 31 The Romantic Period, 1782-1810 If there is any period of California history with respect to which one has a right to relegate matters of great import to a secondary place and to deal primarily with the affairs of the moment, that embraced by the years 1782-1810 may very well be selected. Before that time the problems of making and conserving the Spanish establishments and of their existence were too absorbing to permit of anything else outstripping them in the eyes of the inhabitants themselves or in the writings of posterity. After 1810 internal difficulties multiplied and notable events took place which demand attention because of their effect on the ultimate destiny of the province, wherefore pleasant gossip takes its usual place in the background. Even in the years of the Romantic Period there were happenings of note. This was the time of the Newtka Affair, when the long Spanish advance was stopped. This was the era of the awakening of foreign interest, when the English, Russians and Americans had their earliest contacts with Alta California. And these were the years when within the province the questions of subsistence and of settled life were resolved. Yet all of these matters were either the tag-ins of what had gone before or else the mere beginnings of greater affairs to come, and they may be treated more appropriately at the same time with advance of earlier or later periods. By 1782 the last group of settlers who had come by the Anzarut had established themselves in their new homes. In that year too the fiery but lovable Catalan Pedro Fagus arrived to begin his second term of office as governor of the province. In 1810 came the outbreak of the Spanish American Wars of Independence which brought about a cessation of the voyage of the San Blas boats. It is the function of this chapter to record some of the occurrences in the intervening years which seemed interesting at the time to the Spanish Californians themselves. Governor Fagus, some years before, had married Eulalia de Caís, a Catalan lady of quality who was even more of a firebrand than was the good Dom Pedro himself. When Fagus went to Alta California for the second time, Dona Eulalia and her son Pedro remained behind. Fagus very much wanted them to be with him and wrote a number of letters which have a particularly modern sound in their demonstration of the meager reach of his marital authority. For example, he wrote to Captain José Antonio de Romeo in Sonora to use his influence to induce Dona Eulalia to come. Evidently he disparaged of his own powers of persuasion. Dona Eulalia at first refused, but both Neve and Romeo joined forces to assure her that Alta California was not wholly barbarous, wherefore she consented to join her husband there. As far as Loreto she was escorted by Captain Joaquin Cagnete. There in May 1782 she was met by Fagus. Between July 1782 and January 1783, Dona Eulalia made the long journey to Monterey. The whole trip was something in the nature of a royal progress, for there was a succession of receptions in her honor given by the missionaries, soldiers, settlers, and even the Indians. Indeed her coming was a great event. Not only was she the wife of the governor, but she was also the first lady of rank and social standings who had ever visited the province. However, Dona Eulalia may have enjoyed the attention showered upon her. She was shocked by conditions as she found him. In particular she was distressed by the number of naked Indians that she saw. Thereupon she began impulsively to give away both her own clothes and those of Don Pedro, until a latter pointed out to her that she could not replenish their wardrobe. There were no shops in Alta California. That checked Dona Eulalia's reckless generosity, though it is true that she continued to deserve her reputation for charity. She managed to endure Alta California until after the birth of her daughter on August 3, 1784. Then she announced that she had had enough, and straight away there was trouble. Unable to persuade Don Pedro to allow her to pack herself and her children off to New Spain, Dona Eulalia resorted to coercive measures against her legal lord and master. She exiled him from her apartments, and during three months made him keep his distance, hardly so much as communicating with him. Meaning that Fagas did not respond to absent treatment, Dona Eulalia became suspicious and at length convinced, though without justifiable grounds, that Fagas was paying altogether too much attention to a servant girl whom he had picked up among the Indians of the Colorado. Thereupon she broke silence with Fagas and accused him of infidelity and a torrent of words. Moreover, she rushed into the street and told everybody, vowing that she would get a divorce. The Friars tried to reconcile her and said that they found no grounds for a divorce. She responded that she would go to the infierno, hell, before she would go again to Fagas. The Friars ordered her to stay home in seclusion for a while and to do no more talking. The above incident took place in February 1785. It came at a time when Fagas was obliged by gubernatorial duty to make a trip to the South. He therefore asked Father Noriega to take care of Dona Eulalia at Mission San Carlos during his absence. Father Noriega consented and sent for Dona Eulalia, but she refused to go, locking herself and her babies in her room. Then the much-tried Dom Pedro showed his temper. He broke down the door and when his gentle help-meets still refused to go to the Mission, threatened to tire up and take her. So Dona Eulalia went. She made the Friars pay for her humiliation. During her stay at the Mission they could not manage her at all. She put on display some of her outbreaks in the church itself to the great scandal of all who witnessed them. Indeed the Friars became so much out of patience with her that at one time they threatened to flog her and put her in chains. They did not yield to the impulse, however. At length, after a quarrel of about a year, Fagas and his wife were reconciled in September 1785. The governor had desired it all along, for he was in fact devoted to Dona Eulalia. The latter became satisfied that her charges against Fagas were unfounded and consented to return to him. From this time forth there is no further evidence of untoward incidents between them, but it is likely under the circumstances that they occurred, for Dona Eulalia did not give up her attempts to get away from Alta California. In the very next month, after their reconciliation, she wrote a petition to the Audincia of the Lajara asking for Fagas' removal on the alleged ground of his ill health. Fagas did not know of the petition until after it had been sent. He then made every effort to head it off and was successful. The documents do not say what happened in the meantime at the gubernatorial residence. Dona Eulalia seems finally to have won the fight. Early in 1790 Fagas himself asked to be relieved. His petition was granted and Jose Antonio de Romeo was appointed in his place. In the fall of 1790, as soon as the news reached Monterey, Eulalia and her children took the San Blas boat and left the province. Fagas had been told that he need not await the coming of the successor, but he stayed on for another year until October or November 1791. He probably joined his family in Mexico City and is supposed to have died in 1796. Pedro Fagas was a man of no inconsiderable ability and even intellectual capacity. His reports merit more study than they have yet received. Not only are they full of information about the province, but many are also well organized and well written. He had many amiable and appealing qualities. He was brave, energetic and dashing and was also conscientious. He was exceedingly fond of children. They could count on him for sweets which he carried about with him in his pockets for their delectation. He was indeed hot-tempered, who can blame him, but his exhibitions of temper served only to bring out by contrast the essential generosity and kindness of his nature. Furthermore, he was devoted to Alta California and not eager to get away as his predecessors had been. This love for the province had one of its manifestations in the interest he took in his estate at Monterey. He had an orchard of some six hundred fruit trees, beside shrubs and grapevines, and was proud of it. Altogether Californians should remember Pedro Fagas as one of the best governors of the Spanish era. Much has already been said about Alta California's problems concerning the food supply and domestic animals. Prices current in Foggedstein help show that these difficulties had been pretty well solved. Counting the peso is equivalent to the dollar, but remembering the very great difference between the value of money then and now, some figures may be given for the purposes of illustration. Prices cost from three to nine dollars, but saddles were more expensive, twelve to sixteen dollars. Sheep brought seventy-five cents to two dollars. Mules were worth from fourteen to twenty dollars. They served as beasts of burden which were always less numerous and more in demand than other animals and therefore more costly. The price of meat may well make any modern housekeeper sigh. One could get a dozen quail for twenty-five cents. Jerk beef was worth three cents a pound and fresh beef only a penny. Eggs however were high at twenty-four cents a dozen. One of the most interesting as well as most important features of the closing years of the eighteenth century was the coming of foreign ships to Alta California. Down to seventeen eighty-six none but Spanish vessels had visited the province, but in that year a famous French voyager, the already-mentioned comte de la Peru, put in at Monterey and made a beginning of Spanish-California's communication with the outside world. La Peru had been sent out by the French government on a voyage of exploration and scientific discovery around the world, but he was also to be on the lookout for lands which might eventually become French colonies. He was instructed to find out the condition, force, and aim of the Spanish settlements in the Californians, note at what degree of latitude the fur trade began, and report on the facilities there might be for French establishments north of Monterey. Leaving France in August 1785, La Peru followed Cook's route around South America to the Hawaiian islands and the northwest coast, which he touched on July 4th, 1786 at fifty-eight degrees thirty-seven minutes. Proceeding down the coast he reached Monterey on September 14th, 1786, staying only until the twenty-fourth. He met with a most generous reception on the part of the Governor Fagas, Father President La Suene, and others. The Spanish settlers at first refused to take pay for the supplies he procured from them. At length they consented, but would not take much. There were entertainments to the limit of the province's capability. One can well imagine that Dona Ulelia must have been at her best on these occasions. La Peru and his companions made good use of their ten-day stay by getting an adequate idea of conditions in the province. Indeed, their description has been characterized as one of the most remarkable ever made for its accuracy, comprehensiveness, and kindly fairness. There was much in it of scientific character about geography, climate, resources, and Indians. The military and political functions and the mission system were also covered. They looked forward to a great future for all to California, but felt that progress would be slow under Spanish rule. The fur trade was the only immediate economic prospect, they said, and gave their further opinion that it would be a century or perhaps two centuries before all to California would attract the attention of maritime powers. They could not foresee the discovery of gold, which was to hasten the development of the Pacific Coast. Leaving all to California, La Peru crossed over to China. In 1788 he was in New Zealand. This was the last that was ever heard of him. Undoubtedly his ship and all on board were lost in one of the many unrecorded disasters of maritime history. Fortunately for posterity he had just previously forwarded his journal to France. In 1788 the first American ships appeared on the coast of the Californias, though far north of the Settle Part in Alta California. These were the Columbia and Lady Washington commanded respectively by Capt. James Kendrick and Robert Gray the first American navigators to sail in the waters of the Pacific. Their principal interest in the present account is the attitude of the Spanish authorities toward them. In May 1789, acting on advices from New Spain, Governor Fagas wrote to Jose Darío Aguayo, commander of the Presidio of San Francisco, warning him that a boat called the Columbia, which is said to belong to General Washington, had entered the Pacific with a companionship in order to make discoveries and inspect the existing Russian settlements. Aguayo was ordered to capture these vessels if they should come to San Francisco. This document is the earliest reference to the United States that has thus far been found in the annals of Alta California. From this time forward, mention of the United States was more frequent. As already stated, the term Boston usually served for the entire country on the opposite coast of the continent. For example, an Indian from Newtka who was baptized at Soledad in May 1793 was described as the son of an Indian killed by Captain Gray of the ship Lady Washington belonging to the Congress of Boston. As for Kendrick and Gray, they avoided the dire fate that may have been in store for them by failing to make port in Alta California. Gray is believed to have first reached coast off the northern part of what is now the state of California. This he did on August 2, 1788. Thence he proceeded northward to Newtka, where presently he was joined by Kendrick in the Columbia. In the next year, Gray transferred to the Columbia, took her to China where he picked up a cargo of tea, and went on around the world arriving in Boston in 1790, this being the first time that a ship flying the American flag had ever encircled the globe. It was not long afterward that an American did come to Alta California. He was a member of the famous Spanish voyage of discovery of the Descubierta and Atravida under the command of Alejandro Malaspina. Malaspina had left Spain in 1789 with the object of making scientific explorations in various lands of the Pacific. After a considerable stay in South America, he struck from the northwest coast of the northern continent, which he reached above 60 degrees. Here his principal object was to decide, once and for all, whether the much-talked strait of Avignon in fact existed. He therefore made careful surveys of the coast all the way down to Monterey, which he reached on September 13, 1791. In his ship's company was a certain John Grom, Ram Groom, who was described as having come originally from Boston. He had shipped at Cadiz as a gunner. This man, the first American to reach Alta California, came there to stay. He was landed at Monterey and buried on the day of Malaspina's arrival. As for Malaspina, he departed from Alta California capital on the 25th of September. It was only a few weeks after this event that Romeo took over from Foggis, the government of the province. Nothing of special interest occurred during Romeo's brief rule. The new governor was in poor health. In 1792 he died and Jose Joaquin de Ariaga, at the time governor of Baja California, became acting governor of the northern province, a post which he held for two years. Ariaga, who was again to be governor in full proprietorship at a later time, from 1802 to 1814, deserves at least passing notice as a respectable figure in California history. He was a native of the Basque province of Guipusquá in Spain, but had served for many years in the New World. He was honest, of excellent character in private life, and a devout Christian. In that he knew how to obey orders to the letter and execute them, he was efficient. But there was nothing of initiative or originality about him. He was severely criticized by the English navigator George van Coover, but rarely by others. In all, he was not a great governor, but was a worthy one. It was during the earlier administration of Ariaga that the three visits of van Coover to Alta California were made. The Newtka controversy of 1789 to 1794 brought many vessels, mostly Spanish, to Alta California. Footnote. During these five years the Spanish government maintained a post at Newtka, the farthest north of the Spanish settlements in the old Californias ever reached. In footnote. On November 14, 1792, van Coover, who had come down the coast from Newtka, entered San Francisco Bay on his ship The Discovery, the first vessel other than those of the Spaniards which had ever put in at that port. A few days later, a second English ship, the Cheetham under William Brotten, entered the bay. Airmen and giel do Sal was, for the moment, in command at San Francisco. He gave the visiting sailors a most cordial reception, and furnished them with supplies for which he would take no pay. Though he did accept, on behalf of the Procedio Admission, certain implements and ornaments, and a hog-set each of wine and rum. During van Coover's stay of twelve days there were many entertainments, on one occasion too, the English commander was permitted to go down the peninsula to the mission at Santa Clara. Leaving San Francisco on November 26, van Coover entered the bay of Monterey on the 27th. There he found another of his own fleet, the Daedalus, and various Spanish ships under Bodega. Jose Dario Arguello was temporarily in charge, in the absence of Governor Ariaga, and he provided entertainment for his visitors on the greatest scale that Alta California had yet known. During the some fifty days of van Coover's stay there was a never-ending show of hospitality, both at the Procedio and at the Mission. As the English vessels prepared to depart they were again furnished with supplies free of charge. Among other things the Daedalus received a cargo of cattle which it took to Australia. These were to be the first animals of that type in the great island continent. On January 15, 1793, both the English ships and the Spanish sailed away. Ariaga had been in Baja California during the period of van Coover's visit. When he heard of the cordial reception which had been extended to the English navigator and his companions, he was greatly displeased, especially because of the trip to Santa Clara which Sile had permitted van Coover to make. The laws stipulated certain precautions against the entry of foreign ships and against their discovering the real weakness of the Spanish establishments. As a temporary governor Ariaga wished to take as little positive action as possible and merely hold the province, as it were, for the official who would soon succeed him. The courtesies to van Coover, he feared, might call down a reprimand upon himself. He therefore issued orders that they were not to be repeated in the future. Foreign vessels could be furnished with supplies, but that was all. In the spring of 1793 van Coover returned from the Hawaiian islands and spent several months exploring the coasts of New Albion, as with Britannic persistence he insisted on calling the Californias, with a view to perpetuating the name applied by Drake. At length he turned south and on October 19 entered the San Francisco Bay, eagerly looking forward to more pleasures like those he had experienced the year before. His expectations were doomed to meet with a rude shock. He himself was treated courteously, but his men were not allowed to land and he was asked about the object and length of his stay. Incensed at this treatment van Coover requested an explanation and it was informed that it was done at Governor Ariaga's orders. After a stay of five days van Coover left San Francisco. On November 1 he was at Monterey. This time his stay did not drag on into weeks and months. It lasted just four days. The San Francisco reception was repeated, possibly with a little more strictness since Ariaga himself was then at Monterey. In his anger at the Spanish governor van Coover has represented the situation as worse than it was. In fact he was allowed to buy supplies on credit. Land his men for exercise day times, though at a stipulated place, procure wooden water and take astronomical observations. On November 10 van Coover reached Santa Barbara where Felipe de Goeco hecho was in command. The same sorts of restrictions were met with, but the Spanish official chose to interpret them more liberally. Indeed van Coover was received so much more cordially than he expected that he remained there eight days and spoke of his stay at Santa Barbara in glowing terms. During south he stopped the day at Ventura and then sailed on to San Diego which he reached on November 27. Here again Ariaga's regulations were applied in a generous spirit. After a visit of 12 days van Coover set sail on December 9 for the Hawaiian islands. In 1794 coming from Nutca van Coover paid his third and last visit to Alta California. This time he did not have to encounter the literal minded Ariaga. Reaching Monterey on November 6 he found his old friend Jose Darío Arguello in command. On the 9th through the 11th Diego Borica the new governor arrived. Many courtesies were extended by these officers and things were made so pleasant for van Coover that he remained for nearly a month until December 2. Then having taken on board a stock of provisions he set sail for England by way of Cape Horn exploring the coasts of South America as he went. In other days these activities as well as his earlier presence along the upper California's coast would have been the signal for a series of Spanish voyages and conquests in avoidance of the English peril. That time had passed however and van Coover's visits take their place merely in the group of interesting but unimportant incidents in the history of the province. Van Coover, like La Perru, was much impressed by the natural advantages of Alta California but criticized the Spaniards for their failure to make due use of their surroundings, marveling at the weakness of their establishments. Alta California's greatest need, he said, was the stimulus of commerce so as to create new wants and new industries and give new value to lands and produce. With the exception of the Santa Barbara Indians he characterized the natives as the most miserable race he had ever seen. For the friars who had always received him well he had nothing but words of enthusiastic praise. Other Spaniards too impressed him favorably as individuals save only Ariaga upon whom he fairly emptied the vials of his wrath. Diego Borica, who had taken over the government at the time of van Coover's last visit, was one of the most attractive figures of Spanish days and should rank next after Neve and Fagas among the best governors of that period. Like his immediate predecessor he was a boss but from the province of Oliva. After a long military career in New Spain he had risen to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel at the time of his appointment to Alta California. Later he received a Colonelcy. Borica was a most jovial character. His letters, even in his official correspondence, are teeming with wit and good humor. He seems also to have been a convivial diner. Van Coover, Puget, one of van Coover's officers, Oliva and Fidalgo, Spanish naval officers, were all good fellows, he once declared, but no better than he before a dozen of Rhine Wineport or Madeira. With characteristic optimism too he took delight in his surroundings which many of his predecessors had been far from appreciating. To live much and without care, he once wrote, come to Monterey. Within a few weeks of his arrival he penned the following glowing description. Quote, this is a great country, climate helpful between cold and temperate, good bread, excellent meat, tolerable fish, and bone humor which is worth all the rest. Plenty to eat, but the most astounding is the general fecundity both of the rationals and irrationals. The climate is so good that all are getting to look like Englishmen. That is, fairer in features than was usual in Spanish America. In footnote. This is the most peaceful and quiet country in the world. One lives better here than in the most cultured court of Europe. In quote, footnote. From the translation in Bancroft, this is in fact made up of excerpts from several letters. In footnote. Unfortunately, no very thorough going study has yet been made of Borica's career. The student who approaches it will most certainly find it replete with human interest. During Borica's term, which lasted from 1794 to 1800, a number of foreign ships visited the province. After Vancouver there came the English ship Phoenix in 1795 commanded by Thomas Moore. The Phoenix stopped at Santa Barbara only. In 1796 William Broughton, coming from Newtka in the Discovery, touched at Monterey. In that same year the first United States vessel ever to anchor in Alta California ports put in appearance. This was the naval vessel Otter of six guns and twenty-six men commanded by Ebenezer Doar. The otter was at Monterey from October 29 to November 6, where it took on a supply of wooden water. Doar asked permission to put ashore some English sailors, a request that Borica was of course obliged to refuse. Doar left them anyway, ten men and women, who were in fact convicts from Botany Bay. In the light of the courtesies, which he had extended, Borica quite naturally regarded this act as dishonorable. He put the men to work and later sent the whole group to New Spain. In 1799 Captain James Rowan and the Eliza stopped at San Francisco and in 1800 Captain Charles Winship of the Betsy put in at San Diego. Both ships were American. A number of other foreign vessels passed up and down the coast but did not make port. Meanwhile the Spanish vessels from Samblas and Manila came in or went by as usual. Borica's administration was one of general progress rather than of outstanding events. All ranks of society received aid and encouragement. This was the era of Lasuans greatest activity as father president, rendered possible by the harmonious and friendly relations between him and the governor. In this period the social life of Monterey was in one of its most interesting stages. Not only did the governor contribute to make it so, but so also did his wife, a wealthy woman and daughter, both of whom were popular. When his term expired he sailed from San Diego for New Spain in January 1800. Going to Durango he died there on July 19th of the same year. Pedro de Alberti, commander of the Catalan Company, succeeded to the governorship on the departure of Borica. Nothing of a note seems to have happened during his brief rule. Alberti himself seems to have been a popular governor. He died at Monterey in 1802. Ariaga now came into power for the second time and remained in command until his death at Soledad Mission in 1814. Just at the outset, on June 26, 1803, the old father president, Fermin Francisco de Lasuane passed away. In the next year came the final separation of Alta and Baja California. Other events of Ariaga's term may in the main be treated elsewhere, with a mere mention here of their general character. From this time forward great numbers of foreign vessels visited the province. Fur traders, whalers, seekers of hides and tallow, practically all of them engaged to a greater or less extent in contraband trade. Eventually, most of these ships came to be American, owing to the diversion affected by the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, which, fortunately for the Americas, called forth the entire efforts and resources of the great overseas colonizing powers. Spanish explorations beyond the coast range became more or less frequent to the accompaniment now and then of battles with the Indians. The Russians appeared along the Alta California coast, and in 1812 founded settlements north of San Francisco Bay. Considerably farther north, the English were making slow progress across the continent in an advance which was not long afterward to bring the Hudson's Bay Company within the boundaries of Alta California itself. And in 1810 came the beginning of the already mentioned Spanish American Wars of Independence. The activities of the Russians in Alta California are much more important as affecting the eventual American occupation than as concerns the purely local narrative of Spanish and Mexican days, wherefore it may more properly be left for treatment to the historian of American California. There is one incident, however, which belongs to Spain and contemporary romance. This is the story of the courtship of Rizanov, the Russian, and Concepción Arguello. Something has already been said about the advance of the Russians across Siberia and of their voyages to Alaskan waters, culminating in the founding of Sitka in 1799. In Alaska they experienced an even greater degree than had the Spaniards in Alta California the difficulties attending settlement in a new and distant land. They found furs in abundance, but lacked food supplies and could not themselves produce them in the quality and amount required. This explains the Russian voyages to Alta California. That province was the nearest point from which they could obtain the food on which their very lives depended. Early in the century the Russians in the frozen north began to hear tales of sunny California from English and American traders. In 1805 Nikolai Petrovich Rizanov, Imperial Inspector and Plenipotentiary of the Russian American Company, reached Sitka charged with the duty of investigating and improving the Russian colonies. He came to Sitka at a time of great distress and famine at that settlement, reminding one of the early days in Alta California. One of the two Russian supply ships had been wrecked, and the other for that year did not come. There was very little food on hand and no way to get more. People began to eat eagles, crows, devilfish and almost anything that teeth could bite. And as a result scurvy and death made their appearance. To add to their misery the colonists were in the midst of a season of cold rains. Luckily for them the American ship Juno under Captain Wolff put in at Sitka. Rizanov bought both the ship and the entire cargo. The relief was substantial but was only temporary. Rizanov therefore decided to take the Juno and go to Alta California in search of supplies. Guided by the surgeon and naturalist Dr. Georg Heinrich von Langstorf, Rizanov left Sitka on March 8th, 1806. Nearly all of the crew had scurvy and the voyage was a race with death. On April 5th the Juno approached the entrance to San Francisco Bay. This was an anxious moment, were the Spaniards tried to stop them? But Rizanov was desperate and resolved to pass the fort at any risk. The story goes that the Spanish guard called out, What ship is that? Russian, answered Rizanov, Let go your anchor, came the orders from the shore. Yes, sir, yes, sir, Rizanov replied, But kept the ship going until it was well inside the harbor and out of range. There he was safe, for there was not so much as a rowboat within the bay. The entry into the bay of San Francisco was against Spanish law, as Rizanov knew well. Naturally, therefore, he felt considerable apprehension over the success of his mission. He had to get supplies. But in the light of his disregard of the challenge from the fort, would the Spaniards furnish them? It would not do, either, to make known how weak were the Russian settlements. Spain and Russia were not at that time so friendly as they became after Napoleon's invasion of the Spanish peninsula in 1808, and the existence of Russian Alaska might be endangered if the Spaniards knew what an easy prey it would be. Finding that no boats came out to the Juno, Rizanov at length sent Langsdorf and Lieutenant Davidoff offshore. They were met by Louis Arguello in temporary command at San Francisco in the absence of José Darío, his father. Arguello was Father Francisco Uria of the mission. It is said that Langsdorf and Uria carried on the conversation in Latin since none of the four knew both Spanish and Russian. This would seem to cast some doubt on the tale about Rizanov's manner of passing the fort when he entered the bay in footnote. At any rate, the Russians were well received. It happened that orders had arrived telling of a Russian voyage of discovery around the world and calling upon the authorities in Alta California to treat the foreign navigators with courtesy if they should come to the province. Arguello had at first believed that the Juno might be one of the ships in question, so he entertained Rizanov and his officers at the Arguello home. There, Rizanov explained that the ships of which Arguello had been informed had returned to Russia. According to make an impression, he announced that he himself was the ruler of the Russian possessions in North America and said that he had come to Alta California to consult the governor about mutual interests. He was silent concerning his real object. To procure supplies to keep the Russians in the north from starving, Lesti might compromise his chances of getting a cargo. He did not mention his urgent need and did not ask to buy provisions, but he did make gifts to all who might help his cause, not merely to win their favor, but also to advertise the goods aboard the Juno. This policy met with initial success. The friars of various missions offered to barter food for some of the effects he had if Governor Ariaga's consent could be obtained. The news of Rizanov's arrival having reached Monterey, the governor himself came up to San Francisco. Both Rizanov and Ariaga could talk French, so negotiations now proceeded more easily. There followed a battle of wits between the two men in which the Spaniard must be admitted to have carried off the honors. He succeeded in drawing out of Rizanov that he wanted food supplies, but the Russian claimed that he desired them only as samples to see if they were adapted to Alaska and also urged the advantages of a mutual trade. Further for the letter of the law that he was, Ariaga was about to refuse his consent to the proposed exchange, saying that he could not take a violation of the statutes on his conscience. It was at this moment that they intervened a powerful factor to save the day for Rizanov. This new element was none other than a comely young woman, daughter of the commander of San Francisco, Concepcion Arguello. The story is told by Rizanov's companion, Langsdorf. He draws a contrast between Alaska with its starvation and other hardships and its hideous squaws, and all to California where life ran the gamut of contentment and the abundance of things that were pleasurable and the happy indolence of the inhabitants. Here there was plenty to eat and drink, tobacco to smoke, much riding by day and unlimited sleep at all hours. Here were fair women the joy of the dance and the much indulged and gentle art of making love. Naturally the mind of Rizanov was disposed to be impressed, and all the more so when he beheld Concepcion Arguello, the acknowledged beauty among the young women of the province. Rizanov was indeed captivated by the lovely Concepcion. But there is a blot on the escutcheon of his famous romance. It was inextricably interwoven with Rizanov's game of diplomacy to get food. According to the English version of Langsdorf's account, the bright eyes of Dona Concepcion had made a deep impression upon his heart, and he conceived that an actual union with the daughter of the commandant at San Francisco would be a vast step gained toward promoting the political objects he had so much at heart. He had therefore nearly come to a resolution to sacrifice himself by this marriage to the welfare, as he hoped, of the two countries of Spain and Russia. If Rizanov's love was somewhat self-contained, it would seem from this that it was, nevertheless sincere. If he meant to use it to obtain his diplomatic ends, he also intended to carry on the courtship to its culmination in marriage. As for Concepcion, there was no doubt at all about her attitude. She was only sixteen, and she was not satisfied with the narrow bounds of her life in faraway Alta California. Rizanov made famous and rapid progress, both in love and it would seem in Spanish, spurred on by the delightful incentive of a bewitching young woman to talk to. While he sued her that he was, he recounted the glories of the court at St. Petersburg, the days that lost nothing in the telling. It was not long before he realized that he had this particular phase of this campaign well under control. As he tells it, I imperceptibly created in her an impatience to hear something serious from me on the subject. At the psychological moment he became duly serious and was quickly accepted. Thereupon he faced the next hurdle, that of the family and the friars, who interposed objections on the ground that Rizanov was of a different religious faith and that in any event he would carry Concepcion away from them to Russia. Eventually, the consent of the parents and the religious was accorded, provided that permission for the marriage might be obtained from the Pope. So much for the courtship in itself. Meanwhile, it had all along been serving Rizanov's more mundane purposes. Rizanov was in a position to know what her father and the governor were saying about his trading prospects and she passed the information along to Rizanov. Once betrothed, Rizanov became virtual master in the Argueil home. From this time, he said, I manage the sport as my interests required. Now Rizanov had a valuable aid in his efforts to win the consent of Ariyaga to the exchange of goods. Not only did he and the friars redouble their urgings, but also Concepcion and Jose Dario Argueil, her father, Ariyaga's best friend, pleaded with the governor. Before such an attack, Ariyaga's conscience yielded. He gave his permission for this once, but would not agree to any trading in future unless with the authorization of his superiors. The Juno was quickly laden and with but little further delay, Rizanov set sail on May 21st for Alaska. The whole affair of the courtship of Rizanov and Concepcion Argueil occupied little more than six weeks, but the real beauty of the tale is in the aftermath, as so alluringly set forth in the famous poem of Bret Hart. Rizanov took his cargo to Alaska and afforded great relief to the hard-pressed colony. Some time afterward he crossed over to Kamchatka. In September 1806 he left Akhask on the long journey across Siberia to European Russia. At Yakutsk he was taken sick, but resumed travel before he had fully recovered. On March 1st 1807 at Krasnoyarsk he died. Rizanov's constancy, therefore, was never tested. There is no evidence as to how he felt toward Concepcion after he had left Altacalifornia. But as for the little Spanish-Californian lady, she was faithfulness itself. For years she waited for her lover's return, or at least for some word from him, but none ever came. Sooner she might have had in plenty, but she wanted but the one. At length she took the robes of a nun and devoted herself to a life of charity. When her father became governor of Baja California, she went there too for several years, probably from 1815 to 1819. For a while she was back in Altacalifornia and went then to Guadalajara. In 1829, now 38 years of age, she returned to Altacalifornia and thereafter remained living for the most part with the De La Guerra family of Santa Barbara. Not until 1842, thirty-six years after Rizanov's departure, did she at last get word of the way in which he died. Sir George Simpson of the Hudson's Bay Company is said to have informed her. Bret Hart tells a story in the following lines. Forty years on wall and bastions swept the hollow idle breeze since the Russian eagle fluttered from the California seas. Forty years on wall and bastion rotted slow but sure decay and St. George's Cross was lifted in the Port of Monterey. And the citadel was lighted and the hall was gaily dressed, all to honor Sir George Simpson, famous traveler and guest. Far and near the people gathered to the costly banquet set and exchanged congratulations with the English baronet. Till the formal speeches ended and amidst the laugh and wine, someone spoke of conscious lover, heedless of the warning sign. Quickly then, cried Sir George Simpson, speak no ill of him, I pray. He is dead. He died, poor fellow, forty years ago this day. Died while speeding home to Russia, falling from a fractious horse. Left a sweetheart, too, they tell me. Married, I suppose, of course. Live she yet? A death-like silence fell on banquet guests and hall. And a trembling fixture rising fixed the austra gauge of all. Two black eyes and darkened orbits gleamed beneath the nun's white hood. Black surge hid the wasted figure, bowed and stricken where it stood. Live she yet? Sir George repeated. All were hushed as Concha drew, closer yet her nun's attire. Señor, art she died, too. In 1857, at the convent of St. Catherine in Benesia, Concepción Argueo died. Her life had been famous not only for its romance, but also for its kindness and charities, so that she was venerated by all. Thus passed away the most cherished figure in the romance of Alta California history. End of Chapter 31. Chapter 32. A history of California, the Spanish period. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 32. Inland Explorations and Indian Wars, 1804-1823. Why was it that Spanish Californians did not discover gold? They had an opportunity of nearly 80 years' duration to find it, and thus ward off acquisition of Alta California by the United States. The question is therefore not without importance, and it is also interesting in that it involves a story of their many expeditions into the interior where the gold lay. Thus it is possible to link up many towns of the state with Spanish traditions which otherwise they might not possess, except vicariously through the experiences of their neighbors on the coast. Closely connected with the subject of inland exploration is that of Indian warfare, which had its center at times in the mission areas, as well as in the non-Christian districts of the great interior valley. The Spanish Californians had never gone in from the coast to make settlements. Soledad was farthest inland in the province, and that was only some 30 miles from the sea. Anza and Garces had crossed the desert in the south, and the latter had once gone north across the mountains almost to Lake Tulare. Faga San Anza had ascended the San Joaquin River for short distances, and in 1776 Jose Joaquin Moraga crossed it and went on a day's journey farther on. Prior to the close of the 18th century, at least one Spanish expedition was made to Bodega Bay. There were also pursuits of runaway mission Indians just over the hills and into the valley, and certain vague explorations of the Tulare's. A report of Lieutenant Hermenangildo Sal in 1796 mentioned streams which have been identified as the west, middle, and east channels of the San Joaquin and the Moca Lumina, as also the lakes of the Moca Lumina Consumnes Basin. It seems that an expedition had just previously been made in the year 1795. Speaking generally, it may be said, however, that the interior was very little known down to the close of the 18th century. Many had seen the great river valleys from the summits of the western hills, but few had traversed them, even for short distances. It was during the second administration of Governor Ariaga that active exploration of the interior began. Father Juan Martín of San Miguel was one of the pioneers. He later asserted that he had often tried to persuade Ariaga to establish a mission in the Tulare's, claiming that 4,000 Indians might thereby be saved. But the Governor was committed to foundations along the rivers, meaning probably the San Joaquin and its affluence. In response to native requests, Father Martín resolved to visit the swamp country himself. So in 1804, without license from anyone, he journeyed east into what is now Kern County and reached a native village on Lake Tulare. He was desirous of taking some Indian children back with him to instruct them at the mission, but was prevented when a native chieftain made a show of resistance. Without accomplishing anything of note, Father Martín returned to San Miguel. In January 1805, Father Pedro de la Cueva of Mission San Jose went with three soldiers and several mission Indians to visit some sick converts at a native village in the hills 10 or 15 miles to the east. The little party was attacked by Indians, four of the men, including one of the soldiers, met death, and all of the horses were killed. The rest escaped, but all were wounded. A Spanish force of 35 men under Sergeant Luis Peralta was at once dispatched against the Indians and succeeded in killing 11 of their number and capturing 30 more, mostly women. In February Peralta made another raid, but found that all desire for fighting had died out among the Indians. Some of the chieftains from the villages as far away as the San Joaquin came to the Spanish settlements in order to disclaim participation in the recent outbreak. It may have been in connection with this affair that another expedition was sent into the valley in 1805. Whatever it was and whoever commanded it, it seems to have explored a river to which the name Rio de los Reyes was applied. In translated form, this has survived as King's River, whence also comes the name King's County. It is probable that this expedition was commanded by Gabriel Moraga, who was to win laurels as the greatest pathfinder and Indian fighter of his day. It is certain, at any rate, that at some time prior to the series of expeditions sent out in 1806 he had visited and named the San Joaquin. That river had indeed been known for many years, but as the Rio de San Francisco. Governor Ariaga turned his attention to the valley country in earnest in 1806. The Indian problem had become annoying, if not serious. Runaways from the missions had sought both liberty and the profitable accompaniments of mission cattle and especially horses. They had also learned the use of firearms. Coming in contact with the Indians of the valley, they communicated to them their knowledge of Spanish ways and their appetite for horse flesh, thus enhancing the danger. Viewed from another angle, the interior, with its many tribes, promised a rich field for missionary endeavor. Thus the search for mission sites, which might serve as a means of defense as well as for the purpose of conversions, became a principal objective in the governor's plans. In 1806 at least four expeditions were made. The first of these seems to have gone out from San Francisco in April, but no account of its discoveries has survived. The second was undertaken by a party of twenty-two soldiers, one friar and three interpreters, under the command of Alferez, color sergeant José Joaquín Maetorena. No clear record of the expedition is extent. Maetorena left San Diego on June 20 and was out until July 14. He seems to have gone inland to the north from San Luis Ray. Beyond the fact that he captured two fugitive mission Indians, there is slight indication of either his route or his achievements. Somewhat more information is at hand about an expedition which left Santa Barbara on July 19 for the Tulareis. Although not certain, it is probable the Lieutenant Francisco Ruiz was in command. Father José María Zalvidea went along as diarist. The route, in terms of modern place names, seems to have been as follows. Footnote. Modern place names are used for all of the expeditions covered in this chapter. Going by way of Santa Inés, Johnata, Zaca, and the Cisquac and Cuyama the Rivers, the party broke into Kern County and came to Buena Vista Lake, which seems to have been united then with Kern Lake. Proceeding possibly by way of Tecuya they passed Uves Creek and reached their farthest north about the site of Bakersfield, making camp on the Kern River. Turning south they came on the fourth day to a place where, years before, the Indians had killed two soldiers, an allusion to an otherwise unknown expedition. Going through Tejón Pass they turned east from Castaic and went well into San Bernardino County, returning eventually by way of Antelope Valley, Cajón Pass, and Lytle Creek, near San Bernardino, to San Gabriel, which they reached on August 14th. Everywhere the Indians had been friendly, but the lands were described generally as arid and alkaline. Characterizations such as this, which was repeated by most of the later expeditions entering that territory, were of no small importance in that they discouraged projected settlement to the valley. It is more than probable that they played their part in avoiding such attempts at colonization as would have brought on the discovery of gold. The most important expedition of the year was headed by Alferes Gabriel Moraga. There were twenty-five men in this party, one of whom was father Pedro Muñoz, the chaplain and diarist. Starting from San Juan Bautista on September 21st, the Moraga party entered the Tule Plain, probably by way of San Luis Creek in Merced County. Crossing the San Joaquin they came to a slew which they named Mariposas, on account of the great number of butterflies, Mariposas, that they saw. Short the final S, this name survives both for the slew and creek, and for the county, east of Moraga's march, through which it flows. Going north and northwest, they discovered and named the Merced River, and successively passed the Tuolumne, Stanisla, Calaveras, and Mokolumne Rivers. The Indian village of Tuolamna, visited by them, is perhaps the origin of the modern name in the Tuolumne River and county, although it was located on this Nanisla. Turning south and southeast, the party eventually reached the San Joaquin, where it flows southwest, forming the boundary between Madera and Fresno counties. Here they were told that soldiers from the east of the Sierra Nevada mountains had come there twenty years before, and had fought a battle with the Indians. Three days later, when Moraga reached King's River, the same story was repeated by the Indians. Possibly some not otherwise known, and perhaps disastrous, expedition had formerly been made by Spaniards from New Mexico. Ascending King's River, Moraga and his men turned south into Tulare County, passing near or through modern Visalia, and went on to the Kern River. In this region they seemed to have explored to the east as far as the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Going south again, they rode through to Home Pass to San Fernando, where they arrived on November 3rd. Moraga confirmed previous reports as to mission sites and Indians. Munoz's account mentioned the Merced River as the best location they had found, and spoke favorably of King's River, though a procedure would be required. Aside from them there were few promising sites. Some of the Indians had been timid, running away from the Spaniards, but the rest had been friendly. Summing up the four expeditions in his biennial report of March 1807, Father President Esteban Tapiz stated that they had visited 24 native villages with a total population of 5,300 Indians. Mission sites were few, and in any event a procedure would be necessary, he said, because of the remoteness of that section and the great number of Indians who dwelt beyond the regions lately explored. In the next few years there were probably a number of expeditions of which nothing definite is at present known. For example, there is an obscure reference to an expedition of Luis Aguayo, some 70 or 80 leagues up the Sacramento in the same year as that of the four expeditions just described. The next that is authentic, however, came in 1808 when Gabriel Moraga made his third expedition to the Rivers of the North. Whether his journey of 1806 was the first or second, and whether his probable visit of 1805 to the Talares in the South should be counted as one of those to the Rivers of the North cannot as yet be asserted. At any rate, whatever Moraga may have done before, his journey of 1808 was one of the most remarkable of those times. The object of the expedition was to explore the river country opposite the northern Spanish settlements for mission sites. Leaving Mission San Jose on September 25th with 11 men, Moraga made his way to the valley and forwarded the San Joaquin just south of the point where it is joined by the Calaveras near Stockton. He then ascended the Calaveras in its entire length from San Joaquin to the source in the Sierras without finding a suitable mission site. Presently he crossed to the Mokaluna River to the north and explored that too through all its length with like results. Going north he came to the Consumnes and went up that as he had done in the case of the Calaveras in the Mokaluna before it. Proceeding yet farther north he struck the American River, apparently just below Auburn. In a distance of four leagues he reached the place where it emerged from the mountains. On October 9th the expedition camped on the Lower Feather River, remarking its width and its overflow plain. To this they gave the name Sacramento, employing it also henceforth for the Great River which it in fact joins farther down. In this connection it may be remarked that at some point where the Sacramento and the Feather come together it is the latter which makes a straight course north and south with the Lower Sacramento, whereas the Upper Sacramento flows in at that point from the west. Moraga crossed the Feather River, presumably below Nicholas, and went north-northwest seven leagues to a mountain range in the middle of the valley, the Marysville Buttes. Turning west he came to the Upper Sacramento which he called the Jesus Maria, a name at long retain for that part of its course. He went north along the eastern bank about ten leagues. It would seem therefore that he got about to Butte City or perhaps opposite Glen in Glen County. To the west he described the border of trees marking the presence of a river, no doubt Stony Creek. Next day the twelfth he turned east and on the thirteenth crossed Feather River, he clipped Sacramento. In Butte County certainly not far from Oroville. Going now through Yuba County he came at length to the American. In this part of his account there is a break which makes it impossible to say whether he traversed Nevada County, but it is quite probable that he did so. Considerably farther south several days later he made his customary upriver explorations of both the Tuolumne and the Merced. Crossing the San Joaquin at the mouth of the Merced he went north at Pescadero on Union Island and thence to Mission San Jose which he reached on October 23rd. In addition to having passed through the already well-known regions of Merced, Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties, Maraga had visited and perhaps discovered Calaveras, Amador, El Dorado, Placer, Sutter, Colusa, Glen, Butte, Yuba and Tuolumne counties and maybe also Nevada County. Great as was the achievement of this Columbus of the near Sierra's, the expedition seems to have been a failure in that it had discovered no suitable mission sites. Perhaps on that account Maraga's journey was soon forgotten, escaping even the attention of the all-gathering Hubert Howe Bancroft. But recent research has brought it to light. In October 1809 a party of 15 soldiers from the Monterey District under Sergeant Miguel Espinosa is believed to have made an expedition, but the record is lacking. The following year, 1810, was a busy one for the indefatigable Gabriel Moraga. He began with a military campaign in May. There was an unconverted tribe in the vicinity of Suison, north of Suison Bay, that had been committing depredations against the Christian settlement, killing mission Indians. So, Moraga was sent with 17 men to attack them. Crossing Carcanez Strait, Moraga engaged 120 natives. 18 were captured, but were set at liberty since they were already in a dying condition from their wounds. The rest took refuge in three huts. All and two of the huts were killed, and those in the third burned to death rather than surrender when the hut was set on fire. For this action, which was regarded as a most brilliant affair at the time, Moraga was promoted to a brevet lieutenancy. In November of that same year there was some Indian trouble in the vicinity of San Gabriel, and Moraga was ordered south. His reputation had preceded him, and the situation was soon well in hand. Meanwhile, he had made several explorations of the interior. The first was from August 15th to August 28. With a party of sixteen soldiers, Father Jose Villader and four Christian Indians, Moraga sent out from Santa Clara and went by way of the Arroyo de las Nusus, a name which has survived as Walnut Creek, into the Contra Costa Country. Fasting Carcanez Strait in the mouths of the Sacramento and San Joaquin, he presently marched south up the west shore of the latter. At some point, in Berset County, he turned west along San Luis Creek and went through a pass in the mountains to San Juan Batista. Word came that the Russians were at or near Bodega. So in September, Moraga was sent in that direction to Reconoiter. At the mouth of Tomales Bay, he met three American deer hunters and went with them to their barracks and frigate at Bodega. Going north, he came to Santa Rosa Creek and the Russian River. Then he returned to San Francisco by way of Sonoma, where later the mission San Francisco Solano was established. In October, Moraga was sent to the valley again to look for mission sites as usual and to capture runaway mission Indians. With 23 soldiers, 50 armed Indians and father of the other, he left mission San Jose on October 19th and struck east to Pescadero. Next day, he captured 81 natives, 51 of whom were women, whom presently he released. Crossing to the right bank of the San Joaquin, he ranged the country watered by the Stanislas, Tuolumne and Merced without any further success in capturing runaways. On October 27th, he reached Santa Clara. Neither on this expedition nor that of August had he found satisfactory mission sites. Indeed, the previously much praised Merced County was now characterized as unsuitable. Something new in exploration marked the year 1811. This was a visit to the river country by boat in October, the first attempt in this fashion since the days of Ayala, a generation before. Sergeant Jose Antonio Sanchez was in command. The party proceeded by way of Angel Island past the well-known Point San Pablo and Point San Pedro, noting Petaluma Creek and San Pablo Day. Presently, they went by an island, later called Yegua, a name which has survived as Mer Island. Going through Suisun Bay, they ascended the west branch of the San Joaquin. Later, they entered the main channel and, at the point where the southern Pacific now has its crossing west of Stockton, the east channel. Returning to the mouth of the San Joaquin, they went a little way up to Sacramento, making the first recorded navigation of that stream. Going through Nurse Slew and Montezuma Creek, they came out about a league east of Suisun and then ascended Suisun Creek as far as modern Eulatus. Thence, they returned to San Francisco. One site on the lower Sacramento was named by them as a possibility for a mission foundation. By this time, there had come a change in the direction of all the California affairs that was to affect the whole Indian problem, including the matter of interior exploration. Presely, as described it, as follows. During this epoch, the revolutionary movement in Mexico was having its far away and indirect effect on the life of the California missions. The friars no longer were sent north to replace the aged or retired missionaries. Money could not be sent, nor were reports returned to the College of San Fernando. Generally, California missions and political government alike suffered from neglect in Mexico. For neither the Spanish government, nor the revolutionists, had power enough to be efficient in the far distant north. Hence, it is not strange that the numerous expeditions made in search of mission sites bore no fruit in foundations, especially as any such expansion would have required not only friars but procedural forces and expenditures as well. Meantime, there had been a change for the worse in the attitude of the Indians and whites toward each other. The points of contact had become more numerous and friction consequently greater. Because the constructive Indian policy dominated by strategic expansion of the Presidio mission system was impracticable, it was logical that the white man should attempt to hold the natives in check by the comparatively weak method of punitive expeditions. Moraga's campaigns at Tsuason and San Gabriel in 1810 were part of the new policy. A conscious plan of mission expansion was now superseded by the hitherto incidental factor of pursuing runaways, recovering stolen animals, and punishing the Indians who had committed the robberies. In November 1811 there was trouble again at San Gabriel. At one time it was reported that 800 Yumas or Mojaves had approached the post with the intention of destroying it and the other neighboring missions. Reinforcements were sent and no attack was made. The coming of the Russians to Alta California in 1812 directed attention to the North Bay country. From 1812 to 1814 Gabriel Moraga made three trips to the Russian settlements of Bodega and Fort Ross, thus becoming well acquainted with the trails and valleys of Marin and Sonoma counties. There seems to have been no important expedition to the great Central Valley in 1812, but one of October 1813 is of some interest. This was commanded by Sergeant Francisco Soto, who 37 years before had attained to distinction as the first child of the conquering race to be born at San Francisco. With a hundred Indians from Mission San Jose and 12 soldiers who came from San Francisco in a boat, Soto fought a battle on some unnamed river, presumably the San Joaquin. It is said that the Indian enemies numbered a thousand men of whom many were killed, while the Spaniards won the victory with the loss of but one Mission Indian. In October 1814 a fresh search for a Mission site in the Tulare was made. The commander of the expedition was a Sergeant, Juan Ortega, whose name does not appear. The account comes from Father Juan Cabot, who was a member of the party. They went from San Miguel to Lake Tulare, near which point they got into some difficulties when they attempted to serve as peacemakers between two warring tribes. In a battle with one of them the Spaniards lost two horses and the Indians one old woman. Peace was restored and the party went on to the vicinity of Isalia. On their return they crossed King's River and made their way to San Miguel by a more northerly route than that by which they had come. The arrival of Governor Solan in 1815 was marked by the so-called Great Expedition of that year into the Tulare's to recapture runaways. It seems that simultaneous expeditions were made from different points. Authentic accounts of two of them have survived. Sergeant Juan Ortega, with Father Cabot and 30 soldiers, was in command of the party which went out from San Miguel. Leaving there on November 4th, he proceeded to the valley where he made a night march to avoid being seen by the Indians. On the next night at King's River he tried to capture two fishermen, but they escaped and gave the alarm, wherefore no renegades were caught. Preceding to the Cahuilla River region in the vicinity of Isalia, he continued his unavailing search for runaways, finding that the natives were in great fear of this party as a result of stories told by escaped Mission Indians from Soledad. On the 15th, Ortega joined Sergeant Pico's party. Sergeant Jose Dolores Pico, with Father Jaime Escudo and a body of soldiers, had left San Juan Batista on November 3rd. On the 8th, at some point in the general vicinity of the junction of the San Joaquin and King's Rivers, he fell upon an Indian village and captured 66 Indians, of whom 50 seemed to have been Christians. After affecting a junction in the upper reaches of King's River with Sergeant Ortega, Pico marched with his now enlarged party to the San Joaquin. On one occasion 250 horses were seen, most of them recently killed. A large band of animals was recovered, however, and sent back to the missions. While at Mariposa Slu, the Spaniards were misled by the Indians, who thus enabled a number of renegades to escape. On November 29th, Pico reached San Juan Batista with ten, six soldiers and only nine prisoners. Governor Solado boasted that the great expedition had been a pronounced success, but Father Tapas was probably correct in characterizing the results as unsatisfactory. In May 1816, an expedition for religious purposes was made by Father Luis Martinez, who was accompanied by a body of soldiers. Martinez left San Luis Obispo for the Tulare, carrying on operations in the vicinity of Buena Vista Lake. He reported that the natives were so unreasonable as to prefer their existing unhappy condition to the benefits they might derive away from their homes at the missions. He did succeed in buying one boy in exchange for beads, blankets, and meat. On one occasion, when the inhabitants of a village had fled at the approach of his party, messengers were sent to bid them return, but the messengers were receded with darts and cries of kill-the-coast people. In revenge, therefore, the native village was burned. No suitable site for a mission was found, yet the biennial report of Father President Mariano Payariz, 1815 to 1822, for 1815 to 1816, again urged the founding of missions and a Presidio in the Valley, naming the Vicelia District as the best location. Two years later he repeated his recommendation. But the time had passed when any such project was likely to receive favorable action, fortunately perhaps for the Atlantic Coast Republic to the East. For a number of years interest in the Great River region had lagged. This now revived in between May 13th and May 26th, 1817. An expedition was made by boat from San Francisco. Luis Arguello, then a lieutenant, was in command. Fathers Narciso Duran and Ramon Abea were members of the party. In their voyage up to Sacramento, it is possible to identify various of the channels they followed and some of the places where they stopped. At one time they took refuge from a terrific wind behind Montezuma Hills near Rio Vista. Below Clarksburg they got a view of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Going on it would seem that they passed what is now Sacramento being very probably the discoverers of that site, and got nearly as far north as the mouth of the Feather River. At any rate they got within sight of the Marysville Buttes which were said to be 10 leagues farther on. Coming downstream they turned off at Brennan Island and followed a branch to the southeast some 11 or 12 leagues. Returning to the Sacramento they proceeded home, mentioning by name the dunes between Antioch and Black Diamond, still called Los Medanos, the dunes. At different times on this expedition the Indians told them of other white people beyond the Sierras. On December 14th of that year an establishment was made at San Rafael which blossomed forth to all intents and purposes as a mission, though it was rated merely as a branch of San Francisco. The site was probably recommended by Gabriel Moraga who had passed that way several times since 1810. Father Luis Guil was elected to take charge and went there accompanied by several other friars including Father Vicente Saria who conducted the dedication ceremonies. Perhaps the most interesting fact connected with the founding was the reason which lay behind it. Contemporary Spanish documents point out that the Indians of San Francisco were dying at an alarming rate and it was believed that San Rafael would be a more helpful site. Viewed locally there can be little doubt that this was the principal factor. Among other causes assigned one at least deserves comment that it was in opposition to the Russians of Fort Ross. This has been asserted by Russian writers and most certainly in earlier years in the era of the aggressive defensive it would have occurred to the higher Spanish authorities as a motive for settlement. To be sure a mission could hardly serve as a military bulwark but it could substantiate acclaimed territory or minimize the value of a foreign allegation of sovereignty. Some evidence to this effect appears in the account of Father Payeris of a visit by Luis Arguello, Father Guil and himself to that section late in May 1819. Passing through San Rafael in an investigation for a mission site they went to attractive land back of Point San Pedro which Payeris called Guyenas, a name which still appears on the maps. Climbing the highest hill to the east they looked out on Petaluma plain on the one hand and the great river and mountain range to the east on the other. Only a few white men had crossed the Sierras, Payeris said. There had been some wanderers who had gone from village to village selling their clothing for food and making their way to San Jose. One wonders who they were. Referring to the region settled by the Russians, Payeris suggested that it might be brought into communication with the bay if a procedural were put at a known favorable location three leagues from Point Bodega and if missions were established at Petaluma and Suison. Evidently as priestly points out his mind was dwelling on the presence of the Russians and this motive for missionary activity in that section must be added to that of the health of the Neophytes in San Francisco. At about this same time an event took place at the San Buena Ventura mission which was to bring on a new series of interior expeditions. Indians from the Colorado had developed a practice of coming to the southern missions and small parties to trade. One such party of 22 Mojave's reached San Buena Ventura on May 29th, 1819. They were not cordially received by the mission soldiers. Indeed they were required to remain in the guardhouse pending their departure next day. On the 30th, while all were at church save a sentry in the Mojave's, a disturbance arose at the guardhouse. A general fight ensued in which 10 Mojave's, two Spanish soldiers and one Mission Indian were killed and several Mojave's captured, though they subsequently escaped. The alarm was spread throughout the province as it was feared that the Colorado River tribes would seek revenge. Reinforcements were sent to San Gabriel which was particularly exposed to attack and sentries were posted in the mountains to the east. Meanwhile, runaway Mission Indians and tribesmen of the Great Valley were causing the coast settlements more than usual annoyance, especially by thefts of horses, which by this time the Indians had learned to ride. Therefore Governor Salah resolved upon another campaign on a large scale to settle these various issues. Of the three expeditions organized, the first to get under way was that of Sergeant Sanchez. Early in October with 25 men, Sanchez proceeded from San Francisco by way of San Jose to the lower San Joaquin Valley. At or near modern Stockton he had a great battle with a mocha loomness in which the enemy lost 27 killed, 20 wounded, and 16 prisoners, besides 49 horses which Sanchez recovered. One Mission Indian was killed and five soldiers were wounded. For this achievement Sanchez was advanced to the wreck of Brevet Alferez in the following year. Among the private soldiers in Sanchez's party was Jose Maria Amador, son of Sergeant Pedro Amador, a grizzled old veteran who came to California in 1769, whose name is preserved in modern Amador County. The second expedition to start was that of Lieutenant Jose Maria Estudio with a force of about 40 men. Leaving Monterey on October 17th, Estudio marched by way of Soledad and San Miguel into the Talares of Curran County. He found that everywhere the Indians seemed to be aware of the Spanish expeditions, news of his own foray had been sent on from Soledad. He himself was able to get information of the other expeditions. Estudio's precise route is hard to follow, but he reached the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas in Curran County in the same region that Moraga had explored in 1806. Going north to the Vicelia District of Tilari County, he turned west, crossed Kings River, went on down that river in the San Joaquin, and then turned west to San Juan Batista, which he reached on November 13th, arriving at Monterey three days later. The expedition had not been a great success from the standpoint of capturing runaways, recovering animals, or indeed from any standpoint, whatever. Estudio recommended that further examination should be made at the Vicelia, Kings River, and San Joaquin country before any conquest should be attempted. In any event, he said, a Presidio with a force of 115 men would be necessary. A mission alone would not suffice. The third and greatest expedition of the year was commanded, as might have been expected, by the veteran Gabriel Moraga, now a lieutenant. This was not only to capture fugitives, but also to punish the Mojaves for the San Buenaventura affair. The force included 55 soldiers, four of whom were artillery men with a small cannon. Besides a great number of mission Indians and native allies, Father Joaquin Pasquual served as chaplain and diarist. Moraga left San Gabriel on November 22, following the line the present Santa Fe Railway through Cajon Pass into the Mojave Desert. The route through the desert cannot well be identified, but presumably a direct course for the Mojave villages was taken. The distance recorded as having been traveled should have brought the expeditionaries to the present eastern boundary of California or just short of it. It would seem, therefore, either that they stopped when already not far from the Colorado River, or else if their direction were slightly north of east, that they got at, near, or over the Nevada line. It is at least interesting to think of Gabriel Moraga as the possible discoverer of Nevada. One place, near their farthest east, was alluded to as having been visited by him three years earlier, a reference to an expedition not otherwise known. With respect to the objects of the foray, however, the expedition was a failure, the only known blemish on the record of Gabriel Moraga. Lack of grass and water weakened the horses and mules to such an extent that they could go no further. So Moraga turned back and was at San Gabriel again on December 14. This was the last known campaign of a man whose exploits are altogether too inadequately recorded in the history of California. Moraga Valley and Moraga Road in the East Bay region do indeed recall the name, but not to the extent that this intrepid explorer deserves. It is fitting to take leave of him with some further account of his career. As a boy he came to Alta California with the second Anza expedition and lived at San Francisco where his father, Jose Joaquin Moraga, was first commandant. He enlisted as a private in 1784 and rose successively to the ranks of Corporal in 1788, Sergeant 1800, Alferes in 1806, Brevet Lieutenant 1811, and Lieutenant in 1818. From about 1818 he began to seek retirement on grounds of old age and chronic rheumatism, but his petitions seemed not to have been granted. His service sheet of 1820 records that he had taken part in 46 expeditions against the Indians, vastly more than the few to which the historians as yet have knowledge. Three years later on June 15, 1823, he died at Santa Barbara and was buried in the graveyard at the mission. He was described by a contemporary as a tall, well-built man of dark complexion, brave, gentlemanly, and the best Californian soldier of his time. Bankraft incorrectly refers to him as illiterate, for there are not a few Moraga documents written as well as the average of his day, but goes on to say that he was honest, moral, kind-hearted, popular, and a very energetic and successful officer. Shirley Gabrielle Moraga, known discoverer of many interior regions, probable discoverer of yet more, worthy man and meritorious soldier, deserves well to be remembered as one of the most exemplary figures in the history of Alta California. One last exploration for mission sites was made in 1821. By this time the issue of secularization of the missions had become prominent in Alta California, being an outgrowth from legislation of the Spanish Cortes in 1813 that all missions established ten years should be secularized and the missionaries should move on to new conversions. Animated possibly by this prospect, Father Payeris made a search for new sites. Accompanied by Father Jose Sanchez, who kept the diary, he left San Diego on September 10. Going northeast by way of El Cajón, he came to Santa Isabel in the center of San Diego County. After making explorations for leagues around, the two friars went north by way of Pala, Temecula, and San Jacinto to the San Bernardino. Turning west, they made their way to San Gabriel, where they arrived toward the end of September. They had found three sites which they deemed suitable for a mission—Taki, near Santa Isabel, and Pala in San Diego County—and a point on Lytle Creek, north of San Bernardino. It is also interesting to note that at San Jacinto and San Bernardino there were ranches respectively of San Luis Rey and San Gabriel missions and that there were over 400 Christian Indians in the valley between San Bernardino and San Gabriel. Something like old ideas were revived to bring about the last and possibly the greatest of the expeditions into the interior under Spanish rule. Rumors were current to the effect that a party of Englishmen or Americans had established themselves within 40 or 50 leagues to the north of San Francisco. Spurred on by the possibility of foreign danger, Sola decided upon an expedition to get information and expel the intruders if necessary. Luis Arguello, famous not only as the brother of Dona Concepción and as a later governor of Alta California but also as an explorer, with a record of achievement second only to that of Gabriel Moraga, was chosen to take command. Including officers, there were 59 soldiers in his party, besides Father Blas Orlas as chaplain and diarist John Gilroy, of whom later as English interpreter, and a number of mission Indians. Leaving San Francisco on October 18th, Arguello and his men crossed Garkinus Strait and then started north. Crossing Solano and Yolo Counties they came to the Sacramento River at a point above Grimes and Colusa County. Here they were informed that men, like themselves, had been in that neighborhood. Proceeding in the main up the right bank of the Sacramento, they crossed Glen and Tahama Counties, possibly to Cottonwood Creek, which forms the boundary between Tahama and Chasta Counties. It appears that Gilroy had been in this vicinity before, for Father Orlas records what he had formerly seen from the heights nearby. It would seem that they now crossed the lower end of Trinity County to the Eel River, though it cannot be stated whether they reached it in Humboldt, Trinity, or Mendocino County. At any rate, they turned south, presumably up the valley of the Eel. At one place, they learned that four horsemen of unknown nationality had recently passed by, and one native had some blue cloth from Bodega. Riding through Mendocino County from north to south, they caught sight of the coast, and two days later were at the Russian River, perhaps a little above Cloverdale. Crossing a mountain, they came to an Indian village near Santa Rosa. Going on through San Rafael, they at length reached San Francisco on November 15. Thus ended our Guel's expedition to the Columbia, as it was long popularly called, possibly because the foreigners they sought were supposed to have come from the Columbia River region. No foreigners had been found, but there had been some minor skirmishes with Indians, though most of the natives had not been hostile. This was the last of the expeditions under Spanish rule. But allusion may be made here to one other of 1823, which led to the founding of San Francisco Solano Mission at Sonoma. Like San Rafael, the new mission, which proved to be the last, was an expansion of San Francisco with some hint also of providing an outpost against the Russians. A Californian deputy, Francisco Castro, accompanied by Alfredo José Sanchez, with 19 men and Father José Altamira, made the preliminary exploration. They left San Francisco on June 25, went in a launch to San Rafael, and then ranged the plane from Petaluma to Sonoma, Napa, and Suiza. They were in doubt between Petaluma and Sonoma for a mission site, but at length decided for the latter, planning also to have cattle ranches at Petaluma and Napa. On July 4, the cross was set up at Sonoma, after which they began their return, and two days later were in San Francisco. On August 25, Father Altamira was back at Sonoma and its activity as a mission started. Expeditions into the interior did not end with a change of flag in 1822 from Spanish to Mexican, but they were of less importance than formerly, being largely for the purpose of recovering stolen animals and punishing the Indians for their depredations. The idea of an inland mission was never again entertained by the Franciscans, though there were a number of suggestions on the part of the secular authorities for such establishments, at Santa Rosa, along the current San Joaquin kings and Chauchella rivers, and in a chain of missions from Santa Rosa to Humboldt, May, largely as an anti-Russian enterprise. On the whole, however, political troubles within the settled area of the white population were much more engrossing than interior exploration. Thus the goal remained undiscovered. At length, John A. Sutter founded his settlement at Sacramento. American colonists trickled through the passes in the mountains and established themselves in the Great Valley, and then came the revelation which transformed a one-time Hispanic land into a great American state. Footnote This chapter is based almost wholly on an as-yet unpublished manuscript of Professor Herbert Angram Priestley. In footnote End of Chapter 32