The San Francisco call., 1909-10-14

The announcement by The Call yes
terday that more than a score Of let
ters written by Gaspar de Portola tell
ing of his discovery of San Francisco
bay had been found In the central ar
chives of Mexico, caused more than
little stir in this city. Several re-
quests came to The Call for full and
immediate information. Inquirers were
Informed that Herbert e. Bolton, pro-
fessor of American history at Stanford
university, was preparing a two page
article setting forth the contents OF
these letters and their full significance
for publication in The Sunday Call.
since only in the Sunday magazine
could they be given space enough to
to do them justice.
These letters must have vital in
fluence upon all the histories that have
attempted to set forth the facts and
circumstances of the discovery of San
Francisco bay in 1863. Several such
histories are fresh from the press.
Their statements are based upon the
meager information contained in the
the engineer. Costanso. These diaries
are neither full. explicit nor well con
nected 1t was in leisurely letters
written by Portola and Father Crespi-
the letters now found by Professor
Bolton--that the detailed information,
now so long sought. was recorded. The
article in The Sunday Call embodying
these letters will undoubtedly be read
with utmost interest, not only by San
Franciscans and Californians, but by
well informed persons everywhere.
"Portola," says Professor Bolton,
reached San Diego on his way to find
the bay of Monterey in the latter part
Of June. 1863. A year and half be-
! fore this he had come to Loreto as
governor of Lower California. In the
meantime he performed the serious and
| unpleasant task of expelling the
Jesuits, who had hitherto controlled the
| destinies of the peninsula, and who
were now being suppressed in all New
SPAIN The file of Portola letters to
the yiceroy of which I have tran
scripts, begins with one dated at Lo-
reto, December %, 1867, shortly after
his arrival. This, with those that fol-
low to November, 1868, furnishes us
for the first time extensive informa-
tfon of Portola's activities as governor.
During the larger part Of this time he
appears, from his letters, to have been
acting subject only to the authority
of the yiceroy, and not to have been, as
has been implied an automat tom direct
iy under the thumb of the masterful
Jose de Galvez, who did not arrive In.
Lower California until half a year or
more after Portola.
What is of most interest to US just
now in the letters OF this period is the
fitness for promotion to the position,
which, combined with a twentieth GEN.
tury jubilee, has made him so famous.
In the absence Of these letters he has
appeared to us not only a dim but also
somewhat colorless figure His let
ters do not prove that he was a great
man, certainly. nor a man of striking
lights and shadows but they do indi-
cate that he was not, on the other
hand. altogether mediocre or by any
means characterless. They reveal, as
do his subsequent letters, not only a
painstaking but also a really inde-
pendent, resourceful official, clearly
above the ordinary, trusted by and in
fuential with the viceroy. In this way
and considered together with Portola's
position on the northern frontier they
dispel any wonder that might arise at
his being chosen as leader of the ex-
pedition to Alta California"