PUTTING MISSION VIEJA DE LA Purisima on the MAP

PUTTING MISSION VIEJA DE LA pURiSIMA ON THE MAP

Julia G. Costello Foothill Resources, Ltd. P.O. Box 288 Mokelwnne Hill, CA 95245

ABSTRACT

For over a century, the original and longest-occupied site of Mission La Purisima (1787-1812) had been gradually covered by Lompoc's suburban residences. A grant in 1989 from California's Department of Parks and Recreation allowed the City to purchase the remaining undeveloped lots and conduct an archaeological testing program to identifY locations of the buried ruins. A computerized mapping system, Autocad, was used to deduce the architectural ground plan of the mission quadrangle and to align this with the modem landscape. An artist's interpretation added three dimensions to the reconstruction, instilling life and cohesion into the long-forgotten historic community.

MISSION SALVATION blocks away. From here the crowd proceeded up the hill overlooking the ruins and the town. On Thursday, December 5, 1912, several hundred people gathered in the small agricultural Below them were the melting outlines of a town of Lompoc to celebrate the anniversary of large adobe complex, generally square in shape Mission Concepcion Purisima de Maria and estimated to have been about 400 feet on a Santisima. FOlUlded on December 8. 1787. this side (Thompson and West 1961:30). Rows of eleventh of the California missions was destroyed rooms made up the perimeter, while other adobe 25 years later in the notorious earthquake of 1812. buildings were scattered outside. In the center of Rebuilt across the valley to the northeast (Figure the ruins were the remains of the impressive I), the second establislunent lasted some 22 years church, identified by towering remnants of wall before it was removed from Catholic Church some 30 feet high and by its stone entryway. The management to deteriorate under private owner Mission's aqueduct still brought water to the site ship. The Lompocians gathered in 1912 to cele area from San Miguelito Canyon. From the brate not only the 125th anniversary of the found distance, the paths of Lompoc's compass-straight ing of the original site, but the 100th anniversary streets outlined the city grid that would eventually of the second. I overlie the ruins.

Ceremonies began downtown at 9:30 a.m. Bishop Thomas Conaty of the Diocese of Los County attendees from Santa Barbara had taken Angeles and Monterey conducted the mass, the Southern Pacific Railway to the station at assisted by Fr. Zephyrin Engelhardt from Santa nearby Surf the day before, where they were Barbara Mission. Senator Campbell from San collected by a parade of automobiles. Lompoc Luis Obispo spoke of the history of the site and schools were closed for the day and the children, Mrs. Emma W. Lillie, past Grand President of the marshalled by their school band and an Amencan Native Daughters, came from San Francisco to flag, led the procession to the old Mission site five present an EI Camino Real commemorative bell.

Proceedings of the Society for California Archaeology, 1994. VoL " pp 67·85 Copyright 0 1994 by the Society for California Archaeology \

Figure l. The vicinity of Lompoc, showing the two sites of La Purisima Mission. Lompoc U.S.G.S. 7.5' topographic quadrangle.

68 Judge IV. Coffey, also of San Francisco, sent his caught the eye of an official of the newly created regrets. Civilian Conservation Corps. The opportunity for site restoration as one of President Roosevelt's The climax of the gathering was the dedi New Deal work-relief programs sparked immedi cation of the 20-foot-high cross on the hill where ate action. The land was quickly deeded to the the first Mission cross was said to have been sited. State of California by both Union Oil and the Made of reinforced concrete and illuminated by Catholic Church and the site designated as La electric lights, it was visible day or night from the Purisima State Historic Monument. Between surrounding area. A group of Indians from Santa 1934 and 1942, several hundred young men lived Ines Mission, led by elder Fernando Librado, knelt at, surveyed, excavated, studied, and rebuilt the around the edifice and movingly chanted the second Mission site. Careful archaeological, mission-taught "Hymn to the Cross." A "sumptu architectural, and historical research resulted in an ous banquet" for several hundred at the Odd exemplary restoration that would come to be Fellows Hall closed the celebration. known as the "Williamsburg of the West" (Hage man and Ewing 1980; Savage 1991). Although the event was devised by the newly arrived parish priest, Fr. Charles Raley, it was Meanwhile, the residential area of Lompoc essentially a civic affair orchestrated and pro was expanding relentlessly toward the frrst site. moted by the Chamber of Commerce. At this Two farm houses had already been built adjacent time, Californians were fully aware of the histori to the ruins by the mid-l 880s, with the southwest cal and romantic attraction of mission ruins, and and northeast comers of the quadrangle roofed for the people of Lompoc recognized the treasure that barns. By the 1930s, suburban homes were being lay within their town. Enthusiasm was high and built over the stone foundations and tiled floors, the word "reconstruction" was prominent when obscured by their own melted adobe walls. An talking of plans for the future. Two years later, attempt was made in the 1950s to purchase however, Fr. Raley was transferred to a parish in portions of the original site as an annex to La the south, enthusiasm waned, and the project Purisima State Historic Park, but the effort failed. faded like the valley'S morning fog (Engelhardt 1932:21-24). Among the few recognizable features left on the surface were the church's stone doorway and a Lompoc steadily grew. The agncultural town portion of its south wall. In August of 1959, F was a bulb-producing center by the turn ofthe Street was extended south, bisecting these remains century, and the flower industry soon expanded to and "bringing down most of the ruins of the seed production. Successful mining ofdia original La Purisima site. ,,3 Howard Moore and tomaceous earth in the hills to the south brought his wife, who had purchased the two lots that Southern Pacific up San Miguelito Canyon in the contained the church remains, built their home late I920s. Passing along the base of the hills, the next to the wall section and, across the street, put grade for the tracks nearly obliterated the south up a sign next to the church doors to mark their wing of the old Mission quadrangle. 2 small, private, mission preserve. Moore and his neighbors, meanwhile, were using unearthed Although the first site was disappearing from foundation stones and tiles to build retaining walls both memories and the landscape, the 1912 and decorate their gardens. The only marker for celebration had helped to focus attention on La the site, besides Mr. Moore's hand-painted sign, Purisima's second site at the mouth of Los Berros was a plaque put up in 1953 by the Platrix Chap Canyon. Several of the Mission's buildings had ter ofE Clampus Vitus. i' been maintained through the late 1800s, and their stately ruins still presided over the site. A 1905 In 1975 an alert Lompoc City Planner, Al restoration effort had failed, but in 1934 the site Autry, called the u.e. Santa Barbara Anthro

69 pology Department when a development permit the Mission was also the frrst step toward any was requested for one ofthe remaining portions of long-term archaeological study. The research the Mission site. Professor Brian Fagan asked the program was therefore focused on a precise identi author, recently relocated from the Middle East, to fication of the Mission's architectural plan. investigate. The studies which followed identified the general outlines of the Mission quadrangle There were three tasks involved in the re (assisted by photogranunetric techniques), listed search: archaeological investigations defmed the the site on the National Register of Historic ruins; surveyors correlated these with the modern Places, and helped defme an area where further landscape and produced maps; and historical and Mission remains might be present (Costello comparative information was used to flesh-out the 1975a, 1975b, 1975c;Estesetal.1977). Less site through an artist's reconstruction. Results successful was another round ofeffort to put still were used to develop a walking tour of the site, a undeveloped parcels into public ownership: traveling museum display, a technical report on negotiations with both the California Department the archaeology, and this article. 5 of Parks and Recreation and the Archaeological Conservancy were disappointing. Between 1977 The archaeological testing began in the spring and 1983, archaeological studies identified of 1991 directed by the author. Dr. Roy Salls was Mission remains on five more lots surrounding the in charge of field logistics, and Linda Sehgal Mission; four of them were developed with houses directed laboratory activities. Twenty-four small (Costello 1977a, 1977b, 1977c; Spanne 1979, excavation units were placed in strategic locations 1983). (Figure 3). Most were 1 x.5 m holes, expanded or reduced as warranted; many were profiles of By 1988 six key lots within the former central features exposed in vertical cuts; one identified the quadrangle were still empty. Lompoc City Plan surface exposure of part of a tile floor; and anoth ner Jeremy Graves brought together the author er took advantage of a water-line repair trench that and Lompoc Museum Director Roger Colton to cut through the north wing. In each unit, the his apply for grant money from the Department of toric soil layers and features, treated as individual Parks and Recreation for the City's purchase of strata, guided excavation and analysis (Harris these properties. In April of 1989, approval of a 1989).6 grant of $375,000 was announced. Most of these funds were earmarked for purchase of the six lots, The resulting scattered bits of information on totaling 1.65 acres. The balance was to be spent Mission structures -- telescopic peeks at a buried on archaeological studies and mapping, and for and largely destroyed building complex -- needed interpretive displays both on site and in the to be tied together and related to the modern Lompoc Museum. The last escrow closed in landscape. The horizontal and vertical locations January of 1991. 4 The few undeveloped pieces of of all Mission Period strata were surveyed, fed the old Mission site now belonged to the City of into an Autocad system, and joined with the City's Lompoc (Figure 2). data base by MK Welch Surveys, Inc., of Santa Maria.

PIECING THE MISSION TOGETHER Deducing the conformation of the quadrangle, however, was like a game of connect-the-dots The City needed to know exactly where without the numbers. The 24 units had caught the Mission ruins lay underground in order to re inside of a wall here, a parallel wall there, and a sponsibly manage its new acquisition. In addition floor elevation somewhere else. Guidance was to the grant-purchased lots, City streets, SIde found in historic sketches and photographs, which walks, alleys, and easements also contained suggested the general layout ofthe quadrangle, portions of the site. Identification of the layout of and through comparisons with other mission sites.

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Figure 5. Location of Mission quadrangle on modem landscape.

74 The Autocad system could try out nurnerous stretching up the hill behind. On the opposite side alignment options with astounding facility. Hours of the church, the soldiers and their families lived were spent refming details ofthe ground plan and in a row ofdwellings. revising drafts as new information or insights surfaced. The version presented here is our best The Quadrangle estimate to date (Figures 4-5). Behind the church and padre's residence were three wings which enclosed, and opened onto, a For the fmal step, artist Karen Foster Wells courtyard (Figure 7). Referred to as a mission's took the two dimensional ground plan and made it "quadrangle," this complex typically contained three dimensional, an exercise that proved to be an workshops, storage areas, and the sleeping quar unexpected learning experience. This "artist's re ters of the unmarried women (monjero). Access construction," initially intended only as a part of to the quadrangle was restricted to a gated open the public interpretive displays, turned out to be ing large enough for a careta. The quadrangle an important analytical tool. Identifications of was private and secure; only the front padre's individual features, structures, and activity areas, residence wing had rooms that opened to the which at frrst appeared solid, often gave way once outside. they were -- quite literally -- placed within the larger picture. Putting roofs on walls, naming The Mission Vieja de la Purisima quadrangle structures and buildings, and providing plausible was only approximately square, with sides as long arenas for daily activities required pooling data as 114 m and as short as 90 m (375 ft. and 296 ft.). from diverse sources. 7 The resulting picture of the It differed from most missions in being bisected, past provides our frrst real look at Mission Vieja off center, by the church building and a row of de la Purisima (Figure 6). rooms. It is likely that the southern half ofthe quadrangle was constructed frrst and the northern portion enclosed later. VIEWING THE MISSION The first permanent church was completed in The eleventh mission to be founded in Cali 1789 (Neuerburg 1987: 1). Within six years it was fornia. La Purisima had been located at the south already deemed too small for the congregation, ern end of the Santa Ynez Valley in the midst of and the population began gathering materials for a the populous Churnash. In widening concentric new one (Engelhardt 1932:8). In 1798 Frs. rings, the surrounding villages were drawn into the Fernandez and Calzada wrote that, although they establishment until, by 1811, it supported a had begun to lay the new church foundations, they population of nearly 1,000 (Jolmson 1988). A were concerned about their lack of expertise: complex agricultural institution, La Purisima maintained 1,700 head ofcattle and sheep~ culti ... owing to the entire ignorance ofthe Fathers, vated fields of com, wheat, and beans~ and devel there is necessary a master or masters, who are oped most of the industries needed for self-suffi experienced in this matter, otherwise the work will ciency (Engelhardt 1932). not be done with sufficient security for stability. [Engelhardt 1932: II]

The activities of mission life were centered Some interesting construction details ob around the common, public area in front of the served in the 1890s appear to justify this early church, the plaza of typical Hispanic towns. The anxiety: church and apartments ofthe Franciscans (casa de los padres) sat on the west and the community Here is a noted difference from the walls ofother water basins (pi/ares) and washing area (lavan churches. Instead of being six or seven feet thick, deria) in its center. On the south side was the as in almost every instance, they were barely three cook house (pozolera) with the Indian village feet thick, although they were subsequently

VIEJA .DE.. LA PURISIMA PLAN OF MISSION QUADRANGLE

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Figure 7. Mi!l&J.()ll Vieja quadrangle with dimensions.

77 strengthened with extra walls and, in some instanc the courtyard was seen to be flush with the interior es, buttresses. The extra walls were evidently a edge of the tile walkway. subsequent thought, as they were not in bond with the first, and were sometimes laid up against a wall Facing the plaza and fronted by a corredor of that had previously been plastered and painted. its own, the padre's residence wing was larger than [Thompson and West 1961 :30] the other quadrangle wings, containing a double instead of a single row of rooms. These front Completed in 1802, the resulting building was quadrangle wings typically contained the apart 16.6 m wide and is estimated to be about 63 m ments of the priests, sleeping rooms and a sala long (54 x 206 ft). The exterior adobe walls were (drawing room) for visitors, and some storage or two stories tall, about 12 m (40 ft), capped by a industrial rooms. At Mission Vieja, this wing was gently sloping gable roof covered by fired tiles over 70 m long and 13 m wide (230 x 42 ft). Its (tejas). The church nave, 30.3 x 11.2 m (99 x 37 8' stone foundations were wider than those ofthe ft), filled the eastern half ofthe building to its full m other quadrangle wings, suggesting a greater height, while the western halfwas divided by three e.r height for the walls, likely an upper half story of two-story partition walls, forming four rooms on ill rooms with small windows as at Missions Do each floor. til lores, Santa Ines, Santa Barbara, and San Juan S( Bautista. Archaeology showed that ladrillos The most visible standing ruin on the site is Be paved the corredor and lime plaster protected the the flfSt story ofthe church's facade, made of ru outside walls. mortared stone. It contained an arched doorway, Ie topped on the exterior by a decorative cornice line hi The Mission quadrangle was built on a slope of protruding bricks (ladrillos). A small window hi would have admitted light to the choir loft, while a and the con vento was laid up the grade, rising p about 5 meters over its 70-meter length. This was paved patio terrace was likelv in front to serve as til likely accomplished by constructing staggered both an entryway to the ch~h and a stage for tit presentations in the plaza. The wide span ofthe blocks ofrooms; measurements showed the floor in of one room to be I meter higher than that of its church would have required a special kind of tit northern neighbor. Pairs of east-west rooms had trussing called ocho vado that did not require III floors of the same elevation. A tiled floor was cross beams. Evidence was found indicating that identified in one room along with walls covered both the interior and exterior of the church were plastered white and painted with red and black with white lime plaster. Another room had a brasero in the comer: a C-shaped cooking struc motifs, while documents reveal that the interior ture enclosing a grate over an open fire. 8 ~as furnished with an impressive array of paint mgs, statues, and religious furniture imported from Mexico (Neuerburg 1987:1-7). The other long wings ofthe quadrangle were made up ofstrings ofcontiguous adobe rooms about 7.5 m (25 ft) wide, gable-roofed, covered A covered walkway (corredor), 3.5 m wide (11.5 ft), ran along the south side of the church with tejas, and fmished on the outside with white building. It was floored with ladrillos laid in a lime plaster. The rooms opened either onto the a cQrredor lining the courtyard or to each other. diamond pattern and protected by a teja-covered fD shed roof. With the walkway lying 50 cm (20 in) There would have been no doors or windows bI above the church floor, steps would have led down opening to the outside ofthe quadrangle. The gate .. from a side door into the nave. Corredor door to the courtyard appears to have been through the I,. ways also accessed the rear rooms. Measurements southern wing, where a corral gate is later seen in b of the walk showed that it sloped awav from the the ruins. b building, carrying surface rain water ~way from ()) the adobe walls. The packed earthen surface of The southern wing sloped downhill from east II to west, dropping a total of 2.5 m (8.2 ft). This

78 ::rior wing was nearly eradicated by the Southern Aligned just south of the church building, this Pacific Railroad, although enough remnants are structure may represent the north side of the present to identify wall alignments, tile floors, and original, smaller, quadrangle. The first church "oc original ground levels. One portion of the corremight have been constructed in its most typical tthan dor was paved with stone slabs instead of lalocation, the northeast quadrangle corner. When We dr/llos. A preserved courtyard doorway, cut down the adjacent 1802 church was completed, the first into the stones of the protruding wall-footings, would have been dismantled, producing the off-set allowed students to feel what it was like to stand, in the present alignment. The front padre's wing literally, on the threshold ofthe past. would have been extended to the south wall ofthe :Dr new church. This construction scenario would IW8S The northern quadrangle wing sloped more also explain the discovery of an aqueduct, which tts gently to the west, losing only I meter over its 96 turned and ran squarely underneath the second mlength. It was tied to the church on its eastern church. The soldiers' quarters of 1794, abandoned end by a solid adobe wall, capped in tejas. One of when the new soldiers' facilities were constructed I)C its central rooms was floored with stone slabs. A 10 years later (Engelhardt 1932:8,18), might have tiled corredor, 2.8 m wide (9.2 ft), ran along its been incorporated into the northern quadrangle south wall. Although this tiled walkway was also expanSIon. seen to slope away from the building, there may !he have been other drainage problems with this The Mission Village lowest side of the quadrangle. An adjacent down Flanking the plaza on the south, the tradi hill room initially had its asphaltum floor laid tional residences of the Chumash spread up the lie below the elevation of the ground and walkway: a hillside. Flaked-stone tools, stone bowls and perfect sump. This floor was raised at least two mortars, shell and glass beads, and butchered bone 'TIS times, first with a gravel fill under a tile floor and have been found throughout this area over the then with additional fill capped by the tiles relaid years. The round, domed structures, built of bent tI' in a diamond pattern. This last renovation raised poles covered with woven grasses, came in vari the floor elevation above that of the adjacent ous sizes housing from three to six people on an I ground, presumably solving the problem. average (Johnson 1988: 160-161). In 1812, with a population of 1,000, the village may have had Archaeological exposure of a portion ofthe some 200 dwellings. western wing's corredor walkway identifed the .,. location ofthis building. Corroborating this The only record of adobe dwellings for the evidence, neighborhood residents along its route Indians is from 1798, when nine are reported had long reported discoveries of solid tiled floors constructed. This entry is contradicted two years lying several feet below the surface in their back later, when the fathers lament that, due to other yards (Costello 1975d). priorities, no Indian housing had yet been built (Engelhardt 1932: 10,14). It may be that the nine A building over 25 m long juts out into the room building of 1798 was converted into the courtyard near the middle ofthe west wing. A tile communal cook house (pozolera), identified in the floor had been exposed decades ago, apparently same report of 1800 as a gathering spot for single by heavy equipment. It measured 5.9 m wide and men. This building sat on the south side of the lie at least 18.75 m long (19 x 61.5 ft) with the plaza and appears in several historic photographs ladrillos laid in a diamond pattern within a square and sketches. border. No corredors were found along the building's sides although an adobe wall running On the opposite side of the quadrangle from off the back of the church seems to have defmed the Indian village were the quarters of the soldiers an enclosed yard to the north. and their families. The first permanent soldiers' residence building was apparently constructed in

79 1794, nearly 12 m long and 5 m wide (39 x 16 ft). Luis Rey as the architect and construction superin Four years later a guardhouse was added. In 1804 tendent of the new church (Neuerburg 1987:7; a new facility 37 m long (121 ft) was built for five Miller 1990:242). Whatever he did build during families, including individual kitchens and a "good his six months at La Purisima was not in use for patio" and with a guardhouse attached (Engelhardt very long; it was just 14 months after his depar 1932:8, 10, 18). As the archaeological work was ture that the earthquake struck. underway in the spring of 1991, the foundation stones ofthis 1804 soldiers' residence were being Water was brought to the Mission from pulled out of the ground to make way for the nearby San Miguelito Canyon in an aqueduct footings of a new house. completed between 1804 and 1808. This open ditch was in use through the turn of the century, In the plaza, in front of the Indian village and and portions of it are still extant along the hillside. the padre's residence, sat the public water basins Water must first have been conveyed to a reser (pi/ares) and washing area (lavanderta).9 One voir above the Mission to the south, from where it pilar was found to be fairly intact. It was rectan could be released either to the agricultural fields or gular, 9.45 m long and 5.7 m wide (31.0 x 18.7 ft) to the residential area. Several remnants of the and stood at least 70 cm (2.3 ft) above ground hillside distribution system were encountered level. It was constructed of local white shale when Santa Clara Drive was developed in the late mortared with a white lime cement; the interior 1970s and early 1980s. basin was about 91 cm deep (36 in) and was lined with /adrillos. The exterior was covered with a Water used by Mission residents commonly lO pink-colored lime cement, coccio pesto , and a passed first through a filter house. I I At Mission paved standing platfonn was built at one end. To Vieja, one covered channel below the filter house the south sat an earlier and somewhat larger pi/ar likely led down toward the cook house and the with a sloping interior covered with the same plazapilares and /avanderia. A second covered pink-colored plaster: a covered aqueduct carried channel would have entered the quadrangle, runoff water to destinations further east. serving another pi/ar located in the courtyard. A portion of this second channel was found underly Jutting out of the center of the northempt/ar ing the 1802 church building, which it must is the long trough-like iavanderia, similar to but predate. It likely continued on to the soldiers' smaller than the one in front of Santa Barbara residences. Mission. Sixteen meters long and nearly 3 m wide (53 x 8.9 ft), it is constructed oflime-mortared Above the filter house, an open ditch carried stones and lined with coccia pesto. Sitting only water south to a small reservoir which served the 25 cm (lOin) above the original ground level, the mission's large walled garden. Completed in washers would have knelt along its sides. 1802, the garden was 183 m square (600 ft), surrounded by an adobe wall capped with tejas The newer pi/ar and /avanderia might have (Engelhardt 1932: 18). The garden reservoir and been constructed by master carpenter and stone wall are included in an 1883 sketch by Henry cutter Jose Antonio Ramirez, who was hired in Chapman Ford. 12 April of 1811 "to assist in making the stone basins, canals, and all the washing places and Of the numerous other facilities which would drinking trough[s] after fmishing the fountain." have surrounded the Mission, few locations are He was to be paid "200 pesos in silver, with known. The kiIn where tejas and /adrillos were board, 3 drinks a day, and 2 Ibs. ofchocolate fired was constructed in 1790 (Neuerburg monthly" (Miller 1990:240). Ramirez either 1987:8), built into the hillside southwest of the " fmished his work quickly or left it uncompleted, as Mission, a location now identified by an apron of in October of that same year he is at Mission San bloated and melted "wasters." Still unidentified

80 am- are the sites ofthe threshing floor, corralls, lime enough material left to use in making re placements. " kiln, and grist mill. Also not located is the ceme IlI1g tery, with over 1,518 recorded burials (Engelhardt [or 1932:87).13 The furniture and possessions ofthe Mission also 111' have suffered: some crushed, others destroyed and all damaged. Besides the bad weather and the heavy rain that fell subsequently, there was no THE DEATH OF THE MISSION opportunity to dig out or re-roof that which barely still stands. This complex of residences, workshops, III storerooms, aqueducts, and a church was brought Faced with the virtual decimation ofhis !Y. down by the terrible earthquake of December establishment, Fr. Payeras determined not to Bide. 1812. Throughout California, that year was rebuild at this location. He petitioned to move the If thereafter known as el AFfo de los Temblores. site of the Mission some 5 miles northeast to the Kit Hubert Howe Bancroft summarizes the event: mouth ofLos Berros Canyon. On the same side lis or of the river as EI Camino Real, this new Mission N.. At Purisima several slight shocks between 7 and 8 site would not be cut off during high water and a.m. on the 8th did no harm; but at 10:30 a.m. on was closer to both Missions Santa Ines and San llate the 21 st the earth shook for four minutes so vio Luis Obispo (Payeras 1814). After 25 years in lently that it was difficult to stand. A brief exami nation showed the minister that the church walls the valley, the Franciscans certainly also noted had been thrown out of plumb; and half an hour that this new site was protected from the strong ~ after the first there came another more violent afternoon winds and above the frequent marine III shock, which brought down the church and nearly fogs that plagued their original location. On April de all the adobe buildings. Several neophytes were 23,1813, the formal move took place. IS wounded but not killed. A succession oflight ~ shocks followed this day and the next, and the Everything ofvalue was salvaged from the old work ofdestruction was completed by the rains site. Rescue of important items had begun imme ,A that followed and the bursting of the water works. diately after the disaster, and now the site was [Bancroft 1966: 20 I ] tty- raided for building materials: tejas,ladrillos, doors, lintels, posts, beams, and rafters. What had Fr. Mariano Payeras provides additional not previously fallen now rapidly deteriorated details in a letter dated December 31, 1812: 14 from exposure to the weather. The extraordinary and horrible earthquake ... com d The site was not completely abandoned, lie pletely ruined the church, destroyed its collateral, several statues and paintings, and spoiled the however. When La Purisima was secularized in major part of its decorations. The vestments were 1835, its inventory valued the site of Mission not damaged as they were inside the drawers. Vieja at $373.50 (Engelhardt 1932:57). The garden with its mature trees had been maintained, d The building materials, some on the floor, and along with the aqueduct from San Miguelito others (if the damage does not continue) after Canyon and perhaps some corrals. There must being carefully repaired, could serve not for have been a small population of Mission Chumash dwellings, but for less hardy use that does not serving as resident caretakers. In 1845 Rancho require so much safety. Id Mission Vieja was granted to Joaquin and Jose One hundred houses of the neophytes and the Antonio Carrillo, who already owned the Lompoc [pozolera or community kitchen] made with walls Rancho to the west. The Mission Vieja garden an adobe and a half thick and roofed with tile, are was still productive in 1853 as it is specifically unserviceable: even the adobe fence of the garden, mentioned by the Land Commissioners (Bancroft 'f though covered with tile, either fell or was Library, Land Case File 61SD). A sketch map of knocked down in such a way that there is barely

81 this period identifies three Indians living on the Purisima State Historic Park (Clarence Ruth, 6. site: a man named Francisco resided in an adobe personal communication, 1975). W associated with the Mission, while two other men, ~ Cecilio and Miguel, lived between the adobe and 3. Lompoc Record, August 27, 1959. There is no tu the irrigation ditch injacal (grass and brush) substantiation for the story that during this work m houses; a temescal (sweat house) was nearby. 16 skeletons were found on the tiled church floor bel Perhaps these men were the last occupants of the "frozen in attitudes of horror" (Robert Lilly, Ki 1787 Chumash Mission village. personal communication, 1975). Contemporary al newspaper accounts describing the road excava Rancho Vieja was formally mapped for the tion through the church do not mention discovery U.S. Surveyor General in 1864; the site of of any human remains. Archaeologist Dr. James Mission Vieja ended up outside of its rancho Deetz, who came up from UC Santa Barbara to boundaries, in the Lompoc grant. In 1874 the inspect the site, also apparently did not raise any Lompoc Land Company purchased both the alarms. Perhaps related to this legend is the report Lompoc and Mission Vieja ranchos for $500,000. that two skeletons were found in 1961 during They had the land surveyed into plots for farms construction of a nearby house (Mrs. H. Ingram, 7.. and grazing, with a 2-mile-square townsite re Block 136, Lot 10, in Costello 1975d). Oll served in the center of the valley. Plots were &I auctioned off, and eager settlers poured into the 4. The work was funded from the California valley (O'Neil 1939:345-346). Department of Parks and Recreation's History and 8., Archaeology Grants Program, under the California tbI Sketches and photographs of the site after the Wildlife, Coastal. and Park Land Conservation fIG

1880s record its steady deterioration. Two small Act of 1988. Rising real estate values were met ~ ranches built next to the ruins corralled livestock by a supplementary grant of $50,000 from Santa tiD within the crumbling walls and used the quadran Barbara County and donation in property value of 3e gle corners for barns. The pozolera appears to $47,000 from the Signorelli family of Lompoc. All have been roofed for some utility, and the aque t:icI duct system was maintained for irrigation. 5. Project Director was Julia G. Costello, Ph.D.; Field Director was Roy Salls, Ph.D., who had 9. By 1912, the 125th anniversary of the found replaced Colton as Director ofthe Lompoc at: ing of the mission, Lompoc's Spanish past was Museum; and Lab Director was Linda Sehgal, am still a visible entity at the southern edge of town. M.A., of Lompoc. Juanita Centeno, assisted by fOt Some individuals recognized its historical impor Jose Castillo, represented local Chumash con tell tance to the community and organized a county cerns. Most of the field work was performed on 101 wide celebration to advocate preservation of the eight Saturdays (April 6 - June I, 1991) by an site for future generations. They didn't know that members of an archaeological field class from aa it would take 80 years to reach that goal. UCSB taught by Professor Michael Glassow. Additional work was completed by volunteer Ull excavators on four Sundays during that same time CCJ NOTES period. The surveying and mapping work was hyI done by M.K. Welch Surveys, Inc., of Santa 79l I. Details of the 1912 celebration are drawn from Maria, who involved a second-semester surveying DIll two newspaper accounts, The Morning Press, class from Allen Hancock Community College. COl December 6, 1912, and The Independent, Decem Artist Karen Foster Wells produced the drawing IDI ber 6, 1912; and from Engelhardt 1932: 102-115. reconstruction of the site. Jeremy Graves, Princi tia pal Planner, served as coordinator and liaison for 2. Two grinding stones were said to have been the project. III salvaged from this construction; one is at La dia

82 6. The technical report (Costello 1993) discusses purposes. Remains of these structures have been field methods and procedures and findings by unit, found at the second site of La Purisima (Hageman synthesizes the archaeological data by architec and Ewing 1980: 179), at Mission San Bue lis no tural feature, and presents management recom naventura (Greenwood and Gessler 1968), and at I'k mendations. Appendices include analyses of glass Mission San Antonio where it has been misidenti beads by Lester Ross, shell beads by Chester fied as a baRo. Large stone footings reported King, and faunal remains by Roy Salls, along with during construction oftwo houses on the north rry a summary of the artifact catalogue. Copies of the side of Santa Clara Drive could belong to the filter fI report are on file at the City of Lompoc, the house (Costello 1977a). :ry Lompoc Museum, and the Central Coast Informa ICS tion Center of the California Archaeological 12. Judge Reed reported that a Mr. Barker, whose ;:) Inventory at VCSB. All original field notes, house bwned down in 1906, used the old Mission By photographs, and recovered artifacts are curated at water system to irrigate his land. Reed also (pOrt the Lompoc Museum. remembered tracing the route of the old aqueduct to ca. 150 feet above Whistler dam on San m. 7. Sage advice on architectural details was gener Miguelito Creek and remembered the "settling ously provided by Dr. Norman Neuerburg and pond" (garden reservoir) behind the Veterans Edna Kimbro. Memorial building (personal communication to J. Costello, 1975). rand 8. Made ofadobe blocks surfaced with ladrillos, lI1lia the top ofthe brasero lay ca. 55 cm above the 13. Lompoc historian and archaeologist Clarence floor. Similar structures have been found in "Pop" Ruth, thought that the Mission graveyard It excavations at Missions San Buenaventura (Has was "up above the Mission on the hill." He also Ita tings 1975:126), Soledad (Farnsworth 1987:358 related that west ofthe Veterans building, where :of 360), Santa Ines (Costello 1989:35), and San an old wooden building used to stand, a water Antonio (Robert Hoover, personal communica main installation encountered a burial with trade tion, 1980). beads (personal communication, 1975~ see also ,. .., Footnote 2). The cemetery might have been on 9. Fuente is used to describe a fountain, present the north side of the plaza, although this would be at many California missions to aerate piped water unusual. and for decoration. A pilar is the water basin ofa fountain, and is used here as a more conservative 14. (Payeras 1812). This version ofthe letter was term. In Spanish Central America, the pilar is translated for the author by Ruth Adams in 1977 ~ D located in the central plaza and often has washing the letter has also been translated by Engelhardt areas built into it, incorporating lavanderia (1932:30-31 ). activities. 15. The move is discussed in Payeras' letter of to. The soft, Roman cement made by the Spanish 1814. For additional motives, note his complaints IDe could be strengthened with additives to form a of the weather (Engelhardt 1932: 19); these are hydraulic cement, pozzoJana (Costello 1989:78 verified by local residents. 79). The version utilizing ground terracota frag ng ments, which colors it pink, is popularly known as 16. Map by J.P. Harrington identifying "Mid coccio pesto ("potsherd, pounded") (Edna Kimbro Nineteenth Century Indian structures at La Pur and Norman Neuerburg, personal communica isima Vieja." Copy provided by Dr. John John ii tions, 1993). son, Santa Barbara Museum ofNatural History. I' 11. Filter houses were commonly used to clean ditched waters before they were used for domestic ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

83 The author gratefully acknowledges the enthu Drive, Lompoc, California. Unpublished ms., siastic efforts of all the principal project personnel on file, Planning Department, City of including Dr. Roy Salls, Linda Sehgal, Dr. Lompoc, California. Michael Glassow, Mike Welch, Karen Foster Wells, and Jeremy Graves. Spiritual guidance was 1977b Archaeological Survey SBA-52I : provided by Juanita Centeno, who is missed by us Culberson Construction Co., E Street all. Property, Lompoc, California. Unpublished ms., on file, Planning Department, City of Lompoc, California. REFERENCES CITED 1977c Archaeological Survey SBA-52I : Bancroft, Hubert Howe Vernon Howerton Property, Lompoc, Califor 1966 History of California, Vol. II. 1801-1824. nia. Unpublished ms., on file, Planning The Works ofHubert Howe Bancroft, Vol. Department, City of Lompoc. XIX. Wallace Hebberd, Santa Barbara. [Originally published in 1886 by The History 1989 Santa Ines Mission Excavations: 1986 Company, San Francisco.] 1988. California Historical Archaeology No. 1. Coyote Press, Salinas, California. Bancroft Library n.d. Notes from Land Case File 61 SD. Rancho 1993 Mission VIeja de la Purlslma (CA-SBA Mission Vieja de la Purisima. On file, 521H), Report on the 1991-1992 Archae Bancroft Library, University of California, %glcaIInvestigations. Planning Berkeley. Department, City of Lompoc.

Costello, Julia G. Engelhardt, Fr. Zephryn, O.F.M. 1975a Archaeological Survey of Mission Vieja 1932 Mission la ConcepciOn Pur/Sima de de la Purisima. Pacific Coast Archaeological Maria Sam/sima. Mission Santa Barbara, Society Quarterly 11(2):41-59. Santa Barbara, California.

1975b Archaeological Survey: Property Estes, John E., John R. Jensen, and Larry R. Belonging to Neil Elms in Relation to Mission Tinney ] Vieja de la Purisima -- SBA-52!. Unpub 1977 The Use of Historical Photography for lished ms., on file, Planning Department, City Mapping Archaeological Sites. Journal of ofLompoc, California. Field Archaeology 4:441-447.

1975c Site of Mission Vieja de la Purisima: Farnsworth, Paul National Register of Historic Places 1987 The Economics ofAcculturation in the Inventory, Nomination Form. On file, State California Missions: A Historical and Ar Historic Preservation Office, Sacramento. chaeological Study ofMission Nuestra Senora de La Soledad. Unpublished Ph.D. II 1975d Neighborhood Survey of Lompoc Homes dissertation, Department ofAnthropology, Situated on or near Archaeological Remains University of California, Los Angeles. of Cloister Complex of Mission Vieja de la Purisfma (compiler). On file, City of Greenwood, Roberta S., and Nicholas Gessler Lompoc, California. 1968 The Mission San Buenaventura Aqueduct with Particular Reference to the Fragments at 1977a Archaeological Survey SBA-521: Weldon Canyon. Pacific Coast Ar Culberson Construction Co., 3 Santa Clara chaeological Society Quarterly 4(4):61-87.

84 '" Hageman, Fredrick c., and Russell C. Ewing Savage, Christine E. 1980 An Archaeological andRestoration Study 1991 New Deal Adobe: The Civilian Con ofMission La Purisima Concepcion. Santa servation Corps and the Reconstruction of Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation, Santa Mission La Purisima. 1934-1942. Fithian Barbara. [Original manuscripts submitted to Press, Santa Barbara. the National Park Service in 1937 and 1939.] Spanne, Laurence W. Harris, Edward 1979 Report on Archaeological Testing at SBA 1989 Principles ofArchaeological Stratig 521, Mission La Purisima Vieja, Block 136, raphy (2nd ed.) Academic Press, San Diego. West 112 of Lots 1 through 11, Main Family Property in the City of Lompoc. Unpublished Hastings, Richard B. ms., copy in possession of the author. 1975 San Buenaventura Mission, an Archi tectural View. In 3500 Years on One City 1983 Notes from Testing Program for Noble Block, edited by Roberta S. Greenwood, pp. Lot Split; End of Santa Clara Drive. 97-139. Greenwood and Associates, Pacific Unpublished ms., copy in possession of the Palisades, California. author.

Johnson, John R. Thompson, Thomas H., and Agustus West 1989 Chumash Social Organization: An 1961 History ofSanta Barbara and Ventura Ethnohistoric Perspective. Unpublished Counties. California. Howell and North, Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Berkeley. [Originally published 1897, Anthropology, University of California, Santa Oakland.] Barbara.

Miller, Mardith K. Schuetz }990 Building and Builders in Hispanic California 1769-1850. Unpublished ms., 1Jl posseSSIOn of the author.

Neuerburg, Norman 1987 The Architecture ofMission La Purisima Concepcion. Bellerophon Books, Santa Barbara.

O'Neil, Owen H. 1939 History ofSanta Barbara County. Harold McLean Meier, Santa Barbara.

Payeras, Mariano, O.F.M. 1812 Letter to Fr. Antonio Ripoli dated December 31, 1812. On file, Santa Barbara Mission Library and Archives, Santa Barbara.

1814 Letter to Fr. Antonio Ripoli dated January 1, 1914. On file, Santa Barbara Mission Li brary and Archives, Santa Barbara.