The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1908-07-15
CLOTH OF GOLD" IN MUSTARD

lazy for the gringo; they have no
snow. Spain and the Spanish are in
their decadence; they reached their
prime two centuries ago! They are
down; and in about two centuries
more of trusts and graft" he said
laughing, the American will he in
the same fix the Spaniards find them
selves in today.
can remember my grandfather
telling about the building of the mis-
slons. He came up the coast with
rather Lasauen, and was a SPANISH
othcer of rank, who decided to cast
MS fortunes in America. Father
Lasauen picked out this place in
1857, but the mission wasn't started
until 1888, when my grandfather
marched up the coast from Santa
BARBARA at the head of the escort
guarding the gang of laborers who
had been selected to build a mission
at this point.
A month or so later Father La
Sauen and Fathers Cincente Foster
ana Jose ArrOita came up and built
the mission. There was a bic In
dian town here, in fact. several. and
they considered it a good locality
as thelr purpose was to civilize and
convert the Indians, and in many in
stances the Indians did most of the
work in rearing the buildings. I
nave seen the old books, and in 1890
the mission had 1900 Indian con-
Verts, and the country about was the
Purissima Rancho, laid out for
miles, as the fathers were great
farmers.
They planted wheat and grain,
introduced cattle of various kinds,
grapes and all Spanish plants, and
in about 1904 they had a town about
the mission of 1900 souls, mostly
Indians; and that is the reason many
of the soldiers married Indians. You
see in Santa Barbara and Los An
geles many Spaniards that are very
dark and have Indian characteristics.
There were no women; only men
came from Spain at first, and hun
dreds of men married Indian women
and raised large families.
The valley was very fertile, and
by 1904 the rancho had 10000 head
of cattle, and hides were the cur
rency of the country; they were
dried and sent to Santa Barbara,
and so found their way east.
The first mission did not last
very long, and was rebuilt, and by
1902 another was built about which
were gathered nearly one hundred
rancherias. And so things went
along until 1920 when all the In
dams on this part of the coast had
renowned paganism and joined the
church. Up to the time of your war
of 1912 everything went we'll; then
POmpoc and the mission were hit by
an earthquake.
You can still see the crack on
let everything fall in, then threw
out a rain of black sand and mud.
The first shock lasted almost four
minutes and completely demoralized
the people, and threw down half
their huts.. of adobe, cracking the
church. In half an hour came an
other shock that threw down every
tsmaEb house, ruined not only this
mission but many more all along the
shore, and killed a lot of people.
1.-The Indians thought the world
had ended, and my grandfather said
that he saw the fathers among them
trying to comfort them. But not a
few. when they saw the religion of
the Spaniards thrown down, thought
it a vengeance of their gods for de-
serting their own religion. A new
mission was built over the river, but
drought nearly killed all the cattle
in 1916, and in 1918 the houses of
the neophytes were destroyed; and
, then, or in 1924, the Indians re-
belled, and the massacre of that year
occurred.