The Shasta courier., 1866-12-08

"Ps'"SN uuu IcChUEcu COHNeTlS. Il aI0er
Junipero considered himself fairly started in
this work in a fortnight after his arrival at
San Diego.
Leaving him at his labor of love, than
which nothing could more delight him, the
San Antonio. with all the sailors who were
able, was dispatched to San Bias with
tidlngs Of what had been done, and to fetch
up additional supplies. 1t is significant
intimatlon of the perils of the coast. and the
state OF navigation in those times, that,
though she made the trip in twenty days,
she lost nine men on the wav
Meanwhile, Governor Portala, with sol
diers, priests, muleteers and Indians, sixty
five persons in all, and pack train of pro-
visions, started on the Nth of July to redis
cover Monterey; for Galvez had charged
him to accomplish the never executed scheme
of Philip III, so carefully laid down one
hundred and sixty three years before Over
six months Portala was gone on this errand.
He stopped at Monterey and set up a cross,
but never dreamed it was the place he
sought.
Pushing still northward, he came upon a
landlocked, hill-encompassed bay or lake.
Eastward the land rose gently to a lofty
range of hills, beyond which peered the blue
peak of far distant mountain. On the
west high hills, whose sandy slopes descend
ed even to the waters edge. They said they
recognized this as a spot which had been de-
scribed, though where or in what, does not
appear. That it was fit place for mission
was clear to them all
Then the priests remembered that when
Galvez had suggested the three names that
were to be given to the three missions that
they were to found, Father Junipero had ex-
claimed with much grief in his countenance.
. But is there mission for Father St.
Francis ?' and that Galvez had replied,
gravely, as if it were not a sudden thought,
" If St. Francis wants mission, let him
show us his port. and we will put one there" "
They accepted the token; good st. Erancis
had guided their errant steps and brought
them to this port, they named it San
Francisco. This is the first unquestioned ac-
count of visit to San Francisco
That Sir Francis Drake had spent several
weeks here, recruiting, has already been
shown as probable. That Viscaino did not
visit it, has been shown as equally proba5 DE {;
and yet Portala's company recognized the
place from the descriptions, and, curiously
enough, before they had made out whether
the broad sheet of water at .heir feet was a
lake or a bay
1t seems possible, although this is only a
surmise, that the port may have been visited
casually by some of the Spanish navigators,
whose oral descriptions conceded with Fran
els brakes written accounts, led them to
speak of it as San Fraucisco-the given
name of the discoverer being preserved in
form not offensive to the prejudices of the
Spanards, and calculated to secure saints
of,,
of their story faded into indistinctness, the
glowing accounts still surviving were pre-
sumed to refer to the harbor of Monterey
So, much of the eulogy that was originally
spoken of San Francisco harbor may have
been put to the credit of Monterey yet,
when the former place was visited. the local
ity was recognized as already described under
the name it now bears.
Portala and his company returned in
about six months. and thrilling news they
heard from the little party that had guarded
the San Diego Mission The Indians,
coveting the cloth which the missionaries
only doled out to them very judiciously, took
every opportunity to steal it, and even cut
out pieces of the sails of the vessel. OF
course the missionaries protected their proper
ty by force. On the 18th of August, the
Indians came in full fighting feather and
began pillaging. The score of whites and
their Christian Indian retainers from Lower
California flew to arms, whose explosions
soon commanded peace. In the struggle,
one of the priests was wounded, and Chris
tian Indian killed. The savages saw the
strangers were too much for them, and treat
ed them from that time, for long while, as
their kind superiors But other troubles,
and not of Indian origin, awaited the San
Diego pioneers Provisions fell short, and
the sad resolution was taken at last that
unless supplies came by the Goth of March,
they must abandon all and return home
Providence kindly remembered the dispirit-
ed company for on the very day before the
one set for the abandonment of all, the San
Antonio sailed into the harbor with supplies
in abundance.
Potala now started again northward by
land, and this time found Monterey without
question, and was satisfied of the fact.
The San Antonio too, ran up the coast,
with Father Junipero on board and entered
Monterey harbor eight days after Portala,
on the lst of March. Here again they took
possession in the name of the king, hung up
their bells on the trees. rang them out mer-
rily, builded the chapel, Blessed all, said
mass. sang the Veni Creator and re De,tD,
Portala, in the San Antonio. returned to
Mexico, taking with him, or sending over
land under Rivera, the whole of the com
pany, except Father Junipero, FIVE priests,
FACES, and thirty soldiers.
Father Junipero did not stay long at Mon
terey but. establishing a mission close by on
the Carmel River, made that his residence,
though he spent much time in travelling
about the country, looking UP wild Indians,
and winning them from their savage WAYS.
establishing missions, watching his converts,
and baptizing the little ones He was the
president of all the missions ia Upper Cali.
fornia until his death. When new mis-.
sion was to be established he would take a
couple of priests, an escort Of soldiers. and a
train of mules. packed with the necessaries
for journey. and the furniture for church.
Then, wandering over the mountains, and
peering into all the pleasant valleys, until he
found a place to suit, he would hang the
bells on trees, and himself pull Justify the
rope, while he shouted, g Hear, hear We
Gentiles come to the holy church." Then,
having set up the church tent, blessed and
dedicated it, and appointed a pastor, he
would 60 out hunting for parishioners- He
lived until the year 1884, when. at his own
mission on the Carmel, he died.
This venerable Franciscan pioneeer was
a man worthy of the work he undertook
He was the son of humble parents, who