The Old Franciscan Missions Of California Part 13

One of the pitiful cases that occurred during the decline of the Missions was the death of Padre Sarria, which took place at Soledad in 1835, or, as some authorities state, in 1838. This venerable priest had been very prominent in missionary labors, having occupied the position of _Comisario Prefecto_ during many years. He was also the presidente for several years. As a loyal Spaniard he declined to take the oath of allegiance to the Mexican Republic, and was nominally under arrest for about five years, or subject to exile; but so greatly was he revered and trusted as a man of integrity and as a business manager of great ability that the order of exile was never enforced. The last years of his life were spent at the Mission of Our Lady of Solitude. When devastation began and the temporal prosperity of the Mission quickly declined, this faithful pastor of a fast thinning flock refused to leave the few poverty-stricken Indians who still sought to prolong life in their old home. One Sunday morning, while saying ma.s.s in the little church, the enfeebled and aged padre fell before the altar and immediately expired.

As it had been reported that he was "leading a hermit's life and dest.i.tute of means," it was commonly believed that this worthy and devoted missionary was exhausted from lack of proper food, and in reality died of starvation.

There were still a few Indians at Soledad in 1850, their scattered huts being all that remained of the once large rancherias that existed here.

The ruins of Soledad are about four miles from the station of the Southern Pacific of that name. The church itself is at the southwest corner of a ma.s.s of ruins. These are all of adobe, though the foundations are of rough rock. Flint pebbles have been mixed with the adobe of the church walls. They were originally about three feet thick, and plastered. A little of the plaster still remains.

In 1904 there was but one circular arch remaining in all the ruins; everything else had fallen in. The roof fell in thirty years ago. At the eastern end, where the arch is, there are three or four rotten beams still in place; and on the south side of the ruins, where one line of corridors ran, a few poles still remain. Heaps of ruined tiles lie here and there, just as they fell when the supporting poles rotted and gave way.

It is claimed by the Soberanes family in Soledad that the present ruins of the church are of the building erected about 1850 by their grandfather. The family lived in a house just southwest of the Mission, and there this grandfather was born. He was baptized, confirmed, and married in the old church, and when, after secularization, the Mission property was offered for sale, he purchased it. As the church--in the years of pitiful struggle for possession, of its temporalities--had been allowed to go to ruin, this true son of the Church erected the building, the ruins of which now bring sadness to the hearts of all who care for the Missions.

CHAPTER XXIII

SAN JOSe DE GUADALUPE

There was a period of rest after the founding of Santa Cruz and La Soledad. Padre Presidente Lasuen was making ready for a new and great effort. Hitherto the Mission establishments had been isolated units of civilization, each one alone in its work save for the occasional visits of governor, inspector, or presidente. Now they were to be linked together, by the founding of intermediate Missions, into one great chain, near enough for mutual help and encouragement, the boundary of one practically the boundary of the next one, both north and south. The two new foundations of Santa Cruz and Soledad were a step in this direction, but now the plan was to be completed. With the viceroy's approval, Governor Borica authorized Lasuen to have the regions between the old Missions carefully explored for new sites. Accordingly the padres and their guards were sent out, and simultaneously such a work of investigation began as was never before known. Reports were sent in, and finally, after a careful study of the whole situation, it was concluded that five new Missions could be established and a great annual saving thereby made in future yearly expenses. Governor Borica's idea was that the new Missions would convert all the gentile Indians west of the Coast Range. This done, the guards could be reduced at an annual saving of $15,000. This showing pleased the viceroy, and he agreed to provide the $1000 needed for each new establishment on the condition that no added military force be called for. The guardian of San Fernando College was so notified August 19, 1796; and on September 29 he in turn announced to the viceroy that the required ten missionaries were ready, but begged that no reduction be made in the guards at the Missions already established. Lasuen felt that it would create large demands upon the old Missions to found so many new ones all at once, as they must help with cattle, horses, sheep, neophyte laborers, etc.; yet, to obtain the Missions, he was willing to do his very best, and felt sure his brave a.s.sociates would further his efforts in every possible way. Thus it was that San Jose was founded, as before related, on June 11, 1797. The same day all returned to Santa Clara, and five days elapsed ere the guards and laborers were sent to begin work. Timbers were cut and water brought to the location, and soon the temporary buildings were ready for occupancy. By the end of the year there were 33 converts, and in 1800, 286. A wooden structure with a gra.s.s roof served as a church.

In 1809, April 23, the new church was completed, and Presidente Tapis came and blessed it. The following day he preached, and Padre Arroyo de la Cuesta said ma.s.s before a large congregation, including other priests, several of the military, and people from the pueblo and Santa Clara, and various neophytes. The following July the cemetery was blessed with the usual solemnities.

In 1811 Padre Fortuni accompanied Padre Abella on a journey of exploration to the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. They were gone fifteen days, found the Indians very timid, and thought the sh.o.r.es of the Sacramento offered a favorable site for a new Mission.

In 1817 Sergeant Soto, with one hundred San Jose neophytes, met twelve soldiers from San Francisco, and proceeded, by boat, to pursue some fugitives. They went up a river, possibly the San Joaquin, to a marshy island where, according to Soto's report, a thousand hostiles were a.s.sembled, who immediately fell upon their pursuers and fought them for three hours. So desperately did they fight, relying upon their superior numbers, that Soto was doubtful as to the result; but eventually they broke and fled, swimming to places of safety, leaving many dead and wounded but no captives. Only one neophyte warrior was killed.

In 1820 San Jose reported a population of 1754, with 6859 large stock, 859 horses, etc., and 12,000 sheep.

For twenty-seven years Padre Duran, who from 1825 to 1827 was also the padre presidente, served Mission San Jose. In 1824 it reached its maximum of population in 1806 souls. In everything it was prosperous, standing fourth on the list both as to crops and herds.

Owing to its situation, being the first Mission reached by trappers, etc., from the east, and also being the nearest to the valleys of the Sacramento and San Joaquin, which afforded good retreats for fugitives, San Jose had an exciting history. In 1826 there was an expedition against the Cosumnes, in which forty Indians were killed, a rancheria destroyed, and forty captives taken. In 1829 the famous campaign against Estanislas, who has given his name to both a river and county, took place. This Indian was a neophyte of San Jose, and being of more than usual ability and smartness, was made alcalde. In 1827 or early in 1828 he ran away, and with a companion, Cipriano, and a large following, soon made himself the terror of the rancheros of the neighborhood. One expedition sent against him resulted disastrously, owing to insufficient equipment, so a determined effort under M.G. Vallejo, who was now the commander-in-chief of the whole California army, was made. May 29 he and his forces crossed the San Joaquin River on rafts, and arrived the next day at the scene of the former battle. With taunts, yells of defiance, and a shower of arrows, Estanislas met the coming army, he and his forces hidden in the fancied security of an impenetrable forest.

Vallejo at once set men to work in different directions to fire the wood, which brought some of the Indians to the edge, where they were slain. As evening came on, twenty-five men and an officer entered the wood and fought until dusk, retiring with three men wounded. Next morning Vallejo, with thirty-seven soldiers, entered the wood, where he found pits, ditches, and barricades arranged with considerable skill.

Nothing but fire could have dislodged the enemy. They had fled under cover of night. Vallejo set off in pursuit, and when, two days later, he surrounded them, they declared they would die rather than surrender. A road was cut through chaparral with axes, along which the field-piece and muskets were pressed forward and discharged. The Indians retreated slowly, wounding eight soldiers. When the cannon was close to the enemies' intrenchments the ammunition gave out, and this fact and the heat of the burning thicket compelled retreat. During the night the Indians endeavored to escape, one by one, but most of them were killed by the watchful guards. The next day nothing but the dead and three living women were found. There were some accusations, later, that Vallejo summarily executed some captives; but he denied it, and claimed that the only justification for any such charge arose from the fact that one man and one woman had been killed, the latter wrongfully by a soldier, whom he advised be punished.

Up to the time of secularization, the Mission continued to be one of the most prosperous. Jesus Vallejo was the administrator for secularization, and in 1837 he and Padre Gonzalez Rubio made an inventory which gave a total of over $155,000, when all debts were paid.

Even now for awhile it seemed to prosper, and not until 1840 did the decline set in.

In accordance with Micheltorena's decree of March 29, 1843, San Jose was restored to the temporal control of the padres, who entered with good-will and zest into the labor of saving what they could out of the wreck. Under Pico's decree of 1845 the Mission was inventoried, but the doc.u.ment cannot now be found, nor a copy of it. The population was reported as 400 in 1842, and it is supposed that possibly 250 still lived at the Mission in 1845. On May 5, 1846, Pico sold all the property to Andres Pico and J.B. Alvarado for $12,000, but the sale never went into effect.

Mission San Jose de Guadalupe and the pueblo of the same name are not, as so many people, even residents of California, think, one and the same. The pueblo of San Jose is now the modern city of that name, the home of the State Normal School, and the starting-point for Mount Hamilton. But Mission San Jose is a small settlement, nearly twenty miles east and north, in the foothills overlooking the southeast end of San Francis...o...b..y. The Mission church has entirely disappeared, an earthquake in 1868 having completed the ruin begun by the spoliation at the time of secularization. A modern parish church has since been built upon the site. Nothing of the original Mission now remains except a portion of the monastery. The corridor is without arches, and is plain and unpretentious, the roof being composed of willows tied to the roughly hewn log rafters with rawhide. Behind this is a beautiful old alameda of olives, at the upper end of which a modern orphanage, conducted by the Dominican Sisters, has been erected. This avenue of olives is crossed by another one at right angles, and both were planted by the padres in the early days, as is evidenced by the age of the trees. Doubtless many a procession of Indian neophytes has walked up and down here, even as I saw a procession of the orphans and their white-garbed guardians a short time ago. The surrounding garden is kept up in as good style under the care of the sisters as it was in early days by the padres.

The orphanage was erected in 1884 by Archbishop Alemany as a seminary for young men who wished to study for the priesthood, but it was never very successful in this work. For awhile it remained empty, then was offered to the Dominican Sisters as a boarding-school. But as this undertaking did not pay, in 1891 Archbishop Riordan offered such terms as led the Mother General of the Dominican Sisters to purchase it as an orphanage, and as such it is now most successfully conducted. There are at the present time about eighty children cared for by these sweet and gentle sisters of our Lord.

Two of the old Mission bells are hung in the new church. On one of these is the inscription: "S.S. Jose. Ano de 1826." And on the upper bell, "S.S. Joseph 1815, Ave Maria Purisima."

The old Mission baptismal font is also still in use. It is of hammered copper, about three feet in diameter, surmounted by an iron cross about eight inches high. The font stands upon a wooden base, painted, and is about four feet high.

CHAPTER XXIV

SAN JUAN BAUTISTA

The second of the "filling up the links of the chain" Missions was that of San Juan Bautista. Three days after the commandant of San Francisco had received his orders to furnish a guard for the founders of Mission San Jose, the commandant of Monterey received a like order for a guard for the founders of San Juan Bautista. This consisted of five men and Corporal Ballesteros. By June 17 this industrious officer had erected a church, missionary-house, granary, and guard-house, and a week later Lasuen, with the aid of two priests, duly founded the new Mission. The site was a good one, and by 1800 crops to the extent of 2700 bushels were raised. At the same time 516 neophytes were reported--not bad for two and a half years' work.

In 1798 the gentiles from the mountains twenty-five miles east of San Juan, the Ansayames, surrounded the Mission by night, but were prevailed upon to retire. Later some of the neophytes ran away and joined these hostiles, and then a force was sent to capture the runaways and administer punishment. In the ensuing fight a chief was killed and another wounded, and two gentiles brought in to be forcibly educated.

Other rancherias were visited, fifty fugitives arrested, and a few floggings and many warnings given.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RUINED WALLS AND NEW BELL TOWER, MISSION SAN JUAN BAUTISTA]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FACHADA OF MISSION SAN JUAN BAUTISTA]

[Ill.u.s.tration: MISSION SAN JUAN BAUTISTA, FROM THE PLAZA]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ARCHED CORRIDOR, MISSION SAN JUAN BAUTISTA]

This did not prevent the Ansayames, however, from killing two Mutsunes at San Benito Creek, burning a house and some wheat-fields, and seriously threatening the Mission. Moraga was sent against them and captured eighteen hostiles and the chiefs of the hostile rancherias.

Almost as bad as warlike Indians were the earthquakes of that year, several in number, which cracked all the adobe walls of the buildings and compelled everybody--friars and Indians--to sleep out of doors for safety.

In 1803 the governor ordered the padres of San Juan to remove their stock from La Brea rancho, which had been granted to Mariano Castro.

They refused on the grounds that the rancho properly belonged to the Mission and should not have been granted to Castro, and on appeal the viceroy confirmed their contention.

In June of this year the corner-stone of a new church was laid. Padre Viader conducted the ceremonies, aided by the resident priests. Don Jose de la Guerra was the sponsor, and Captain Font and Surgeon Morelos a.s.sisted.

In June, 1809, the image of San Juan was placed on the high altar in the sacristy, which served for purposes of wors.h.i.+p until the completion of the church.

By the end of the decade the population had grown to 702, though the number of deaths was large, and it continued slowly to increase until in 1823 it reached its greatest population with 1248 souls.

The new church was completed and dedicated on June 23, 1812. In 1818 a new altar was completed, and a painter named Chavez demanded six reals a day for decorating. As the Mission could not afford this, a Yankee, known as Felipe Santiago--properly Thomas Doak--undertook the work, aided by the neophytes. In 1815 one of the ministers was Esteban Tapis, who afterwards became the presidente.

In 1836 San Juan was the scene of the preparations for hostility begun by Jose Castro and Alvarado against Governor Gutierrez. Meetings were held at which excited speeches were made advocating revolutionary methods, and the fife and drum were soon heard by the peaceful inhabitants of the old Mission. Many of the whites joined in with Alvarado and Castro, and the affair ultimated in the forced exile of the governor; Castro took his place until Alvarado was elected by the _diputacion_.

The regular statistics of San Juan cease in 1832, when there were 916 Indians registered. In 1835, according to the decree of secularization, 63 Indians were "emanc.i.p.ated." Possibly these were the heads of families. Among these were to be distributed land valued at $5120, live-stock, including 41 horses, $1782, implements, effects, etc., $1467.

The summary of statistics from the founding of the Mission in 1797 to 1834 shows 4100 baptisms, 1028 marriages, 3027 deaths. The largest number of cattle owned was 11,000 in 1820, 1598 horses in 1806, 13,000 sheep in 1816.

In 1845, when Pico's decree was issued, San Juan was considered a pueblo, and orders given for the sale of all property except a curate's house, the church, and a court-house. The inventory gave a value of $8000. The population was now about 150, half of whom were whites and the other half Indians.

It will be remembered that it was at San Juan that Castro organized his forces to repel what he considered the invasion of Fremont in 1846. From Gavilan heights, near by, the explorer looked down and saw the warlike preparations directed against him, and from there wrote his declaration: "I am making myself as strong as possible, in the intention that if we are unjustly attacked we will fight to extremity and refuse quarter, trusting to our country to avenge our death."

In 1846 Pico sold all that remained of San Juan Bautista--the orchard--to O. Deleisseques for a debt, and though he did not obtain possession at the time, the United States courts finally confirmed his claim. This was the last act in the history of the once prosperous Mission.

The entrance at San Juan Bautista seems more like that of a prison than a church. The Rev Valentin Closa, of the Company of Jesus, who for many years has had charge here, found that some visitors were so irresponsible that thefts were of almost daily occurrence. So he had a wooden barrier placed across the church from wall to wall, and floor to ceiling, through which a gate affords entrance, and this gate is kept padlocked with as constant watchfulness as is that of a prison. Pa.s.sing this barrier, the two objects that immediately catch one's eye are the semicircular arch dividing the church from the altar and the old wooden pulpit on the left.

Of the modern bell-tower it can only be said that it is a pity necessity seemed to compel the erection of such an abortion. The old padres seldom, if ever, failed in their architectural taste. However one may criticise their lesser work, such as the decorations, he is compelled to admire their _large_ work; they were right, powerful, and dignified in their straightforward simplicity. And it is pathetic that in later days, when workmen and money were scarce, the modern priests did not see some way of overcoming obstacles that would have been more harmonious with the old plans than is evidenced by this tower and many other similar incongruities, such as the steel bell-tower at San Miguel.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DOORWAY, MISSION SAN JUAN BAUTISTA.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: STAIRWAY LEADING TO PULPIT, MISSION SAN JUAN BAUTISTA.]