Daily Los Angeles herald., 1881-08-07
Papers on the Early History Of
California.
PAPER NO. 5.

| PAPER NO. D.
A vessel that was sent for pro-
visions for Father Salvatierra,
shipwrecked, and this added to the
sufferings of the colonists. The
Countess of Galve, wealthy and
influential lady, also failed to com
ply With promises made to Saliva
terra to aid him in the subjuga-
ton and conversion Of the Indians
The death of Charles III. con.
tributed greatly to the failure Of
these promises, as that King had
pledged himself to the Countess to
aid Salvatierra. Salvatierra ap'
pealed to the Count of Mon tezuma,
the Viceroy, and this ruler in his
tnrn asked the Audiencia to help
the new establishment of the
missionaries. The Audiencia,
however, held the priests to their
promise that the public treasury
should not contribute to the un-
dertakiDg, but that the same
should be at the expense of the
Jesuits. Father Ugarte, who was
the agent of the new missionary
authority in Mexico. losing all
hopes of obtaining any aid. from
the government, collected dona-
tlons that the pious had sub.
scribed toward the end of convert.
ing the Indians, and bought and
COLLECTED large quantities of pro-
visions and things needed for the
missions, and sent them to Loreto
| just as the want of the new colo
| ny was in the extreme.
The enemies of the Jesuits
spread the rumor, based upon the
false information that a command
ing officer by the name of Antonio
Mendoza, had given, that the Jes-
uits intended TO appropriate the
new country to themselves on ac-
count of the rich pearl deposits,
and to establish a sort of kingdom
by themselves. This Mendoza had
attempted to influence the soldiers
against Father Salvatierra, telling
them that the Father only made
them work, when they could just
as well become rich by the pearl
fisheries. However, time dis
PEELED all these false accusations,
and the piety, intelligence, pa
| nd Of To S.I
vatierra shone with greater luster.
This was the condition of things
for the first four years of the new
establishment at LOreto aud its
surroundings. AT the beginning
there had been great scarcity OF
seed, but the new King Phillip V.
favored the new country and al
though engaged in fearful wars In
Europe, he remem bered the Cali
foTnlas, and ordered the Vlceroy OF
Mexico to pay the Jesuits annu-
ally six thousand dollars to help TO
support the new missions. The
Marquis of Vlllapuente founded
three missions at his own expense,
and following his example Don
Nicolas Arteaga and his wife, DOH u
Josefa Vallejo, founded one mis-
sion. The new missions now be-
gan to flourish under the saga.
cious, firm but gentle rule of the
excellent Salvatierra
In 1904 Father Saivatierra sent a
Jesuit Father, Juan Manuel Bal
darna, to Mexico, to obtain pro-
Visions for the new mission aud
to ask the Viceroy, the Duke OF
Albuquerque, that compliance
mighC be had with the orders OF
the King to give the new missions
the same amount of money grant.
ed the rest OF the missions of New
Spain. The King had also com
manded that a Preside should be
built In central portion of the
country, and that thirty soldiers
should be placed in it for the pro.
lection of the colonlsts, and to re-
lieve, ii necessary, those who came
from the PHILIPPINE Islands in the
lSpanish galleons. Father Saliva
TERRA also solicited that families
should be cent to him that they
might teach the Indians the me.
chanical arts. The poor condition
of the national treasury, however,
prevented the Duke of Albuquerque
from complying with the requests.
The wars in which Spain was in
volved exhausted New Spain of all
of its money, and thus prevented
the help required for the progress
of the new missions. The PreSdio
of Loreth was on the eve of being
abandoned, owing to the sufferings
of the coloDists for want of provis-
ions, when the noble and daunt-
less Father Ugarte prevailed upon
the soldiers and people to eat root g
and wild fruits until help came
and provisions arrived from Sina.
los and Sonora.
In 1876, the dominion of Spain,
obtained through the efforts of the
Jesuit missionaries, extended as
far as the Pimeria Alta {the coun-
try occupied now by the Pima In
dians on the Gila river). The Jes.
uit fathers had subjugated all the
Indian nations, except the Apaches,
| who Gwelt between the Apache
country on the east, Sonora on the
south, the Gulf of California on the
west and the Cocomaricopss on the
north. 1t is narrated in the history
Lof the company of Jesuits, by Sa-
chino, that in the country now
| called Arizona, some explorers
| found on the surface of the soil a
large ball of pure silver. The news
soon spread and many came to
| search for the precious metals, and