Chapter 4

On Saturday, November 4th, being the day of San Carlos Borromeo, in whose honor they had come to establish a royal presidio and mission in the Port of Monterey, and also the day of the king, Don Carlos III (que Dios guarde), the holy sacrifice of the mass was celebrated "in this little valley, beach of the Port (without the least doubt) of my father San Francisco." The men feasted liberally on the mussels which abounded on the nearby rocks, and which were pronounced large and good, and, in better spirits than they had been for some time, they took up their march at one o'clock in the afternoon. Proceeding a short distance up the beach, they turned into the mountains on their right, and from the summit beheld the immense estero o brazo del mar. Then descending into the Canada de San Andres, they turned to the south and southeast, and traveling two leagues camped in the canada at the foot of a hill, very green with low brush, and having a cluster of oaks at its base. The next two days they traveled down the canada, coasting the estero, which they could not see for the low hills (lomeria) on their left, noting the pleasant land with its groves of oak, redwood (palo colorado), and madrono. They saw the tracks of many deer and also of bears. The Indians met them with friendly offers of black tamales and atole, which were gladly received by the half-starved Spaniards. They begged the strangers to go to their rancherias, but the governor excused himself, saying that he must go forward, and dismissed them with presents of beads and trinkets. On the 6th, they reached the end of the canada, which suddenly turned to the east, and saw that the estero[32] was finished in a spacious valley. To the canada they gave the name of San Francisco[33]. Traveling a short distance towards the east, they camped on a deep arroyo, whose waters came down from the sierra and flowed precipitately into the estero. They were on the San Francisquito creek, near the site of Stanford University[34].

Having failed to get through to Point Reyes by the ocean beach route, Portola now sent Ortega around by the contra costa giving him four days in which to explore the country and find the port containing the supply-ship.

Ortega with his exploradores, guided by some friendly Indians from the neighboring rancherias, set out after noon on November 7th and returned in the night of the 10th. He reported that he had seen no sign of port or ship, and was convinced he had not understood the information the Indians had tried to convey to him, and that the port of Monterey could not be in advance. They also reported that the country they had seen towards the north and northeast was impassable for the expedition, for the reason that the Indians had burned the grass and, in addition, were hostile and would dispute the passage. They said that they had encountered another immense estero on the northeast (Carquinez Strait), which also ran far inland and connected with the one on the southeast, and that to double it would take many leagues of travel[35].

During the absence of the explorers, the people of the expedition were compelled for want of meat to eat oak acorns, which caused them much suffering from indigestion and fever.

Portola called a council of officers, on November 11th, to determine the best course to pursue. The decision was unanimous to return to the Point of Pines and renew the search for the elusive Puerto de Monterey, which they believed they had left behind. This was at once acted upon, and the command took up the march in the afternoon of that day, returning by the route of its coming, and on the 27th camped in sight of the Point of Pines at a little lake of muddy water. They had partly subsisted on wild geese which they shot, and on mussels gathered from the rocks of the coast. The following day, November 28th, they moved across the Point of Pines and camped in the canada of the Carmelo, where was plenty of wood and good water from the river. After giving his men a rest, the governor sent ten soldiers, under command of Rivera, with six of the Indian pioneers, who undertook to guide them by the coast trails, with instructions to thoroughly explore the coast to the south and see if the Port of Monterey was concealed in some "rincon" of the Sierra de Santa Lucia.

The exploring party returned on Monday, December 4th, at night. They were tired out with their travels over the rough mountain trails, and they reported that no port of Monterey existed south of their camp; that the mountains belonged to the Sierra de Santa Lucia, and that there was no passage along the shore.

Vizcaino had said that Monterey was just north of the Sierra de Santa Lucia. "It is all that can be desired for commodiousness and as a station for ships making the voyage to the Philippines, sailing whence they make a landfall on this coast. This port is sheltered from all winds * * * and is thickly settled with people, whom I found to be of gentle disposition, peaceable, and docile; * * * they have flax like that of Castile, and hemp, and cotton,"[36] etc.

The commander knew not what to think. What should be a great port, protected from all winds, was but an ensenada; what should be the Rio Carmelo was but an arroyo; what should be great lakes were but lagunillas; "and where, too, were the people, so intelligent and docile, who raised flax and hemp and cotton?" Costanso says that in their entire journey, they found no country so thinly populated, nor any people more wild and savage than the few natives whom they met here. It is not strange that Portola failed to recognize, in the broad ensenada, Vizcaino's Famoso Puerte de Monterey.

The situation of the command was becoming very grave. The food supply was almost gone. They had killed a mule, but only the Indians and the Catalonians would eat it. The commander called a council of officers, on December 6th, and told them the condition of affairs. They had not found the port they had come in search of, he said, and had no hope of finding it or the vessel that should have succored them; they had but fourteen half sacks of flour left; winter was upon them, the cold was becoming excessive, and snow was beginning to fall in the mountains. He invited free discussion, but postponed the decision until the next day, that all might have time for reflection. On December 7th, after hearing mass, the junta again met. Some were for remaining where they were until the provisions were entirely consumed, and then retreat, relying on the mules for food during the journey to San Diego; others thought it better to divide the party, one-half to remain and the other return to San Diego. Both projects were carefully discussed, and both presented difficulties. The prevailing sentiment seemed to favor a return, and the governor announced his determination. They would return to San Diego at once, he said, for if the snow should close the mountain passes, the whole expedition would be lost.

A violent storm arose in the afternoon, which lasted until the night of December 9th, delaying the march.

On Sunday, December 10th, they began the retreat from Monterey. Before leaving Carmelo Bay, they set up a large cross on a little hill on the shore of the ensenadita, and on it, cut into the wood, the legend: "Dig; at the foot you will find a writing." A message was put into a bottle and buried at the foot of the cross. It gave the facts of the expedition, its commander, date of starting, the dates of entering the channel of Santa Barbara, of passing Point Concepcion, of the passage of the Santa Lucia mountains, of the sight of Punta de Pinos, of Point Reyes, etc.

"The expedition desired to reach Point Reyes, but some esteros intervened which ran far inland, which required a long journey to go around, and other difficulties (the chief of which was the want of provisions), made it necessary for us to return, believing that the Port of Monterey might perhaps be near the Sierra de Santa Lucia, and thinking that we might have passed it without observing it. We left the estero of San Francisco on our return on the 11th of November. We passed the Punta de Ano Nuevo on the 19th of said month, and reached the second time this Port and Ensenada de Pinos on the 27th of the same."

It states that from that day to this they have made diligent search for the port of Monterey, but in vain, and now, despairing of finding it, their provisions nearly gone, they return to San Diego. Then follows the latitude at various points as observed by Costanso. It requests the commanders of the San Jose or San Antonio, if they, or either of them, should be informed of the contents of the letter and the condition of the expedition, to sail down the coast as near the land as possible, that the expedition might sight and obtain succor from them.

The march that day was across the Point of Pines, one league and a half, and they camped on the shore of Monterey Bay, where they erected another cross with an inscription announcing their departure. On the 11th, they ascended the Salinas and began to retrace the route of their coming. They killed many geese, which relieved their necessities somewhat, and on the 21st were clear of the Santa Lucia mountains. The hungry soldiers stole flour, and to prevent further theft, the comandante divided the remainder among them. On the 28th the command was stuck fast in a mudhole near San Luis Obispo, and were unable to say mass, though it was a feast day[37]. On January 3d, they passed Point Concepcion. Here, among the Channel Indians, food was abundant, their severe trials were over, and the health of the command improved daily. Instead of following up the Santa Clara river, they crossed the Santa Susana mountains, into the San Fernando valley, and followed down the Los Angeles river, crossed the Santa Ana, January 18th, and reached San Diego, January 24, 1770, with the command in good health and without the loss of a man, "with the merit of having been compelled to eat the flesh of male and female mules, and with not having found the Port of Monterey, which we judged to have been filled up by the great sand dunes which were in the place where we had expected to find it."[38]

Portola found a joyful welcome at the little camp at San Diego. Many had died, and Junipero and Father Parron were just recovering from scurvy. No tidings were yet received from the San Antonio. The commander made a careful inventory of supplies, and reserved enough to march to Velicata in case the San Antonio did not appear when the remainder should be exhausted. This, he calculated, would be a little after the middle of March, and the 20th of that month was fixed as the date of departure, very much to the disappointment of the priests. On February 11th Rivera was sent to Velicata with a guard of nineteen or twenty soldiers, to bring up the cattle and supplies that had been left there.

After sundown of the day before that appointed for the departure, a sail appeared in the distance. It was the San Antonio, just in time to prevent the abandonment of San Diego. She brought abundant supplies, and Portola prepared for a second expedition in search of the Port of Monterey. Captain Vila of the San Carlos declared, when the details of the search were related to him, that the place where they erected the second cross was the long-lost Port of Monterey.

On April 16th the San Antonio sailed for Monterey, carrying Junipero, Costanso, Prat, and a cargo of stores for the new mission. On the 17th, Portola set out by land with Fages, twelve Catalan volunteers, seven soldados de cuera, Crespi, two muleteers, and five natives. At San Diego was left Vila with his mate and five sailors on the San Carlos, Fathers Parron and Gomez, with Sergeant Ortega and eight soldados de cuera as guard, and Rivera arrived in July with over eighty mules laden with supplies, and one hundred and sixty head of cattle.

Portola followed the same route that he took on the retreat from Monterey, and on May 24th arrived at the Ensenada Grande under Punta de Pinos, near the cross they had erected, December 10th. Selecting a place for the camp, Portola took Fages, Crespi, and a soldier for guard, and went to the cross to see if any vessel had visited the spot. They found around the cross a ring of arrows stuck in the ground, some of which were decked with feathers; others had fish and meat attached to them, while at the foot of the cross was a small pile of shell-fish. As Portola, Fages, and Crespi walked along the beach and looked out over the bay and noted its calm and placid waters, with its swimming seals and spouting whales, they broke forth with one voice, "This is the Port of Monterey which we have sought. It is exactly as reported by Sebastian Vizcaino and Cabrera Bueno."[39]

Remembering the good water at the camp on the Rio del Carmelo, Portola ordered the expedition to Carmelo Bay by direct line, while he, with Fages and Crespi, proceeded around the Point of Pines. They found it well covered with pine trees, many of them large enough for masts of a ship. They also came upon a grove of cypress at a point beyond (Cypress Point), and arrived at camp after a walk of four good leagues. Here they awaited the arrival of the San Antonio.

On May 31st the paquebot was sighted near Point Pinos. The soldiers made signals, to which the ship replied with her guns, and before night had dropped her anchor in Monterey Bay, which was pronounced by the sailors to be a most famous port.

On the 3d of June, 1770, under a shelter of branches near the oak where, in 1602, Vizcaino's Carmelite friars had celebrated mass, Don Gaspar de Portola, with his officers, soldiers, and people of the land expedition, Fray Junipero Serra and Fray Juan Crespi, Don Juan Perez, captain of the San Antonio, Don Miguel del Pino, his second in command, together with the crew, assembled to establish a presidio and mission. The father president chanted the mass and preached from the Gospel, while the musical deficiency was made good by repeated discharges from the guns of the San Antonio and volleys from the muskets of the soldiers. At the conclusion of the religious ceremonies, Don Gaspar de Portola, governor of the Californias, took possession of the country in the name of his majesty Don Carlos III, King of Spain, and the presidio and mission of San Carlos de Borromeo de Monterey were founded and established, the first presidio and second mission in California.

In accord with the orders of the visitador-general, Portola now delivered to Lieutenant Fages, as comandante of California, the command of the new establishments, sailed on the San Antonio, July 9th, for San Blas, and California knew him no more.

DATA REGARDING DON GASPAR DE PORTOLA AFTER HE LEFT CALIFORNIA

By E. J. Molera

Portola and Costanso sailed, on July 9, 1770, for Mexico, to give to the viceroy an account of their discoveries. Costanso remained in the capital and took part in several engineering works, among others, the map of the Valley of Mexico and its drainage. Diligent search instituted by the writer in Mexico and Spain regarding Portola's further history, has so far discovered little beyond the fact that the commander's return to the capital was followed by promotion from Captain to Lieutenant-Colonel in the Royal Spanish Army, and his appointment as Governor of Puebla, February 23, 1777.

In the municipal archives of the city of Puebla, on page 33 of the folio covering the years 1776-1783, is the following description of Portola's taking possession of the office as Governor of that city and state:

"Possession of Governor Portola."

"In the session (meeting of February 23d, 1777), the council saw a royal title of Political and Military Governor of this city granted by his Majesty to Senor Don Gaspar de Portola, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Royal Army, and also a superior order of his Excellency the Viceroy, Governor, and Captain General of this New Spain, in which is stated that said title has been forwarded."

"The President of the Council, standing and uncovered, took the title in his hand and kissed it and put it over his head, being a letter from the king, our master, and said that he would obey and he did obey its contents and in its provisions it was ordered that Lieutenant-Colonel Don Gaspar de Portola be given possession of said office, and for that purpose, said noble corporation went out with the heralds to bring him to this hail of sessions, and when he was in, a notary-public having certified to his identity, he swore to use faithfully and well the office of Governor, doing justice, punishing, and not burdening the poor with excessive taxes; to keep and cause to be kept, the rights, privileges, royal decrees and ordinances, etc."

"Having signed the oath, the president gave him the cane of Royal justice, by which the act of possession was completed."

In the same volume many decrees and ordinances are signed by Portola as Governor of Puebla.

That in the year 1779, Portola was still Governor of Puebla is proved by two original manuscripts in possession of the writer. One is a circular official notice to all the head authorities of Mexico, announcing the death of Viceroy Frey Don Antonio Bucareli y Ursua, and shown herewith; the other is a letter of Don Gaspar de Portola, dated April 17th, 1779.

Letter from the Viceroy of New Spain to Don Julian de Arriaga, Giving an Account of the arrival at San Blas of the Packet Boat San Carlos, Returning from the Survey of the Port of San Francisco. Document Obtained from the Archives of the Indies, Seville.

"My Dear Sir:"

"By courier sent to me from San Blas, I have just learned that the royal packet-boat San Carlos, under command of Lieutenant of the frigate Don Juan Manual Ayala, which with provisions and goods sailed for the harbor of Monterey, thence to the port of San Francisco, anchoring on the 6th inst. at San Blas."

"In the copies which I send herewith, of the extensive examination made by this officer and his pilot, Don Jose Canizares, your Excellency will see, in detail, all that was found advantageous, and the news obtained gives knowledge of all that that vast port contains and the facilities that is has to invernate[40] vessels. The docility and gentle manners of the heathen that live in its vicinity inspire hopes in the utility of the plan, on which I had previously determined, of colonizing this land."

"The letter of this officer, a copy of which is also enclosed, confirms everything, extolling the grandeur of the view of the port, the water, wood, and ballast with which it abounds, and although the climate is rather cold, it is healthy and free from the fogs found in Monterey."

"He gives an account of what happened on his return, and praises the merit of the pilot, Don Jose Canizares, in discharging the commission entrusted to him, and he recommends him to my attention, which I reserve to that of the King; at the same time recommending to Your Excellency that you remind His Majesty that this pilot is one of the most useful that the Department of San Blas has, and that in the voyages he has made has always shown the same honor, conduct, and intelligence as on the one just finished with such advantage to the service, because of the information and knowledge he has shown in the discharge of his duty."

"For his reward, I consider him worthy of the royal bounty, as well as Lieutenant of frigate, Don Juan Manuel de Ayala, for his part in such important work."

"That the Lord may keep you from harm for many years is my wish."

"Exm deg.. Sr."

"Your most obedient servant who kisses Your Excellency's hands,"

"Bailio Frey D. Antonio Bucareli y Ursua."

"Mexico, November 26th, 1775."

"To His Excellency Sr. Bailio Frey Don Julian de Arriaga."

Causes that Decided the Government of Spain to Send an Expedition by Sea to Ascertain if there were any Russian Settlements on the Coast of California, and to Examine the Port of San Francisco.

Father Junipero Serra had difficulty in obtaining from Commandant Fages the soldiers necessary to found the missions that were projected and notwithstanding his old age, he decided to go to the capital of Mexico to lay before the authorities his troubles. He sailed from San Diego in the mail boat San Carlos October 19, 1772, but, stricken by fever in Guadalajara, did not reach Mexico till February 16, 1773.

Viceroy Bucareli, then in command of the colony, made the orders he considered necessary for California, but his orders would have had but little effect or would have followed the slow process of all official business, had not an outside incident given them force.

Count de Lacy, then Minister Plenipotentiary of Spain to St. Petersburg, communicated to the court in Madrid, that the Russians were exploring the coast of America. He corroborated his statement with copies of the newspapers of the Russian capital[41]. This news with the corroborating proofs was sent to Bucareli with the Royal edicts of April 11th and September 23, 1773.

The result of this information was to give a better organization to the maritime department of San Blas and better regulations for California. It was also ordered that a settlement should be made at San Francisco; that better means of communication be established between San Diego and Monterey, and that an expedition should be sent to ascertain if the Russians had made settlements on the coast of California.

THE LOG OF THE SAN CARLOS

Alias Toison De Oro (Golden Fleece)

Under Command of Lieutenant of Frigate of the Royal Navy Don Juan Manuel de Ayala

From the Port of San Blas to the Port of San Francisco

The First Ship to Enter the Port of San Francisco. Transcript of a Certified Copy of the Original, now in the Archives of the Indies, at Seville, Spain[42].

On the 19th of March, 1775, Lieutenant of Frigate, Don Juan Manuel de Ayala had the schooner under his command anchored near the white rock in the harbor of San Blas, waiting the sailing of the frigate Santiago to the west coast of California, when the commander of the expedition, Don Bruno de Ezeta, ordered him to deliver to Lieutenant of Frigate, Don Juan de la Bodega y Cuadra, the command of his schooner and take command of the packet boat, San Carlos, as her captain, Don Miguel Manrique, was sick and unable to make the voyage. Ayala obeyed the order and waited until the morning of the 21st, for the return of the launch which carried his predecessor to San Blas. He made everything ready on board to follow the frigate and schooner and he asked the commander of the expedition, Don Bruno de Ezeta, to take in his frigate some brown sugar and provisions which he could not accommodate in his boat except on deck where they were liable to be damaged.