The Beginnings of San Francisco - Notes 1-15



NOTE 1. SAN CARLOS BORROMEO
 
Some years ago, on proper representation being made to the government, the 
war department issued the following: 

"GENERAL ORDER No. 142. 
"War Department, Washington, August 29, 1904. 
"The following order is published to the Army for the information and 
guidance of all concerned. 
"War Department, Washington, August 25, 1904: 
"By the direction of the President, the cantonment on the military 
reservation at Monterey, Cal. named Ord Barracks by War Department order 
of July 10, 1903, will hereafter be known as the Presidio of Monterey, in 
perpetuation of the name of the first Spanish military station in 
California. 
WILLIAM H. TAFT, 
Secretary of War." 

The presidio and mission of San Carlos Borromeo were formally established 
by Portola June 3, 1770, the religious ceremony being conducted by 
Junipero Serra, president of the California missions. In 1771 or 1772 the 
mission was moved from its original site near the presidio to the Rio del 
Carmelo, about one league distant. In 1777 Monterey was made the capital 
of the Californias--Alta and Baja California being united under one 
governor--and with the exception of a few years when the seat of 
government was at Los Angeles it remained the capital of Alta California 
until the American occupation. 

Count Carlos Borromeo, for whom the presidio and mission were named, was 
an Italian nobleman, son of the Count of Arona and nephew of Pope Pius IV. 
He was born in Arona October 2, 1538. At the age of twenty two he was 
created cardinal and soon after made archbishop of Milan. He devoted much 
time to reforming abuses which had grown up in the church and to the 
establishment of seminaries, colleges, and communities for the education 
of candidates for holy orders. To the people he was ever the friend and 
counselor. His life was spent in their service; in succoring the sick; in 
relieving distress whenever and wherever he found it. His heart, his hand, 
and his purse were always open. In 1576 when Milan was visited by the 
plague, he went about giving directions for accommodating the sick and 
burying the dead, avoiding no danger and sparing no expense. He visited 
all the neighboring parishes where the contagion raged, distributing 
money, providing accommodations for the sick, and punishing those, 
especially the clergy, who were remiss in discharging their duties. Moving 
calmly amid the panic stricken people "he was brave where all others were 
cowards, full of compassion where pity had been crushed out of all other 
breasts by the instinct of self preservation gone mad with terror; 
cheering all, praying with all, helping all with hand, brain, and purse; 
at a time when parents forsook their children, the friend deserted the 
friend, and the brother turned away from the sister while her pleadings 
were still wailing in his ears." {Mark Twain: The Innocents Abroad. 
Autograph Ed. 231-2.} 

The reforms instituted by Borromeo were fiercely opposed by the civil 
authorities and by several religious orders. The governor and many of the 
senators addressed remonstrances to the courts of Rome and Madrid, and a 
conspiracy, which failed, was formed against his life. His manifold labors 
and austerities appear, however, to have shortened his life. He was seized 
with an intermittent fever, and died at Milan on the 4th of November 1584. 
He was canonized in 1610, and his day is November 4th. Contrary to his 
last wishes a memorial was erected to him in Milan cathedral, as well as a 
statue seventy feet high on the hill above Arona. 



NOTE 2. PUNTA DE LOS REYES
 
"The Kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents, the Kings of 
Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts" {Ps. lxxii, 10}. The Three Kings of 
Cologne: Kaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar--the three wise men of the East--
are honored at the feast of the Epiphany as the first of the pagans to 
whom the birth of the Messiah was announced. 

On the 16th of November 1542, Juan Rodrigues Cabrillo, a Portuguese "very 
conversant with matters of the sea," in command of the San Salvador (flag 
ship) and La Victoria, vessels sent by the viceroy, Don Antonio de 
Mendoza, to explore the northern coasts of New Spain, found himself upon a 
large gulf that looked like a harbor and after beating about this gulf all 
that day and night and the day following without finding any river or 
shelter, cast his anchor in forty fathoms in order to take possession of 
the land. They called the great gulf La Bahia de los Pinos, and Professor 
George Davidson has identified it as the Gulf of the Farallones. So far as 
I know, they gave no name to the cape that marks its northern point. The 
next visitor of whom we have record was Francis Drake who anchored in the 
little bay under Punta de los Reyes June 17, 1579. He gave the point no 
name although the bay bears his. Next came Sebastian Rodrigues Cermeno, 
whose ship, the San Agustin, was lost here in 1595. It remained for 
Sebastian Vizcaino, to whom we are indebted for so many beautiful names, 
to honor the Three Kings of Cologne by naming for them the Punta de los 
Reyes. 

"The Capitana (Flag-ship, San Diego) and Fragata (Tres Reyes) had no 
sooner left the harbor of Monterey (January 3, 1603) to seek for the Cabo 
de Mendocino, than they had a formidable wind which lasted to the sixth of 
January, the day of Los Santos Reyes, and carried them beyond the Puerto 
de San Francisco (Drake's bay), and the day after that of Los Reyes, which 
was the 7th of January, the wind suddenly shifted to the northwest and 
blew somewhat fiercely but they were able to make some headway; and the 
Fragata concluding there was no necessity to seek a harbor from this wind, 
continued her voyage, but Vizcaino returned with the Capitana to the 
Puerto de San Francisco to await the return of the Fragata * * * and learn 
if anything was to be found of the ship San Agustin which came upon the 
coast in 1595, * * * and was wrecked and driven on shore by a contrary 
wind. * * * 

"The Capitana came to anchor behind a point of land which makes this port, 
and which he (Vizcaino) called La Punta de los Reyes."  {Venegas: Noticia 
de la California.} 



NOTE 3. ORTEGA

Jose Francisco Ortega, the discover of the bay of San Francisco, was born 
in the city of Celayo, in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, in 1734. He 
enlisted in the company of the royal presidio of Loreto (Lower 
California), October 1, 1755; was made a corporal August 3, 1756, and a 
sergeant February 8, 1757. On the 14th of August 1773, Ortega was made a 
lieutenant and assigned to the command of San Diego. During this year 
Junipero Serra, who had quarreled with Captain Fages, the comandante of 
California, made a trip to the city of Mexico to induce the viceroy, 
Bucareli, to recall Fages, and he wished him to appoint Ortega to the 
command, saying that the senores of the regular army were unfitted by 
education and training for the peculiar duties required of a commander of 
a frontier department "not being versed in the service of the soldados de 
cuera, totally different from that of the other troops." Bucareli agreed 
to recall Fages, realizing that to obtain the best results from the 
reduction of California there must be harmony between the military and 
religious branches of the government. He demurred however, to the 
appointment of Ortega, urging want of rank, but probably not wishing to 
have a comandante too much under the influence of the venerable priest. 
Junipero said that the objection regarding Ortega's want of rank was 
easily overcome, but Bucareli settled the matter by appointing Captain 
Fernando Rivera y Moncada, the commander of the presidio of Loreto, and 
Ortega was given his lieutenancy and sent to San Diego. While Ortega was 
in command at San Diego there occurred the first serious trouble with the 
Indians of California. On the night of November 4-5, 1775, without 
warning, a body of eight or ten hundred savages attacked the mission, 
burned the church and other buildings, and killed one of the priests, a 
carpenter, and a blacksmith. The mission guard finally beat them off but 
not until all the soldiers were badly wounded. Ortega was absent at the 
time, having gone with about one half of his force to establish the 
mission of San Juan Capistrano. Being notified by messenger of the 
disaster, he at once returned and took active measures to repress the 
revolt. 

In 1781 Ortega founded the presidio of Santa Barbara where he served as 
comandante until 1784. In 1782 he founded the mission of San Buenaventura. 
From 1784 to 1787 he served on the frontier in various excursions and 
explorations, and in September 1787 was assigned to the command of 
Monterey. Here he served until 1791 when he was transferred to Loreto 
where he succeeded Captain Arrillaga, later governor of California, and in 
1795 was retired as brevet captain and attached to the Santa Barbara 
presidio. He died February 3, 1798, and was buried in the Santa Barbara 
mission. 

The blood of this interesting pioneer of California flows in the veins of 
many prominent families of the state, as the De la Guerra, Bandini, 
Wilcox, More, Vallejo, Carrillo, Castro, and others will testify. His sons 
became ranchero princes and his granddaughters wives of governors. His 
wife was Maria Antonia Victoria Carrillo, who outlived him, dying May 8, 
1803. 



NOTE 4. SAN BUENAVENTURA

San Buenaventura (Giovanni de Fidenza) was born in Bagnorea, Italy, in 
1221; died in Lyons, France, July 15, 1274. He became general of the 
Franciscans in 1256 and was canonized in 1482. He was greatly beloved and 
received the title of doctor serafico. When the settlement of California 
was decided on, it was ordered that a mission should be established at San 
Diego bay, one at Monterey bay, and one to be known as San Buenaventura, 
in honor of the doctor serafico, at a point to be selected between the 
two. The mission was founded by Junipero Serra March 31, 1782, in presence 
of the governor, Don Felipe de Neve, the troops being under command of 
Lieutenant Don Jose Francisco de Ortega. A thriving town of thirty-five 
hundred inhabitants is the result of that establishment. The postal 
authorities some years ago changed the name to Ventura. 



NOTE 5. DON PEDRO FAGES

Don Pedro Fages, first comandante and fourth governor of California, was 
born in Catalonia, Spain, and came to Mexico in 1767 with the First 
battalion, Second regiment, Catalonia Volunteers, in which he held the 
rank of lieutenant. In the autumn of 1768 he joined the California 
expedition by order of Galvez, being appointed jefe de las armas to the 
expedition, and with twenty-five of his men, sailed for San Diego bay on 
the ill-fated San Carlos. While still weak and sick from the scurvy he 
joined Portola on his march to Monterey; and also accompanied him on his 
second expedition in 1770, which founded the presidio and mission of 
Monterey, when he was appointed by Portola comandante of California. In 
November 1770, he made a brief exploring trip to the bay of San Francisco, 
going perhaps as far as San Leandro creek on the Alameda coast, while his 
men pushed on to Carquines strait. He was made a captain May 4, 1771, and 
in 1772 he explored the eastern and southern coasts of San Francisco, San 
Pablo, and Suisun bays, and the San Joaquin river. He gave the name of Rio 
de San Francisco to the waters now known as the straits of Carquines, 
Suisun bay, and San Joaquin river. In 1773 Junipero Serra, with whom he 
had quarreled, procured his recall and he was ordered to join his 
battalion at Real de Minas de Pachuca, Mexico. He turned over his command 
to Rivera March 24, 1774, and sailed with his Catalans for Mexico; the 
places of the infantrymen being filled with soldados de cuera brought by 
Rivera. 

In a subsequent letter to the viceroy Serra expresses regret for the 
removal of Fages, commendation for his services, and a desire that he be 
favored by the government. 

Fages made two trips to the Rio Colorado in 1781-2 to punish the Yumas for 
the massacre and destruction of the Colorado missions, and on July 12, 
1782, was appointed governor of California, having previously been made a 
lieutenant-colonel, and reached the capital, Monterey, the following 
November. In 1789 he was made a colonel. He was retired at his own request 
April 16, 1791, and died in Mexico in 1796. His wife was Dona Eulalia 
Calis, whom he married in Catalonia. One child, Maria del Carmen, was born 
in San Francisco August 3, 1784. 

Don Pedro Fages was a pioneer of pioneers, a brave soldier, and undaunted 
explorer and a gallant and picturesque figure of early California. He is 
described in his latter days as a tall, stout man of generous, open 
disposition, very fond of children, who used to search his pockets for the 
cakes and confections (dulces) with which he used to fill them for their 
delight. 



NOTE 6. THE SAN CARLOS Alias EL TOISON DE ORO (GOLDEN FLEECE)

As the first ship to enter the port of San Francisco the packet San Carlos 
is entitled to notice here. We are told that the two paquebots, San Carlos 
and San Antonio, were built in 1768 at the newly constructed dock yards of 
San Blas, by order of the Most Illustrious Senor Don Jose de Galvez, 
visitador-general of New Spain, for the contemplated expedition to San 
Diego and Monterey. Costanso, engineer and officer of the regular army, 
who accompanied the expedition, says that in all the coasts of New Spain 
the only maritime forces that could be used to oppose foreign invasion 
were these two packets and two other vessels of smaller tonnage which 
served the Jesuit missionaries of Baja California in their communications 
with the coasts of Sonora and New Galicia. The two packets made their 
maiden voyages in March 1768, sailing from San Blas with troops for 
Guaymas. Returning to San Blas they were ordered to La Paz, Lower 
California, to take on a portion of the California expedition and stores 
for the new foundations. The San Carlos reached La Paz December 15th, 
leaking badly from the rough handling of the seas. Under the forceful 
supervision of the senor visitador she was careened, her gaping seams 
closed, and on January 10th sailed, under command of Don Vicente Vila, for 
San Diego bay, the rendezvous of the expedition. She carried Lieutenant 
Fages and his company of infantry, Engineer Costanso, Surgeon Pratt, and 
for the spiritual care of all, the very reverend Father Fray Fernando 
Parron. 

Owing to the constancy of the north and northwest winds which so greatly 
opposed the navigation of the coasts of California, the San Carlos found 
herself driven far out of her course, short of water, and obliged to put 
into the island of Cedros for a fresh supply. At last on April 29th, she 
reached San Diego in a most deplorable condition, all hands sick with 
scurvy, of which two had died, and only four sailors able to keep the 
deck. The San Antonio had arrived eighteen days before in much the same 
condition, but seeing no signs of the other divisions of the expedition, 
had made no attempt to land. Encouraged now by the presence of her consort 
an exploring party was sent out to find water and preparations were made 
to land the sick. Hospital tents were erected on the beach, protected by 
palisades, the sick removed to them and all that could be was done for 
them. No one was well and the labor of the few who remained on their feet 
was very great and rapidly increased as their numbers lessened; while of 
the sick several died every day, until of all who had sailed on the two 
ships two-thirds were laid under the sands of Punta de los Muertos 
(Deadmen's Point). The Indians, of whom there were many, were a miserable 
lot, thievish and impudent, and altogether the colonists found themselves 
in a most critical situation. Their medicines were gone and but very 
little food was left when on May 14th, the first division of the land 
expedition under Rivera arrived. Rivera was also short of provisions but 
his men were all well and his arrival changed the aspect of the camp of 
desolation. It was determined to send the San Antonio back for supplies; 
all the available sailors were placed on her and she sailed for San Blas 
June 8th with eight men for a crew. On June 29th the second land division 
under Portola arrived with one hundred and sixty-three mules laden with 
provisions. On July 14th Portola began his march to Monterey leaving his 
sick under protection of a guard, and the San Carlos swinging at her 
cables without a sailor to her deck. 

The voyage of the San Carlos in 1775 for the survey of the bay of San 
Francisco is told in chapter ii of the narrative. 

On the 5th of June 1776, the San Carlos sailed from Monterey for San 
Francisco under command of Don Fernando Quiros, lieutenant of man-of-war, 
having on board a portion of the soldiers for the San Francisco presidio, 
two cannon and other arms, and the supplies for the presidio and mission. 
The distance was only eighty-five miles and she made it in seventy-three 
days. Entering the port of San Francisco August 18th, Quiros at once 
landed his men and the work of erecting the presidio buildings was pushed 
with vigor. 

In August 1779 the San Carlos, under command of Don Juan Manuel de Ayala, 
sailed for Manila where Ayala was transferred to another ship and returned 
to New Spain in 1781. 

It is possible that the San Carlos was wrecked in the Philippines or she 
may have been broken up, and another ship, larger and better equipped, 
built to take her place, as a paquebot, San Carlos, was later engaged in 
naval service on the northwestern coast of America. The fact that this San 
Carlos was also called "El Filipino," while the alias of the original 
packet was "El Toison de Oro," would seem to indicate that the San Carlos 
of 1788-1797 was a ship built in the Philippines. In view of the record 
here given of the different voyages of the original San Carlos, viz.: La 
Paz to San Diego, 110 days; San Blas to Monterey, 101 days; Monterey to 
San Francisco (1776) 73 days, it must be admitted that she was ill-fitted 
for her work. She was small--of the caravel type--high poop and low waist--
and had three masts, two with square sails and one with mizzen as well as 
a sprit sail on bowsprit. The packet San Carlos alias El Filipino was lost 
in San Francisco bay March 31, 1797. 

{Fray Zepherin Englehardt, in his book just out, Missions and Missionaries 
of California, says that the San Carlos, a vessel built in the 
Philippines, arrived thence, at San Diego, December 9, 1781, under command 
of Juan Gonzales.} 



NOTE 7. ARIZONA

Anza writing January 13, 1775, says: "This place (Arizona) is famous for 
the balls of virgin silver found in 1736 which weighed up to one hundred 
and fifty arrobas (3750 lbs.) The fact has been doubted but it is certain, 
and many are living of those who possessed them and I can equally give 
documents which accredit it; since my father, acting by advice of persons 
learned in the law, attached them because it appeared to him they belonged 
to his majesty, and while his action was not entirely approved by the 
tribunal at the city of Mexico, it was by the royal council of Castile." 

Arizona, or as it was sometimes written Arizonac was a real de minas, 
(mining camp), in the Arizona mountains on the head waters of the Rio del 
Altar just below the boundary line of Arizona, to which territory it gave 
its name, about ten or twelve miles east of Nogales. The mines were called 
Las Bolas de Plata--The Balls of Silver. The discovery of these wonderful 
deposits created great excitement and brought a crowd of treasure seekers 
into the district. Captain Juan Bautista de Anza, father of the explorer, 
who was in command of the presidio of Fronteras and acted as judge and 
recorder of the district, claimed that the deposits did not constitute a 
mine proper but were hidden treasure or a criadero de plata--growing place 
of silver--and as such were not subject to denouncement, but belonged to 
the king. In this he was sustained by royal decree of May 28, 1741, but by 
that time the deposits were about exhausted and the Apaches had driven the 
miners out. The bolas, which were of almost pure silver, weighed from 
twelve pounds to a ton and a half. 



NOTE 8. EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO

Padre Jose Ortega of the Company of Jesus has given us in his Breve Elogio 
del Padre Kino, a fairly comprehensive account of the life and adventures 
of the famous explorer and missionary, Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino. In 
addition to this we have the diary of Lieutenant Mange, his escort from 
1694 to 1701. 

Eusebio Kino or Kuhne was born in Trent in the Austrian Tyrol about 1640 
and educated at Ala in Tyrol. Recovering from a serious illness through 
the intercession of San Francisco Xavier, patron of the Indies, he adopted 
that saint's name, incorporating it with his own, and declining the offer 
of a professorship of mathematics in the college of Ingolstadt in Bavaria, 
devoted his life to the conversion of the American Indians. He came to 
Mexico in 1680 or 1681 and for thirty years labored among the Indians of 
the Pimeria, the Papagueria, the Gila, and the Colorado. Commencing his 
missionary work in Sonora in 1687, Kino established a number of missions 
in Pimeria. In 1690 he made his first entrance into what is now Arizona, 
and in 1694 followed down the Rio Altar to the Gulf of California. In 
1694, Domingo Crusati, commanding in Sonora, appointed his nephew, Juan 
Mateo Mange, a lieutenant in the compania volante of Sonora, a guard to 
accompany the padre and write official reports of all his discoveries. In 
November 1694, Kino reached the Gila and said mass in the Casa Grande. In 
the autumn of 1698 Kino was requested by the viceroy to make a 
reconnaissance of northern Pimeria and Papagueria with a view of 
ascertaining if supplies could be sent from that quarter to Padre Juan 
Maria Salvatierra then operating in the peninsula of Baja California. Kino 
went to the Gila via San Javier del Bac, proceeded down the river some 
distance and then struck off to the southwest towards the gulf. From the 
Cerro Santa Clara (Gila range) he saw how the gulf ended at the 
disemboguement of the Rio Colorado. From here he returned via the Camino 
del Diablo, thence to Caborca. On the 7th of February 1699, Kino started 
from the mission of Dolores on the western fork of the Sonora river and 
traveled in a westerly direction to San Marcelo de Sonoita; thence by way 
of the Camino del Diablo to the Gila, and returned via the Gila and Santa 
Cruz rivers to his mission--virtually Anza's route of 1774 across the 
Papagueria. In 1700 he started in September for the Gila via the Santa 
Cruz valley, journeyed down the Gila to its confluence with the Colorado, 
and returned over the Camino del Diablo to Sonoita, to San Luis de Bacapa, 
San Eduardo, Caborca, Tabutama, and San Ignacio: Anza's route of 1775-6. 
Kino's map, dated 1702, has often been republished, and Anza probably had 
a copy of it. He refers to Kino, whom he called Quino, and also to the 
diary of Lieutenant Mange, corrects their latitude and says he cannot find 
the Sierra Azul and the Rio Amarillo mentioned by Mange. Kino made his 
last journey over the Camino del Diablo to Las Tinajas Altas in November 
1706, and climbing to the heights of the Cerro de Santa Clara gazed for 
the last time upon the waters of the gulf and the continent of the 
Californias, and then returned to his cell in the mission of Nuestra 
Senora de los Dolores. The work of the great missionary was done, though 
he continued to labor with tongue and pen until his death in 1710 or 1711, 
at seventy years of age, twenty-four of which were in the Pimeria. 



NOTE 9. LAS TINAJAS ALTAS

The second, third, and fourth tanks may be reached by climbing the steep 
water-worn rocks on the left of the gorge, but the upper ones can only be 
reached by ascending to a height of several hundred feet the steep ravine 
on the right of the gorge and being lowered by ropes from above. The 
United States and Mexican Boundary Survey commission of 1891-96 
replenished the water in the lower tank by siphoning from those above by 
means of a length of garden hose. Water can usually be found at all times 
in some of these tanks as there is no loss from seepage, and as the steep 
rock surrounds and overhangs the tanks and greatly retards evaporation, to 
what extent is shown by the fact that on reconnaissance by the commission 
from Yuma to Quitobaquita in the winter of 1893, these tanks were found 
nearly half full, although the rainfall at Yuma for the preceding twelve 
months had aggregated less than three-fourths of an inch, a remarkable 
deficiency even for that dry section. 

Yet even here the Camino del Diablo claimed its victims. Captain Gaillard 
of the commission states that during the gold immigration of 1849 some of 
the pilgrims reached the tanks to find the water all gone, and too weak to 
go further, lay down and died; others reached the place in such a state of 
exhaustion that, unless water was found in the lower tank they were too 
feeble to climb to the next and perished miserably, their horrors 
aggravated by the thought that the water, for want of which they were 
dying, was but a few yards off had they but the strength to reach it. 
Fifty graves near the foot of the tanks, marked by rough stones piled in 
the form of a cross, testify to the numbers of these victims. {Gaillard: 
Perils and Wonders of a True Desert.} 

At the Tinajas Altas Anza tells us a wonderful story of the mountain sheep 
and their horns. The Boundary commission notes the quantity of these horns 
near the Tinajas Altas and the Cabaza Prieta and says: "Many years ago the 
Papagos were accustomed to camp at these tinajas for the purpose of 
hunting big horns or mountain sheep which then, as now, constituted the 
principal inhabitants of these desolate sierras. In the vicinity of the 
tanks are still seen the remains of their old camps, around which are 
strewn the horns of the mountain sheep, as many as twenty or thirty pairs 
having been counted at a single camp." The horns however were there for a 
purpose, and Anza explains it to us, but in terms so extraordinary as to 
be unintelligible to me until, after much investigation, I succeeded, with 
the aid of Mr. F. W. Hodge of the Bureau of American Ethnology, in getting 
light upon the matter. It appears that there was an ancient superstition 
among the Pimas and Papagos that the horns of the mountain sheep exerted 
an influence on the air and the rains. They never brought the horns home 
but piled them in some place in the hills near the aguages where they held 
in check the evil influences of the elements, and no one was permitted to 
disturb or remove them. 



NOTE 10. CAPTAIN FEO

The principal in the move to oppose the passage of the river by the 
Spaniards was the chief of a tribe, kindred with the Yumas and subject to 
them, to whom the Spaniards gave the name of Captain Feo on account of his 
ugly (feo) looks. The men under Captain Feo's command were about as 
numerous as those under Palma. He is described as a great preacher, with a 
thick voice, given to long harangues, and was suspected also of being a 
sorcerer. He set himself to count the Spaniards and seeing there were but 
few of them told his people that it would not be difficult to kill them 
and take their horses and property. Anza sent him warning that if he began 
hostilities against the Spaniards they would bring sufficient force 
against him to destroy him. 



NOTE 11. THE ROYAL PASS OF SAN CARLOS

Desde esta sitio se comienza a atravesar la cordillera que forma la 
Peninsula de la California. "From this place one must begin to cross the 
cordillera that forms the peninsula of California," writes Anza December 
19th, from the paraje of San Gregorio at the entrance to the Coyote canon. 

I am sorry I cannot agree with the historians who have so well told the 
story of this remarkable journey and take this expedition through the 
Coahuila valley and over the San Gorgonio pass; but to do so I would have 
to turn them in a different direction from that in which they said they 
traveled and make them march eighty odd miles through the desert sands to 
reach the San Gorgonio pass when they say they only traveled forty-eight 
miles up a mountain trail to the pass of San Carlos. No one who reads 
Anza's diary with a map of the country before him would say he went 
through the San Gorgonio pass. The Cienega de San Sebastian is on or very 
close to the 116th meridian and the eastern entrance to San Gorgonio is 
about 116 degrees 40', and is therefore a little west of north, eighty 
miles away, with but scanty water supply before reaching Palm spring, 
sixty-five miles distant. Anza's record of direction and length of march 
is explicit and Font's practically agrees with it. I give the two.

                         ANZA                   FONT
To Puenticitos       W. by W.N.W.   3 1/2    W. 1/4 N.W.  4
"  S. Gregorio          "    "      4          "     "    5
"  Vado de
   S. Caterina       W. N. W.       4        NW. 1/4 W.   4
"  Fuente
   S. Caterina      N.W. & W.N.W.   1 1/2     "      "    1
"  Los Danzantes    N.W. by W.N.W.  3         W. N. W.    4
"  San Car1os pass  W.N.W. & N.W.   2 1/2     W. N. W.    3
                    six jornadas   18 1/2                21 

I would say that Anza was more accurate in his estimate of distances 
traveled than Font and had, besides, been over this route twice before. He 
gives the distance traveled from San Sebastian to San Carlos 18½  leagues--
say forty-eight miles. By turning into the mountains as he did he soon 
reached water and grass. I have measured him up and have measured him down 
on each of his journeys and have done the same with Pedro Font on his 
journey. Anza writes on May 7th at San Sebastian (on his return trip; 
present expedition), "At this place we left the canada in which we have 
been traveling from San Carlos to here;" showing that between the pass of 
San Carlos and the Cienega de San Sebastian he traveled through a canada 
(valley or canon). Pedro Font writing from Fuente del Santa Caterina 
(fourth jornada from San Sebastian) December 23d, says: "This stopping 
place is in a canada which continues upward and through which the road 
goes crossing the Sierra Madre de California." 

I make this particular explanation because the mistake made by Bancroft 
has been copied by other writers and the San Gorgonio pass is called the 
"Historic Gateway to California." 



NOTE 12. SOLDIERS OF THE EXPEDITION

As the soldiers of Anza's expedition were the founders and first settlers 
of the city of San Francisco, it becomes a matter of historical importance 
to know who and what they were. They left their imprint on the 
civilization of California and their names are as familiar as household 
words to all who know the country. The list is now given for the first 
time and the particulars concerning the families were taken from the 
Spanish archives of California, destroyed by the fire of 1906. In giving 
the members of the families I only enumerate the children accompanying the 
expedition. Many more were born in California. 

1. Ensign Jose Joaquin Moraga was born in 1741; died in San Francisco and 
was buried July 15, 1785, in the mission church whose corner stone he laid 
in 1782. Moraga was an able assistant to Anza and received his commission 
as lieutenant on the arrival of the expedition at San Gabriel. He 
accompanied his commander on the survey of the peninsula and river of San 
Francisco, and on Anza's departure for Mexico, took command of the 
expedition. He founded the presidio and mission of San Francisco and was 
the first commander, retaining the position until his death nine years 
later. He founded the mission of Santa Clara in 1777, and in the same year 
the pueblo of San Jose Guadalupe (San Jose). His record as an officer is 
an honorable and stainless one. His wife was Maria del Pilar de Leon y 
Barcelo. She did not accompany the expedition, being sick in Terrenate at 
the time, but with her son Gabriel, joined her husband in San Francisco 
February 20, 1791, the government paying the cost of transportation: three 
hundred and eighty dollars and twenty-five cents. The only child of Moraga 
I find any record of was his son Gabriel, born at the presidio of 
Fronteras, Sonora, in 1765; buried in Santa Barbara, California, June 15, 
1823; married, first, Ana Maria, daughter of Juan Francisco Bernal; 
second, Joaquina, daughter of Francisco Javier Alvarado, and sister of Pio 
Pico's wife. Don Gabriel enlisted in the San Francisco company December 1, 
1783, and served for twenty-two years as private, corporal, and sergeant, 
at the presidios of San Francisco and Monterey and in command of various 
mission escoltas of those districts. On March 10, 1806, he received his 
commission as alferez and was assigned to the San Francisco garrison. On 
August 16, 1811, he was made brevet lieutenant for gallantry in a battle 
with the Indians on the strait of Carquines, and on October 30, 1817, he 
was made a full lieutenant and ordered to Santa Barbara. His hoja de 
servicios of December 1820, shows thirty-seven years service and forty-six 
expeditions against the Indians. He applied for retirement on account of 
chronic rheumatism and other infirmities, and Governor Sola, Captain Jose 
Dario Argüello, and other officers, as well as padres Senan and Payeras, 
testified in terms of highest praise regarding his character and the value 
of his services, but no attention was paid to his request. In 1806 Moraga 
explored and named the San Joaquin river and he made a number of 
expeditions to and beyond the Tulares. Don Gabriel is described as a tall, 
well built man of dark complexion, brave, gentlemanly, and the foremost 
soldier of his day in California. His son Joaquin, was grantee of Rancho 
Laguna de los Palos Colorados in Contra Costa county, and a portion of 
Moraga valley on said rancho is still in possession of his descendants. 
Another son, Vicente, was grantee of Pauba in Riverside county. 

2. Sergeant Juan Pablo Grijalva was born in La Valle de San Luis, Sonora, 
in 1742; died in San Diego, California, June 21, 1806. He enlisted in the 
presidial company of Terrenate, Sonora, January 1, 1763, and served twenty-
four years in the ranks before he received a commission--eleven of them at 
the presidio of San Francisco. On the 20th of July 1787, he was 
commissioned alferez and attached to the San Diego company. In 1796 he 
applied for retirement on account of infirmities contracted during his 
long services. Governor Borica endorsed his application, recommending that 
he be retired with the rank of lieutenant as a reward for his services to 
the king. He was retired as alferez with half pay--two hundred dollars a 
year. The following November he was made lieutenant, his pension remaining 
the same. Grijalva brought with him in the expedition his wife, Maria 
Dolores Valencia, and three children: Maria Josefa, age nine; Maria del 
Carmen, age four; and Claudio, a baby. Josefa married Sergeant Antonio 
Yorba, who came with Portola in 1769 as sergeant of Catalan volunteers. 
She became the mother of one of California's great families, grantees of 
Santa Ana de Santiago, Las Bolsas, and Lomas de Santiago. Carmen married 
Pedro Regalado Peralta, son of Gabriel. Of Claudio I know nothing. The 
name of Grijalva died out in California. 

3. Corporal Domingo Alviso lived but a short time after reaching San 
Francisco. He was buried March 11, 1777, and the libro de difuntos gives 
neither age nor place of birth. With him came his wife, Maria Angela 
Trejo, and four children: Francisco Javier, age ten; Francisco, age nine; 
Maria Loreta, age five; and Ignacio, age three. The family became a large 
and influential one and were grantees of Natividad, Canada Verde y Arroyo 
de la Purisima, Milpitas, Potrero de los Cerritos, El Quito, Canada de los 
Vaqueros, and Rincon de los Esteros. The town of Alviso was named for 
Ignacio. 

4. Corporal Jose Valerio Mesa was born in 1734 in Opodepe, a mission on 
the Horcasitas river a little above San Miguel in Sonora. His wife, Maria 
Leonor Barboa, and six children, born at the presidio of Altar, 
accompanied him to California. They were: Jose Joaquin, age twelve; Jose 
Ignacio, age nine; Ignacio Dolores, age eight; Maria Manuela, age seven; 
Jose Antonio, and Juan, age three. Valerio's grandson, Juan Prado, son of 
Jose Antonio, became an ensign and comandante of San Francisco under 
Vallejo. This family received the following grants: San Antonio (Santa 
Clara county), Los Medanos, Rinconada del Arroyo de San Francisquito, and 
Soulajule. 

5. Corporal Gabriel Peralta was born at the presidio of Terrenate, in 
Sonora, in 1731; died in Santa Clara, California, October 22, 1807. His 
wife, Francisca Javier Valenzuela, and four children: Juan Jose, age 
eighteen; Luis Maria, age seventeen; Pedro Regalado, age eleven; and Maria 
Gertrudis, age nine, accompanied the expedition. Luis Maria enlisted in 
the Monterey company December 2, 1781, and served in the ranks for forty-
five years. He was eight years a private, twelve years a corporal, and 
twenty-five years a sergeant. He was a soldier, engaged in many 
expeditions against the Indians, and was several times recommended for 
promotion to the commission grade of alferez, but never received it. He 
was retired invalido in 1826, and died in San Jose in 1851, aged ninety-
three. 

On June 20, 1820, Don Pablo Vicente de Sola, governor of California, 
granted to Sergeant Luis Peralta the San Antonio rancho, eleven square 
leagues--48,825 acres, perhaps the most famous as well as the most 
valuable of all the California grants. It includes the sites of the cities 
of Oakland, Alameda, and Berkeley. The Rinconada de los Gatos, the Canada 
del Corte Madera, and the San Ramon ranchos were also given to the 
descendants of Corporal Peralta. 

6. Juan Antonio Amezquita was born in Metape, Sonora, in 1739. He enlisted 
at the presidio of Tubac July 9, 1764, and was retired invalido November 
1, 1788. On October 1, 1786, he was transferred to Monterey where in 1813 
he was living with his third wife, Maria Micaela Sotelo. Juan Antonio's 
wife, Juana Maria de Guana, and five children: Manuel Domingo, age twenty-
three; Maria Josefa, age twenty; Maria Dolores, age ten; Maria Gertrudis, 
age about three; and Maria de los Reyes, a babe, came with the expedition. 
With this family was Rosalia Zamora, wife of the oldest son, Manuel 
Domingo--who was also called Salvador Manuel and Manuel Francisco. Maria 
Josefa became the wife of Ensign Hermenegildo Sal. 

7. Jose Ramon Bojorques, born in the city of Sinaloa in 1737, brought with 
him his wife, Francisca Romero, and three children: Maria Antonia, age 
fifteen, wife of Jose Tiburcio Vasquez; Maria Micaela, age thirteen; and 
Maria Gertrudis, age twelve. With the family was the husband of Maria 
Micaela, Jose Anastacio Higuera. 

8. Justo Roberto Altamirano was born in Aguage, Sonora, in 1745. He 
brought with him his wife, Maria Loreta Delfin, and two sons: Jose Antonio 
and Jose Matias. Matias died in 1783, and Jose Antonio in 1789.  Justo 
Roberto had a number of children born in San Francisco and Santa Clara, 
but the name has died out in California. 

9. Ignacio Linares was born in San Miguel de Horcasitas in 1745; died in 
San Jose Guadalupe, California, June 5, 1805. His wife, Maria Gertrudis 
Rivas, and four children: Maria Gertrudis, age seven; Juan Jose Ramon, age 
five; Maria Juliana, age four; and Salvador, age one; came with the 
expedition. 

10. Carlos Gallegos brought his wife, Maria Josefa Espinosa, but no 
children. I know nothing about him except that he was sent to the mission 
of the Colorado and was killed by the Yumas in the rising of 1781. 

The above ten constitute the veteran soldiers of the Sonora presidios who 
volunteered to cast their lot in California. The recruits were: 

11. Juan Salvio Pacheco lived but a short time in California. I do not 
know the date or place of his birth. He died before July 21, 1777, but the 
family he founded became a large one. He brought with him to California 
his wife, Maria del Carmen del Valle, and five children: Miguel, age 
twenty; Ignacio, age fifteen; Ignacia Gertrudis, age fifteen; Bartolome 
Ignacio, age ten; and Maria Barbara, age ten. Juan Salvio's descendants 
were grantees of Potrero de los Cerritos, Arroyo de las Nueces, Santa 
Rita, San Jose Rancho, San Ramon, Monte del Diablo, and Positos ranchos. 
The towns of Pacheco in Contra Costa and Pacheco in Mann counties are 
named for this family. 

12. Jose Antonio Garcia was born in Culiacan, Sonora, and died in Santa 
Clara, California, January 25, 1778, the first death recorded (gente de 
razon) on the books of that mission. His wife, Maria Josefa de Acuna, and 
five children: Maria Graciana, Maria Josefa, Jose Vicente, Jose Francisco, 
and Juan Guillermo, accompanied the expedition. 

13. Pablo Pinto was born in the city of Sinaloa in 1732; buried in San 
Francisco December 1, 1783. He brought with him his wife, Francisca Javier 
Ruelas, and four children: Juan Maria, age seventeen; Juana Santos, Juana 
Francisca, and Jose Marcelo. The husband of Juana Santos, Casimiro Varela, 
accompanied the family. Another daughter of Pablo Pinto was with the 
expedition--Teresa, wife of the poblador, Nicolas Galindo. The marriage of 
Juana Francisca to Mariano Cordero, a soldier of the Monterey garrison, 
November 28, 1776, is the first marriage recorded in the libro de 
casamientos of San Francisco. 

14. Antonio Quiterio Aceves was born in La Valle de San Bartolome, 
Durango, in 1740. He brought with him his wife, Maria Feliciana Cortes, 
and six children: Maria Petra, age thirteen; Jose Cipriano, age eleven; 
Maria Gertrudis, age six; Juan Gregorio, age five; Pablo, age three; and 
Jose Antonio, age two. Aceves was granted the Salinas rancho, four leagues 
on the Salinas river, in 1795, one of the earliest grants. 

15. Ignacio Maria Gutierrez, brought his wife, Ana Maria de Osuna, and 
three children: Maria Petronia, age ten; Maria de Los Santos, age seven; 
and Diego Pascual, born on the Gila, en route. 

16. Ignacio de Soto, was born in the city of Sinaloa in 1749, and died in 
Santa Clara, California, February 23, 1807. His wife, Maria Barbara 
Espinosa de Lugo, was a sister of the soldier Francisco de Lugo, whose 
daughter, Maria Antonia, became the mother of General Vallejo. She, with 
two children: Maria Antonia, age two; and Jose Antonio, age one, 
accompanied her husband. The first white child born in San Francisco was 
Francisco Jose de los Dolores Soto, son of Ignacio and Barbara, born 
August 10, 1776. The child was hastily baptized ab instantem mortem, but 
he lived to become a great Indian fighter and died in 1835, a sargento 
distinguido. I have a record of fourteen children born in California to 
Ignacio and Barbara Lugo de Soto, and their descendants were grantees of 
the following ranchos: Canada de la Segunda, El Piojo, San Matias, San 
Lorenzo, Canada de la Carpinteria, Canada del Hambre, Capay, San Vicente, 
Los Vallecitos, and Bolsa Nueva. 

17. Jose Manuel Valencia was born in Guadalupe, Zacatecas, Mexico, in 
1749, and died in Santa Clara, California, in 1788. His wife, Maria de la 
Luz Munos, and three children accompanied him to California. The children 
were: Maria Gertrudis, age fifteen years; Francisco Maria, age eight; and 
Ignacio Maria, age three. His descendants were granted Alcanes rancho and 
Canada de Pinole. 

18. Luis Joaquin Alvarez was born in the city of Sinaloa in 1740. He 
brought with him his wife, Maria Nicolosa Ortiz, and two children: Juan 
Francisco and Maria Francisca. 

19. Jose Antonio Sanchez was born in the city of Sinaloa in1751. He 
brought his wife, Maria de los Dolores Morales, and two children: Maria 
Josefa, age seven; and Jose Antonio, age two; also, Ignacio Cardenas, a 
prohijado--adopted son. Sanchez was a man of some education and wrote a 
beautiful hand. The family became prominent in San Francisco and Jose 
Antonio, second, became ensign and comandante of San Francisco and famous 
for his skill and courage as an Indian fighter. In 1827 he was permitted 
to occupy the rancho nacional which was afterwards formally granted him. 
This was the great Buri Buri rancho immediately south of the city and 
county of San Francisco, comprising 15,793 acres, now belonging, in part, 
to the Spring Valley Water Company. In 1836 Jose Antonio 2d was retired 
with forty-five years' service to his credit. He passed the rest of his 
life on his rancho and at the mission of Dolores. He appears on a padron 
of San Francisco in 1842 as an hacendado (farmer). He was a brave and 
honest man, and somewhat given to asserting his rights. He became involved 
in a controversy with the priests over the question of tithes, which 
Sanchez, following the example of Vallejo and other prominent landowners, 
refused to pay. In consequence of this quarrel he was denied the comforts 
of religion on his death bed and for a time, Christian burial. He died 
June 22, 1843, and was finally given ecclesiastic interment in the 
cemetery of the mission on July 5th. His son, Francisco, grandson of Anza' 
s trooper, was comandante of San Francisco at the time of the conquest and 
was the Captain Sanchez who captured Alcalde Bartlett and commanded the 
Mexican forces at the battle of Santa Clara. Francisco was granted the San 
Pablo rancho. 

20. Manuel Ramirez Arellano was born in Puebla in 1742 and brought with 
him his wife, Maria Agueda de Haro, and son, Jose Mariano. He was retired 
in 1786 and removed to Los Angeles. He had three children born in Santa 
Clara and three more born in Los Angeles. The family was quite prominent 
in the south and the name became changed to Arellanes. Manuel Ramirez was 
alcalde of Los Angeles in 1790, and his daughter, Maria Martina married 
Don Ignacio Martinez, later comandante of San Francisco, and was the 
mother of some of California's famous beauties. Don Teodoro Arellanes, son 
of Manuel, born in Santa Clara, November 5, 1782, is mentioned by Davis, 
Robinson, and other writers as a ranchero prince. The family obtained the 
Guadalupe, El Rincon, and La Punta de la Laguna ranchos. 

21. Joaquin Isidro de Castro was born in the city of Sinaloa in 1732. He 
brought with him his wife, Maria Martina Botiller, and nine children: 
Ignacio Clemente, age twenty; Maria Josefa, age eighteen; Maria 
Encarnanacion, age twelve; Maria del Carmen, age ten; Jose Mariano, age 9; 
Jose Joaquin, age six; Francisco Maria, age two; Francisco Antonio, and 
Carlos. This was a very large family and became connected by marriage with 
most of the prominent families of California. One granddaughter married 
Governor Alvarado, and another married Carlos Antonio Carrillo and became 
mother of five beautiful daughters, all of whom married Americans. One of 
the earliest grants of land in California was made to Joaquin Isidro who, 
together with his son-in-law, Mariano Soberanes, was granted Buena Vista 
on the Salinas river in 1795. In 1801 Castro was given La Brea. His sons 
and grandsons were given the following ranchos and islands: Aptos, Del 
Refugio, El Sobrante, Laguna de Teche, Las Llagas, Las Paicines, Las 
Animas, San Andres, San Gregorio, San Lorenzo, San Pablo, San Ramon, 
Shoquel, Solis, Vega del Rio del Pajero, Isla de la Yegua (Mare Island), 
and Isla de Yerba Buena. The Castros of Monterey and the Castros of San 
Francisco call each other cousin. General Jose Castro belonged to the 
Monterey family. 

22. Felipe Santiago Tapia, born in Culiacan in 1745, brought his wife, 
Juana Maria Filomena Hernandes (or Juana Maria Cardenas) and the following 
children: Jose Bartolome, Juan Jose, Jose Cristoval, Jose Francisco, Jose 
Victor, Maria Rosa, age fifteen; Maria Antonia, age thirteen; Maria 
Manuela, age ten; and Maria Ysidora, age four. Jose Bartolome, who settled 
at San Luis Obispo was grantee of Topanga Malibu rancho in 1804. His son, 
Tiburcio, was granted Cucamonga rancho. 

23. Juan Francisco Bernal, born in Rancho del Tule, in the district of 
Sinaloa, in 1737, brought his wife, Maria Josefa de Soto, sister of 
Ignacio, and seven children: Jose Joaquin, age thirteen; Juan Francisco, 
age twelve; Jose Dionisio, age ten; Jose Apolonario, age nine; Ana Maria, 
age five; Maria Teresa de Jesus, age three; and Tomas Januario. This 
family received the following lands: Rincon de las Salinas y Potrero Viejo 
(South San Francisco), Rincon de Ballena, Santa Teresa, Laguna de Palos 
Colorados, Embarcadero de Santa Clara, El Alisal, and Canada de Pala. 
Bernal Heights, San Francisco, is a part of Rincon de Salinas. 

24. Juan Atanasio Vasquez, born in Agualulco, Sonora, in 1735, brought his 
wife, Maria Gertrudis Castelo, and three children: Jose Tiburcio, age 
twenty; Jose Antonio, age ten; and Pedro Jose. This family received Corral 
de Tierra, Chamisal, and Soulajule ranchos. 

25. Juan Agustin Valenzuela, born in Real de los Alamos, Sonora, in 1749, 
brought his wife, Petra Ignacio de Ochoa, and one child: Maria Zepherin. 

26. Santiago de la Cruz Pico was born in San Miguel de Horcasitas in 1733. 
In 1777 he was transferred from San Francisco to the San Diego presidio 
and founded a large family in the south. His sons all enlisted in the 
presidial companies, as did the sons of the other soldiers, and one, Jose 
Dolores, being transferred to Monterey, founded the northern branch of the 
family. Santiago brought with him to California his wife, Maria Jacinta 
Vastida, and seven children, all born in San Javier de Cabazan, on the Rio 
Piastla, Sonora. The children were: Jose Dolores, age twelve; Jose Maria, 
age eleven; Jose Miguel, age seven; Francisco Javier, age six; Patricio, 
age five; Maria Antonia Tomasa, and Maria Josefa. Jose Maria, son of 
Santiago, was the father of Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of 
California. Andres, another son of Jose Maria was, perhaps, the ablest 
member of the family of Pico. He was in command of the Californians at the 
battle of San Pascual and was present and took part in the engagements at 
the San Gabriel river and La Mesa. As commander of the national forces in 
California he signed the capitulation of Cahuenga, January 13, 1847, which 
ended the war. He was member of the assembly in 1851; presidential 
elector, 1852; land receiver and brigadier general of militia, 1858; and 
state senator 1860-1. Antonio Maria, son of Dolores, was lieutenant of 
militia, captain of defensores, member of constitutional convention, 
presidential elector in 1860, and register of the land office at Los 
Angeles in 1862. Another son of Dolores, Jose de Jesus, was captain of 
defensores. He broke his parole and was captured and condemned to death, 
but was pardoned by Fremont whom he assisted in bringing about the treaty 
of Cahuenga. The descendants of Santiago de la Cruz Pico received the 
following grants: Agua Caliente, Arroyo Seco, Bolsa de San Cayetano, 
Piedra Blanca, El Pescadero, Jumal, La Habra, Los Flores, Moquelamo, El 
Paso de Bartolo Viejo, Punto del Ano Nuevo, San Jose del Gracia de Simi, 
Santa Margarita, Temecula, Valle de San Jose, and Casa Loma. 

27. Jose Vicente Felix, was born in Real de los Alamos, Sonora, in 1741. 
His wife, Manuela Pincuelar, was the woman who died in childbirth, the 
first night out from Tubac. Seven children came with the expedition: Jose 
Francisco, Jose Doroteo, Jose de Jesus, Jose Antonio Capistrano, Maria 
Loreta, Maria Antonia, and Maria Manuela. Jose Vicente was transferred to 
the San Diego company before 1782 and in 1802, or earlier, was given the 
Felix rancho just north of the pueblo of Los Angeles--now within the city 
bounds. 

28. Sebastian Antonio Lopez brought his wife Felipa Neri (or Felipa 
Xermana) and three children: Sebastian, Maria Tomasa, and Maria Justa. I 
have no information about this family. 

29. Jose Antonio Sotelo died in San Francisco January 20, 1777, the second 
death recorded in the libro de difuntos. The name of his wife is given by 
Pedro Font as Gertrudis Peralta, but the above register has it Manuela 
Gertrudis Buelna. They brought one child: Ramon. 

30. Pedro Antonio Bojorques, born in Sinaloa in 1754, brought his wife, 
Maria Francisca de Lara, and daughter, Maria Agustina, age four. The wife 
died January 28, 1777, the third death in San Francisco, and Pedro married 
the widow of Corporal Domingo Alviso, Maria Angela Trejo, on the 20th of 
July following. His son, Bartolome, was grantee of Laguna de San Antonio, 
six leagues in Marin county. 

Accompanying the expedition were four families of settlers (pobladores) 
and three solteros (bachelors). The families were: 

1. Jose Manuel Gonzales, with his wife, Maria Micaela Bojorques, and 
children: Juan Jose, Ramon, Francisco, and Maria Gregoria. Jose Manuel was 
made a poblador of San Jose Guadalupe. 

2. Nicolas Galindo, born in Real de Santa Eulalia in 1743, brought with 
him his wife, Maria Teresa Pinto, daughter of Pablo, and one child: Juan 
Venancio, one year old. Nicolas enlisted, in the San Francisco company and 
served until 1794, when he was retired and his son, Jose Rafael, took his 
place. Jose Antonio Galindo, son of Juan Venancio, received on September 
23, 1835, the first grant of land in San Francisco: La Laguna de la 
Merced, twenty-two hundred and twenty acres in the southwestern part of 
the city and county. On May 12, 1837, Galindo sold this rancho to 
Francisco de Haro, for one hundred cows and twenty-five dollars in goods. 
It now belongs to the Spring Valley Water Company and is valued at four 
million dollars. Galindo also received in 1835, the Sausalito rancho which 
he sold to William A. Richardson the following year. Other members of this 
family received town lots in San Francisco and the lands of the Santa 
Clara mission. A granddaughter of Nicolas Galindo married James Alexander 
Forbes, English consul at Monterey. 

3. Nicolas Antonio Berreyesa, born in Sinaloa in 1761, was accompanied by 
his sister, Isabel, age twenty-two, both unmarried. Nicolas married 
Gertrudis, daughter of Gabriel Peralta, and Isabel married Juan Jose 
Peralta, her brother. Nicolas enlisted in the San Francisco company 
October 1, 1782. His son, Jose de los Reyes, born in Santa Clara, January 
6, 1785, was one of the first victims of the war of conquest. He was a 
retired sergeant with thirty-seven years' service to his credit. He was 
killed June 28, 1846, by Fremont's men as he landed from a boat at San 
Rafael on his way to Sonoma to visit his son who was alcalde at that 
place. With him were two sons of Francisco de Haro, Francisco and Ramon, 
bearers of dispatches from Castro to his lieutenant Joaquin de la Torre. 
Jose Reyes Berreyesa was owner of the land on which the New Almaden 
quicksilver mines were situated The members of this family received the 
following grants: Canada de Capay, Rincon de Musulacon, Chirules, San 
Vicente, Malacomes, Milpitas, and Las Putas. Nicolas wrote his name 
Berrelleza. 

4. Maria Feliciana Arballo, widow of Jose Gutierrez, accompanied the 
expedition with her two little girls: Maria Tomasa Gutierrez, age six, and 
Maria Estaquia Gutierrez, age four. She left the expedition at San 
Gabriel, where on March 6, 1776, she was married to Juan Francisco Lopez, 
a soldier of the guard. The marriage ceremony was performed by Fray 
Francisco Garces, missionary to the Colorado river tribes, who, it will be 
remembered, Anza had left at the junction of the rivers. Garces had gone 
up the Colorado to visit the Mojaves and had crossed the Mojave desert, 
arriving at San Gabriel after the expedition had passed up the coast. 
Little Maria Estaquia, thirteen years later, married Jose Maria Pico whom 
she had first known when, a boy of eleven, he accompanied his family with 
the expedition. She became the mother of Pio Pico. Maria Feliciana had, by 
her second husband, Maria Ignacia de la Candelaria Lopez, who married 
Joaquin Carrillo of San Diego, and became the mother of General Vallejo's 
wife and four other daughters whose loveliness is duly recorded in the 
pages of this historia verdadera. After her husband's death Maria Ignacia 
Lopez de Carrillo, who was a most beautiful woman, was granted, in 1841, 
the rancho Cabeza de Santa Rosa in Sonoma county, where she lived with her 
son Ramon. She is buried in the ruined mission of San Francisco Solano, at 
Sonoma. Her remains were laid under the font where it would receive the 
holy water that fell from the hands of devout worshippers. 

The three solteros were: Don Francisco Munos, Pedro Perez de la Fuente, 
Marcos Villela. 

Villela became a poblador at San Jose Guadalupe. Of the others, I know 
nothing. 



NOTE 13. BAC--TUBAC --TUCSON

Bac (house). The mission of San Xavier del Bac nine miles south of Tucson 
was founded by Father Kino in 1700. On the expulsion of the Jesuits Father 
Garces was assigned to this mission which he took charge of in 1768 and 
administered for ten years. The present church, which is described as a 
most remarkable object to find in so wild a country, was begun in 1768 and 
finished in 1798. Bartlett, who visited it in 1852, said it was the 
largest and most beautiful church in the State of Sonora. Benjamin Hayes, 
writing in 1857, says: "San Xavier is not what it was when I passed in 
1849. The magnificent church is becoming dilapidated, the Papagos who had 
the care of it having left. It then looked magnificently over the dark 
mesquite forest through which it is approached, with its white walls like 
marble and its three domes. The altar seemed a mass of gold as the sun's 
rays streamed upon it in the afternoon. It had thirteen good oil 
paintings, kept in a side room with the altar furniture and priest's 
robes. The interior walls were filled with scriptural scenes, fresh as if 
painted the day before. * * * This church might be an ornament to Fourth 
Street, Saint Louis, or to any other city." {Benj. Hayes: Emigrant Notes 
MS. p. 150.} 

Tubac. The presidio of Tubac was one of a chain of presidios guarding the 
northern frontier of Sonora. It was erected in 1752 on the Santa Cruz 
river, in what is now the Territory of Arizona, about forty-five miles 
south of Tucson. In 1767 the place had a population of four hundred and 
twenty gente de razon {People of Reason--Civilized Folk}, including the 
families of the fifty soldiers of the garrison under Captain Anza. In 1776 
the presidio was removed to Tucson. In 1777 the people of Tubac petitioned 
for a restoration of the presidio and a company of Pimas was organized for 
a permanent garrison. Later, the post was occupied by a company of Spanish 
regulars. After the cession to the United States there was a temporary 
revival of the old town. It is situated within the southern rain belt, in 
the richest portion of the Santa Cruz valley. The annual rainfall is from 
twenty to twenty-five inches. In 1858-9, Tubac had a population of eight 
hundred, and the houses with their gardens and groves of acacias and peach 
trees made the little town most attractive. It was in the center of the 
mineral region and had probably one hundred and fifty silver mines within 
a radius of sixteen miles. During the War of the Rebellion it was occupied 
for a short time by Confederate troops and later by a regiment of 
California volunteers. The location is adjacent to the Apacheria. It was 
frequently raided by the Apaches and in 1861-62 and 63 was made 
uninhabitable by those savage warriors, and several well-known mining 
engineers fell victims to their fury. There is but little left of the 
historic town now. 

Tucson. The claim that Tucson was settled by the Spaniards in 1560 has no 
foundation. Anza on his return from Monterey in 1775, reached Tuscon May 
25th. He calls it the Pima pueblo of Teson and says it belongs to the 
Pimas Altas (i. e. the inhabitants of Pimeria Alta); that it is within the 
jurisdiction of his presidio and contains eighty families. Passing through 
Tucson October 26, 1775, with the second expedition, Father Garces calls 
it "A visita of my administration and the last christianized pueblo in 
this direction" (north). The foundation of Tucson as a Spanish settlement 
was in 1776, when the presidio of Tubac was transferred thither. 



NOTE 14. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE MISSIONS OF THE COLORADO

Salvador Palma, chief of the Yumas, whose anxiety to embrace the true 
religion and have his people converted to Christianity was so extreme that 
he made peace with the surrounding nations and complied with all of Anza's 
requirements, headed a revolt against the pueblo-missions of the Colorado 
and totally destroyed them, killing Captain Fernando Rivera y Moncado, 
lieutenant-governor of Lower California, the four priests in charge of the 
missions--including this same Father Garces--and some forty-two of the 
soldiers and settlers, one of whom was a private soldier in the company 
now being entertained by him. While the tale is a cruel one, a study of 
the events leading up to the outbreak forces the conclusion that from the 
Indian's point of view there was much provocation. No one can read the 
accounts given by Anza of the services rendered by this chief and his 
Yumas without realizing how valuable to the infant establishments of 
California was the friendship that Anza so carefully and successfully 
cultivated. He records his opinion that Palma's affection and fidelity may 
be fully trusted, and says that with the friendly assistance of the Yumas 
the passage of the Colorado was assured, but if it were opposed by them it 
would be next to impossible. On his first journey he trusted to the care 
of the Yuma the lives of seven of his men, and what is especially tempting 
to an Indian, a large part of his horses and cattle and the most of his 
baggage with its precious stores of trinkets, tobacco, and other things of 
value to the savage; all of which was safely guarded and returned to him 
when he came back from Monterey, although the time set for his return was 
long passed and reports had been received that Anza and all his party had 
been killed by the hill tribes of California. 

On Anza's return from San Francisco in 1776, Palma accompanied him to the 
City of Mexico where he was well entertained. Bucareli, favorably 
impressed with him and Anza's report concerning him, promised to establish 
a presidio and two missions on the Rio Colorado. The project was delayed 
by Indian troubles in the Pimeria Alta, and in the meantime a new element 
was introduced which gave the execution of the plan into new and untried 
hands. The office of comandante-general of the Provincias Internas de 
Occidente was created and made independent of the viceroy; Don Teodoro de 
Croix was appointed to the place and Anza was sent as governor to New 
Mexico. Palma was still in the City of Mexico when the new official 
arrived. Bucareli commended him to Croix who promised to give the matter 
his early attention, and Palma returned to his people much pleased with 
his reception and importance. A year passed and nothing was done. Palma 
went to Altar to ascertain the cause of the delay. The captain of that 
presidio satisfied him that matters were progressing and he returned to 
the Colorado. Another year passed with nothing accomplished. Palma's 
people taunted him with his failure and his allies regarded him with 
contempt. The authority of an Indian chief is but precarious at best. He 
must be wise; he must be strong; but above all he must be successful. The 
domination of Palma was largely due to the recognition and confirmation of 
his authority by the Spaniards. He was now being discredited. He went 
again to Altar and thence to Horcasitas whose commander represented to the 
comandante-general the uneasiness of the Indians of the Colorado. The king 
had been advised of Palma's visit to Mexico, had seen Anza's reports of 
his two expeditions as well as Garces' reports on the Yumas, and he 
ordered Croix to concede to Palma the promised presidio and missions. The 
comandante-general, however, had ideas of his own on that subject and he 
attempted to console Palma by sending Friars Garces and Diaz with an 
escort of twelve soldiers and a scanty equipment to the Colorado. They 
reached Palma's domain late in 1779 and great was the disappointment and 
chagrin of the Yumas. The contrast between what they expected and what 
they got was too great. In 1775 there had passed through their country a 
great expedition with a large body of troops clad in leather armor 
(soldados de cuera), great herds of cattle and trains of sumpter mules 
laden with precious wares, all under command of an officer of high rank 
and dignified bearing who created governors and alcaldes, conferred 
decorations in the name of the king, and scattered largess with a liberal 
hand. All this gallant array was for the purpose of founding a presidio 
and two missions on the bay of San Francisco. They had been promised a 
like establishment in their country, and now, after years of patient 
waiting, the fulfillment of that promise came in the shape of two priests, 
twelve soldiers, and a beggarly outfit hardly sufficient for their own 
subsistence. Many Indians were already in revolt and the peace, so 
carefully established by Anza, had already been broken by the murder of a 
Yuma by the Papagos. It was the beginning of war between the tribes and of 
general distrust of the Spaniards. Garces, whose wide experience had 
taught him the Indian character, reported the dangers of the situation and 
Croix resolved to adopt a new plan in the establishments of the Colorado 
and found two missions each of which should combine the features of a 
presidio, a pueblo, and a mission. Against the protests of Garces and the 
warnings of Anza he proceeded to carry his plan into effect; and the 
autumn of 1780 witnessed the arrival in the land of the Yumas of twenty 
settlers, twelve laborers, and twenty-one soldiers, all bringing their 
wives and plenty of children. The number of priests was increased to four. 
One presidio-pueblo-mission was established at Puerto de la Concepcion, 
later the site of Fort Yuma, where the partly demolished remains of stone 
walls of buildings were seen by Bartlett in 1852; and the other about 
eight miles down the river, almost on the boundary line between Alta and 
Baja California, both on the California side of the river. The upper 
establishment was called La Purisima Concepcion and the lower San Pedro y 
San Pablo de Bicuner. The new settlers proceeded to appropriate the best 
lands and forage their cattle and horses on the growing crops of the 
Yumas. 

Nothing more was needed to fan the smouldering discontent into the fierce 
flame of open rebellion. Ensign Santiago de las Islas was in command and 
in June 1781, came Captain Rivera y Moncada from Sonora with a party of 
recruits for the California establishments. The recruits Rivera sent on to 
California, a portion of his escort he sent back to Sonora and, with about 
a dozen of his men, he remained to his death in camp on the Arizona side 
of the river. 

On Tuesday, July 17, 1781, the blow fell. Under the leadership of Palma 
the attack was made simultaneously on both missions and all but seven of 
the men were killed; the women and children were carried into captivity 
and the houses were destroyed. Garces was at Concepcion and both he and 
his companion, Father Barrenche, survived the first attack, and while the 
Indians were killing right and left and looting the houses, both padres 
were busy hearing confessions and administering the sacraments to the 
dying. Both were beaten to death with clubs two days later. On the 
eighteenth the Yumas crossed the river, and attacked Rivera, killing the 
commander and all of his men and destroying his camp. Thus ended the first 
and last attempt to establish missions on the Colorado. 

The death of Father Garces in his forty-fourth year closed the earthly 
career of one of the most heroic, spiritual, and lovable of men. Born in 
the Villa de Morata del Conde, in Aragon, April 12, 1738, baptized 
Francisco Tomas Hermenegildo, he was carefully educated, ordained in the 
priesthood, and at the age of twenty-five was sent, at his earnest 
request, a missionary, to the college of the Santa Cruz de Queretaro 
(Mexico). In 1768 he was given charge of San Javier del Bac. He visited 
the various pueblos of the Pimas and Papagos and in August of that year 
made his first visit to the Gila. In 1770 he made another trip to the 
pueblos of the Gila and in 1771 traveled to the junction of the Gila and 
Colorado. The Yumas took him across the Colorado on a raft into Lower 
California and he wandered for some time among the Indians of the lower 
Colorado, preaching and baptizing the dying. He accompanied Anza on his 
first expedition of 1774 as far as San Gabriel, and accompanied him on the 
second trip as far as the Colorado. He visited the tribes up the river, 
crossed the Mojave desert to San Gabriel and discovered the Mojave river. 
Returning he passed into Tulare valley, discovered Kern river and went 
nearly to Tulare lake. He visited the Moqui pueblos whose .inhabitants 
refused to receive him and would give him neither shelter nor food. In 
this journey he was alone, his guide, in fear of his life, refusing to go 
with him. 

In much of his wanderings he was alone, in the desolate desert or in the 
midst of ruthless savages, yet he was without fear, for he was on the 
Master's service. In his death at the hands of those he loved and for the 
welfare of whose souls he labored, he was found worthy of the highest 
reward, the crown of martyrdom. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the 
death of the just. 



NOTE 15. THE COLORADO DESERT

In order to realize Anza's great achievement, one has but to read the 
passage of this desert by the advance guard of the Army of the West under 
General Stephen W. Kearny in November 1846, as told by Lieutenant W. H. 
Emory, U. S. Topographical Engineers, accompanying the expedition {30th 
Cong.1st. Ses. Ex. Doc. No. 41.} Kearny, with his staff and one hundred 
dragoons, a pack-train, and a large supply of extra saddle and pack 
animals, followed the route of the "great highway" opened by Anza seventy 
years before. The hardships and sufferings of these toughened soldiers in 
crossing this desert were great, and they lost a large number of animals. 
Also read Bartlett {Bartlett: Personal Narrative} who crossed the desert 
in June 1852. 

A great change has been wrought in this desolate region. The waters of the 
Rio Colorado have caused the desert to bloom as the rose; grains and 
grasses, fruits and flowers cover the once glistening sands, and the 
mesquite and cactus have given way for the date, the fig, and the olive. 
But the genius of the desert was not to be overcome without a struggle. By 
the advancing forces of reclamation and civilization the mighty power of 
the great river had not been sufficiently considered and suddenly the 
Colorado asserted itself; it deserted its channel and poured its flood 
through the canal opened to convey a portion of its waters to the arroyo 
of the Alamo river and thence to the irrigating canals. The force of the 
river soon widened the intake to a channel of six hundred yards and the 
entire flow of the Colorado went racing down the comparatively steep 
incline to the Salton sea. Desperate attempts were made to dam the new 
channel. A channel was opened between the Alamo and the Rio Padrones in an 
effort to divert the flood through the Rio Padrones, Volcano lake, and 
Hardy's Colorado to the gulf; but just north of the lake the water cut a 
channel for itself from Rio Padrones through to New river and flowed 
thence northwest to Salton sea, which began to fill under the flow from 
two channels; the Alamo and New rivers. The water rapidly eroded the soft 
silt of the desert forming deep channels and cataracts which, progressing 
up stream, threatened to result in conditions that would not permit of the 
waters being diverted into the irrigating canals, being from sixty to 
eighty feet below the surface of the surrounding country. 

An appeal was made to the Federal government and on January 12, 1906, the 
president sent a message to Congress asking for an appropriation of two 
million dollars to control the Colorado river and save the homes of the 
settlers of the Imperial valley of California, as it is called; but it was 
not until February 1907 that the stream was finally subjugated. 

In December 1908 I visited the valley and plucked a delicious orange from 
a four year old tree in a grove in the midst of the terrible desert. The 
so-called rivers of the Colorado desert are but dry channels through which 
the waters of the Colorado flow when the river is in flood. The flow is 
northward, and in times of great freshet the waters have reached and 
filled the Salton sea, a depression in the northern part of the desert 
lying some three hundred feet below sea level. There are two of these 
rivers, the Alamo or Salton river, and the New river. The Rio Padrones 
connects the New river with the Colorado. It takes the overflow of the 
great river at a point six or eight miles below the boundary line and 
conveys it through several channels to Volcano lake, thence through New 
river to Salton sea, and also through Hardy's Colorado to the gulf. The 
waters of the Colorado have reached Salton sea several times within the 
memory of the present generation; the depression is now filled to a depth 
of nearly eighty feet and the water covers an area of about three hundred 
square miles. 

Hardy's Colorado is another of these overflow rivers--in this case being 
supplied by the flood from above. In May 1826 Lieutenant R. W. H. Hardy of 
the British navy, traveling in Mexico, chartered in the port of Guaymas a 
twenty-five ton schooner, El Bruja, and sailed to the head of the gulf. 
Encountering a good deal of trouble in high winds and shoals he finally 
reached a vein of reddish water which he surmised came from "Red" river 
and at two o'clock of the same day he saw an opening ahead which he took 
to be the mouth and he sailed into it and anchored for the night at half 
past six. At midnight he cast the lead and found but a foot and a half of 
water. He got off without damage at the next rise of the tide but next day 
he broke his rudder and continued his exploration for some distance upward 
in a small boat. He thought the mouth of the Gila was below him, but what 
he took for the Gila was the Colorado itself. He was in a bayou or flood 
water channel from which he finally extricated himself. This channel is 
still called Hardy's Colorado.