referred to in a special chapter. Here I wish to give, in brief, a clearer idea of the present condition of the Indians than was there possible. In the years 1833–1837 secularization actually was accomplished. The […]

LASUEN’S third Mission, of 1797, was San Miguel, located near a large rancheria named Sagshpileel, and on the site called Vahia. One reason for the selection of the location is given in the fact that there was plenty of water at Santa Isabel and San Marcos for the irrigation of three hundred fanegas of seed. […]

THE last Mission of the century, the last of Lasuen’s administration, and the last south of Santa Barbara, was that of San Luis Rey. Lasuen himself explored the region and determined the site. The Governor agreed to it, and on the 27th of February, 1798, ordered a guard to be furnished from San Diego who […]

ON September 8, 1797, the seventeenth of the California Missions was founded by Padre Lasuen, in the Encino Valley where Francisco Reyes had a rancho in the Los Angeles jurisdiction. The natives called it Achois Comihavit. Reyes’ house was appropriated as a temporary dwelling for the missionary. The Mission was dedicated to Fernando III, King […]

“BEAUTIFUL for situation ” was the spot selected for the only Mission founded during the first decade of the nineteenth century, — Santa Ines. Governor Borica, who called California ” the most peaceful and quiet country on earth,” and under whose orders Padre Lasuen had established the five Missions of 1796-97, had himself made explorations […]

RIVERA delayed the founding of San Francisco and Santa Clara for reasons of his own ; and when, in September, 1776, he received a letter from Viceroy Bucareli, in which were references clearly showing that it was supposed by the writer that they were already established, he set to work without further delay, and went […]