cisquito creek near Menlo Park. Advance couriers sent out reported that the bay extended far to the southeastward, and it was then decided that, owing to their exhausted condition, the sickness that prevailed and the depleted state of their supplies and ammunition, they should return to Point of Pines, which was accordingly done, the return march commencing November 11th. They reached that point on November 27th and remained there until December 9th searching for the harbor of Monterey and waiting for the return of the schooners with stores and reinforcements. Not meeting with success in either of these objects they finally, on December 9th, began their weary march for San Diego.

The expedition of Captain Bautista, consisting of Lieutenant Fages, Father Crespi, twelve soldiers and two servants, left Monterey on March 20, 1772, and the same day reached the Salinas river, which at that time was the Santa Delfina. This is the first exploration of the region now comprised in the counties of Santa Clara, Alameda and Contra Costa. Father Crespi's description of it is full and interesting. According to it, the explorers reached the San Benito on the 21st, near the present city of Hollister. On the 22d, after crossing the San Pascual plain into the San Francisco valley, they encamped a little to the north of the site now occupied by Gilroy. The next day they traveled to the northwest entering the so-called "Robles del Puerto de San Francisco" in Santa Clara valley, which Governor Portolá's expedition visited in 1769. The plan of the present exploration was to get to San Francisco under Punta de Reyes.

Pursuing their march, they were on San Leandro bay on the 26th. On the 27th they climbed the hills of the present East Oakland to round "an estuary which extends about four or five leagues inland" to San Antonio creek and Lake Peralta (Merritt); thence they got to the "mouth by which the two great estuaries communicate with the Ensenada de los Farallones." Tarrying on the site of the present Berkeley, and looking out through the entrance to the Bay of San Francisco, they saw three islands. The next day they "saw a round bay like a great lake"-San Pablo-and were prevented by the Strait of Carquinez from rounding it. On the 30th they got to Arroyo de las Nueces, near Pacheco, and following their march finally camped at a short distance from the bank of a river "the largest that has been discovered in New Spain." They called it San Francisco, but its modern name is the San Joaquin. But on reaching the San Joaquin, as they were without means, either to cross the great rivers, having no boats, or to go round them for lack of men and supplies, they concluded to march back to Monterey by a shorter route. Passing through the valleys which now bear the names of San Ramon and Amador, they entered that of Sunol, calling the latter Santa Coleta; thence approached the site where the mission San Jose was established later, and finally pitched their camp on the San Francisco de Paula stream, near the present Milpitas. After this they followed the same route they had come by the last march.

Alameda county was thus first explored by the Spaniards in 1772. The first spot settled in it by white men was the mission San Jose, begun on the 11th, and completed and dedicated on the 27th of June, 1797. The place was called by the Indians, Oroysom. The founder of the mission was Father Fernin Francisco de Lasuen, president of the Franciscan missionaries, in the presence of Fathers Isidoro Barcenilla and Agustin Merino, and of Sergt. Pedro Amador, and a detachment of soldiers from the San Francisco presidial company. Fathers

Barcenilla and Merino were the first ministers, but the old records show that at the first baptism Father Magin Catala, of Santa Clara, officiated.

There is no evidence to show that any member of the Portolá expedition set foot in what is now Alameda county. They had no boats with them on the trip to the bay and did not pass around the southern arm, but of course could easily see the eastern or Alameda county shore.

Previous to 1775 no further attempt to explore the Bay of San Francisco or found a mission on its shores was made, but in that year Lieutenant Agala was ordered to make explorations there with the view of forming settlements. Rivera had examined the present site of San Francisco in 1769, as before narrated. In 1775 the Mexican authorities sent from Sonora to California, via the Colorado river, an expedition of 200 settlers with the expectation of forming a settlement at San Francisco, but was defeated in this attempt by the envious Rivera, who on September 17, 1776, established the presidio at what is now Fort Point, San Francisco. In all about one hundred and fifty persons assembled there. A church was built and on October 9, 1776, the mission was duly dedicated on the Laguna de los Dolores.

While dealing with the march of Capt. Juan Bautista, of the Portolá party, from Monterey, when seeking for San Francisco, Father Palou, California's first historian, makes mention of the region in which Alameda county is now located, in these words: "In the valley of San Jose, the party coming up by land, saw some animals which they took for cattle, though they could not imagine where they came from; and, supposing they were wild and would scatter the tame ones they were driving, the soldiers made after them and succeeded in killing three, which were so large that a mule could with difficulty carry one, being of the size of an ox, and with horns like those of a deer, but so long that their tips were eight feet apart. This was their first view of the elk. The soldiers made the observation that they could not run against the wind by reason of their monstrous antlers." It is but reasonable to suppose that the valley called San Jose by Father Palou is that portion of the country situated at its southern end, where was subsequently erected the mission bearing that name. It is not likely that the Santa Clara valley was meant, for that district was then called San Bernardino, and the pueblo of San Jose was not established until November 29, 1777, while the holy father speaks of the year 1773; besides it is known that a portion of Murray township was long called El Valle de San Jose, and the gentle slope in what is now the district of Washington Corners, the Mission and Harrisburg was not infrequently designated the San Jose valley. Palou goes on to remark that "after the presidio and before the mission was established (in San Francisco) an exploration of the interior was organized, as usual, by sea (the bay) and land. Point San Pablo was given as the rendezvous, but the Captain of the presidio (Moraga), who undertook in person to lead the land party, failed to appear there, having, with a desire to shorten the distance, entered a cañon somewhere near the head of the bay, which took him over to the San Joaquin River. So he discovered that stream.” Thus it is plain that one party proceeded down the San Mateo side of the bay, crossed over to its eastern shore, where, coming to the spot where now stands the hamlet of Niles, and, following the rocky banks of the Alameda creek, ultimately came into the Livermore valley, crossing which they emerged into

the wide expanse of territory through which flows the San Joaquin, which Moraga named in honor of his brother.

During the gubernatorial regime of Don Felipe de Neve, which commenced in December, 1774, and closed September, 1782, reports on the topography, character, and condition of Upper California, and what situations were most suitable for establishments, were frequently made to His Most Catholic Majesty, the King of Spain, through the Viceroy in Mexico. The country from north to south, from San Diego to San Francisco, was carefully examined and permission sought to locate two pueblos or towns, viz.: That tract of land, now Los Angeles, which lies contiguous to the river La Portincula, 126 miles from San Diego, and six from the mission of San Gabriel, and also that tract on the margin of the River Guadalupe, seventy-eight miles from the presidio of Monterey, forty-eight from that of San Francisco, and 24 miles from the mission of Santa Clara. The pueblo of San Jose became a subject to annual inundation, and, after protracted delays (during the administration of Don Diego de Borica, between the years 1794 and 1800), the village was moved to higher ground in 1797. To effect this relief as well as to establish another pueblo, to be called Branciforte, Borica dispatched Don Pedro de Allerni, with instructions to examine the country and report to him those sites that he thought most convenient for the purpose. This he duly transmitted, as follows:

"Having examined the points set forth in the foregoing superior official communication, as well as those requiring me to set forth all that I might think necessary, I might reply as follows: The principal object and view of the whole matter may be reduced to the project formed by Don Jose Maria Beltram, and forwarded by the Royal Tribunal de Mentas to the Most Excellent Viceroy, in relation to the establishing of a villa, or poblacion; and its being necessary to remember that in order to attain the desired end an eye must be had to such favorable circumstances as are required to give the inhabitants of the same the necessary advantages, such as a plentiful supply of water, wood, irrigable and arable lands, forests, pastures, stone, lime or earth for adobes; and having been commissioned to this end for the examination which I made with the Señor Governor, Don Diego Borica, of the country, from the Mission of Santa Cruz, Arroyo del Pajaro, and the Mission of Santa Clara, to the place of the Alameda, and the country around the Presidio and the Fort of San Francisco, and the mission of the same name-after a careful and scrupulous examination of these places with the engineer extraordinary, Don Alberto de Candoba, I found that the place of the Alameda, although it contains a creek, still that it affords but little water, and that the channel is so deep that it is difficult to obtain water therefrom for irrigating the extensive plains of what appears to be good lands; but as the place is without fuel, timber, and pasturage, which cannot be obtained save at the distance of many leagues, it is clear that it is unsuitable for the project under consideration." It is reasonable to claim "the place of the Alameda" as the Alameda creek of today, for its wooded banks when first seen by these explorers might easily have led them to suppose it an avenue or grove or graceful willows and silver-barked sycamores. But how it was that he found no water for irrigating purposes, no woods and no site for a village, is incomprehensible. The present sites of Alameda and Oakland were densely covered with fine old oaks and the giant redwoods reared their tall heads to the sky in the hills near

where now East Oakland stands. While Diego de Borcia was yet governor of Upper California, on June 11, 1797, the Mission de San Jose aptly termed "The Cradle of Alameda County" was established. It was founded at the expense of the Catholic King of Spain, Charles IV, and by order of the Marquis of Branciforte, Viceroy and General Governor of New Spain. The San Jose mission commenced on Sunday, 11th of June, 1797, the feast of the Most Holy Trinity. Father Lamen thus described the proceedings: "I, the undersigned, President of these Missions of New California, placed by His Majesty under the care of the apostolical college of the propaganda fide of St. Fernando de Mexico, blessed water, the place, and a big cross, and with great veneration we hoisted it. Immediately after we sang the litanies of the Saints and I celebrated the holy sacrifice of the mass and preached to the army and to the native Indians who were there, and we ended the ceremony singing solemnly the Te Deum. At the same time I appointed for the first missionaries Rev. Fr. Ysidoro Barcenilla and Rev. Augustine Merino, A. M."

Thus was the Mission San Jose established, ten miles to the north of the pueblo of that name and forty to the east of San Francisco, on a plateau indenting the Contra Costa hills and facing the southern extremity of the Bay of San Francisco. Behind it were the beautiful Calaveras and Sunol valleys; Mission Peak rose immediately in its rear like a giant sentinel indexing its location; while, in its vicinity, Nature had abundantly supplied every want. The first building erected was a chapel, a small adobe edifice which was enlarged by seven varas in the second year of its existence. A wall forty-seven varas long, four high and six wide, thatched with tules, was constructed, water flumes laid, and, being in the presidial jurisdiction of San Francisco, soldiers were sent from there to keep guard over it, and bring the natives in for purposes of education.

In the establishment of missions the three agencies brought to bear were the military, the civil, and the religious, being each represented by the presidio or garrison; the pueblo the town or civic community, and the mission-the church, which played the most prominent part. Says one writer: "The Spaniards had then, what we are lacking today-a complete municipal system. Theirs was derived from the Romans-the Roman civil law, and the Gothic, Spanish and Mexican laws. Municipal communities were never incorporated into artificial powers, with a common seal and perpetual succession, as with us under English and American laws; consequently, under the former, communities in towns held their lands in common; when thirty families had located on a spot, the pueblo or town was a fact. They were not incorporated, because the law did not make it a necessity, a general law or custom having established the system. The right to organize a local government, by the election of an alcalde or mayor, and a town council, which was known as an aguntamiento, was patent. The instant the poblacion was formed, it became thereby entitled to four leagues of land and the pobladors, citizens, held it in pro indivisa. The title was a governmental right."

The missions were designed for the civilization and conversion of the Indians. The latter were instructed in the mysteries of religion (so far as they could comprehend them) and the arts of peace. Instruction of the savage in agriculture and manufactures, as well as in prayers and elementary education, was

the padre's business. The soldiers protected them from the hostility of the intractable natives, hunted down the latter and brought them within the confines of the mission to labor and for their salvation. The missions were usually quadrilateral buildings, two stories high, inclosing a court yard ornamented with fountains and trees, the whole consisting of the church, fathers' apartments, store houses, barracks, etc. The quadrilateral sides were about six hundred feet in length, one of which was partly occupied by the church. Within the quadrangle and corresponding with the second story was a gallery running around the entire structure and opening upon the work shops, store rooms and other apartments.

The entire management of each establishment was under the care of two missionaries, the elder attended to the interior and the younger to the exterior administration. One portion of the building, which was called the monastery, was inhabited by the young Indian girls. There, under the care of approved matrons, they were carefully trained and instructed in those branches necessary for their condition in life. They were not permitted to leave till of an age to be married and this with the view of preserving their morality. In the schools those who exhibited more talent than their companions were taught vocal and instrumental music, the latter consisting of the flute, horn, and violin. In the mechanical departments, too, the most apt were promoted to the position of foremen. The better to preserve the morals of all, none of the whites, except those absolutely necessary, were employed at the mission.

TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF INDIANS BAPTIZED, MARRIED, DIED, AND EXISTING AT THE DIFFERENT MISSIONS OF UPPER CALIFORNIA, BETWEEN THE YEARS 1802 TO 1822.