The San Francisco call., 1909-10-13
De Portola's Own
Letters Describing
Discovery Found
Stanford HistoryP Professor
Comes Upon Record
In Mexican Archives

The letters written by Gaspar
de Portola. describing in his own
words how he discovered San
Francisco bay in 1853. have been
found at last.
This is the most important his
toricaI discovery of many years
1t brings to a successful ter
mination a long search which at
times has been carried on as
zealously as the search for the
elusive north pole. That the
announcement of the important
discovery should come upon the
eve of the Portola celebration In
San Francisco makes it of the
greatest interest. 1t is almost
as if the brave Spanish governor
himself had come back after
century and half to tell those
who would do his memory honor
Just how he accomplished the
feat.
The man who found the let
ters. written by Portola- full
score of them-is Herbert f.
Bolton. professor of history at
Stanford university. The letters
were found in the very hiding
place which had so often been
searched in vain for them. the
archivo general publico in the
Palacio Nacional. City of Mexico
'It is not surprising" says
h1
not been known that in the cen
trai archives of Mexico there is
a file of a score or more of origi-
nal letters written by Portola
during his three year career in
the CALIFORNIA;. between Decem-
ber, 1857. and the autumn of 1870,
for the archivo general y publico
is a vast wilderness. little fire.
quented until recently, of manu-
script materials bearing upon the
history of the Spanish provinces
in America and. later, OF inde-
pendent Mexico. This archive.
curiousIy enough. was said By
Bancroft to consist OF % vol
umes. The truth is that IL cor
tains not less than 35,0 vol
umes of manuscript records al
ready bound. and material
enough to form as many more
Here it was that found the
Portola letters. They are sd-
dressed 10 the vicerOy OF Mex
co. then the marquis de Croix.
and with them are filed minutes
of several replies by the viceroy
to Portola, and other documents
relating to California. including
the original record of the act
of taking formal possession OF
Monterey by Portola in the name
of the king of Spain. on the
memorable third of June. 1870.
So. far as is known, no one has
been apprised of or has made
use of these letters except an
eastern historian. who secured
the transcripts of them through
me for use in the preparation of
forthcoming history of Califor-
MIA"
Professor Bolton is a thorough
Spanish o1IOAaA anu ll1t lAdnSld-
tion of PortoIa's letters was to
him task of rare delight. Pri-
marily, the letters prove that
Don Gaspar was not the weak
ling. lacking in courage and zeal.
which several historians have
pictured him. The reader of
these letters beholds PortOla as
man of sturdy mold. 1t has
been said that Portola never
knew the significance of his
discovery. The letters show that
such was not the case. Portola
describes his expedition from the
beginning and he measures it's
fruits with keen intelligence.
The heroisms of himself and his
men are ito be seen between the
lines.
AS matter of fact. the dis
covery and publication of these
letters will cause a revision of
practically all the histories of the
man and his work, which have
had as their basis information of
the most meager character. And
as if the Portola letters were
not sufficient in themselves. with
them were found letters written
by Father Crespi, a priest OF the
expedition, describing in even
more detail the wonderful bay
which they found.
At the request of The Call
Professor Bolton has embodied
the most interesting of these let
ters in full. and epitomized 9TH
ers, in a most interesting and
enlightening article, which will
occupy two pages in The Call
next Sunday. The significance
of this article, appearing at the
very beginning of the Portola
festival. can not be over esti-
mated. These letters, written by
Gaspar de PortoIa. and Profess
hor Bottoms intelligent comment
and explanation, must arrest the
instant attention. not only of stu
dents and writers of California
history, but also Of every person
who desires an intelligent in
sight into the meaning OF the
great celebration in which he or
she is about to participate.
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