The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1891-04-29
SOME HISTORY.


New Views OF who Settled California.
In the programme which was carried
out at San Francisco yesterday the presi-
Dental party called ON .Adolph Sutro.
During the speech making that was
had Mr.. Sutro presented president
Harrison with handsomely Morocco
bound album, containing scenes in Sutro
heights and a photo photographic copy
of the letter written by Sebastian
Viscayno from the bay of Monterey,
December "a, 1902, to the court of Spain,
announcing that he had taken possession
of the country (California) in the name
of his majesty. In presenting this in
teresting document Mr.. Sutro said:
tMr. President, do not rise to inf1ict
speech upon you 1 simply rise to pre-
sent to you photo-lithographi letter,
written by Sebastian Viscayno, the great
| Spanish navigator. This is probably the
first letter in existence written by any
human being from California. 1t is
dated at the port of Monterey, Decem-
Der "a, 1902, named in honor of the
count of Monterey, then viceroy of Mex
leo. 1t is addressed to the court of
Spain, and states that he (Viscayno)
had taken possession of this country for
his majesty. We now know that the
opinion expressed about California, at
this early date, was quite correct, for he
says: The land is thickly peopled by
Indians, is very fertile, and its climate
and the quality of its soil resembles Cas-
tile, and any seed sown there will give
fruit. The original of this letter found
in hunting through the archives of the
DeLos Indians at Seville, Spain. At the
date of this letter queen Elizabeth was
still on the throne of England, Louis
QuatorZe, of France, was not born vet,
and the Pilgrim Fathers had not yet
landed on Pilgrim rock. Little did Sebas-
tian Viscayno dream that within three
centuries this far distant land would be
counted as one of the best, if not the
best portion of the domain of nation,
powerful on the face of the globe. In
connection with the history of California.
it is curious fact that the early navi-
gators-Sir Francis Drake, Cabrillo and
others-for two centuries sailed by the
bay of San Francisco without discover
ing it. 1t was left to an overland expe-
dition, undertaken in the year 1859 by
the Franciscan fathers from San Diego,
to discover the bay of San Francisco,
which they at first supposed to be an in
land lake: The entrance to the bay
from the ocean, or the Golden Gate, was
not discovered until five years later,
December 4, 1774, by another expedition,
sent out from Monterey by Junipero
Sierra, the founder of all the missions of
California. Theodore Hittell, the his
torian, speaks of this event as follows
They arrived December 4, 1774, at Point
Lobos, where they supposed themselves
the first Christian visitors. They erected
a cross upon the summit of the hill look
ing down upon the Jagged points of the
seal rocks on the one side, and on the
deep precipices of the entrance into the
bay on the other Mr.. President, we
| are glad they found the Golden Gate for
otherwise none of us would be here to-
day. We are also glad that you will
today behold it in all it's natural gran
deur, perfectly preserved as Junipero's s
soldiers saw it; for no modern cannon
nor extensive earthworks have been per-
mitted to mar it's pristine beauty. Mr..
President, we all thank you for having
come to see our beautiful land, and per-
NIT me especially to thank you for the
honor of your visit to Sutro heights