Iference :N from LIBRA
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ARX iFERENCE :N FROM LIBRA ORANGE COUN HISTORY (REFERENCE PAMPHLET FI '1" 1769, while.'the ~mericaniilonies Nor was Portola very opti~nisticabout There were prohnbly almul I5.0oO In- - were moving toward war with the Brit- the condition tlie 63 soldiers, muleteers dians in .what is today Orange County, ish, the crowned head .of another Euro- and two priests who .yould march to Monterey. living in villages of 500 to 1,000 popula- pean power, King Carlos 111 or Spain. tion. They had no horses, no cattle, no They were, he later wrote, "skeletons uneasily eyed the growing British milit- grain. They lived on acorns and an ,ary,migration as far west as the Missis- occasional rabbit and were thought by .sippr,,,%lley. He was well aware that it ,.. - Ail ~-,~alStories the expedition as well as the many . coul$:spreafl .-to :the ' Rockies; even the . .. , . Spaniards who later came to this area to Pzcific, .. coast.;. , i5: : B$ DAVEROSE be a generally lazy and worthless lot. .:!;With the~paniardsfirmly, entrenched . Reg[ster, statf Writer Father Crespi was more than a .litllc in: Mexico, 'King Carlos looked .upon the impressed when he came upon what hc ' PaCific ' Coast '.-:.:particularly., what, is ~ , . was to name the valley of San Juan ~110'had ben spared from scurvy. : today. the ,state of 'California ,+ as , a Capistrano (for Italian Saint John of natural extension'bf thk Spanish domain hullper and thirst." Capistrano). IG, in North .America. -' '04' july ,tl~e..espedition,left San . 'The growing westward migration Diego with 10 soldiers in the vanguard (Continued On Page 12) the British, he felt, was a tllrcal to led .by a ,scout, sergeant Spanish designs. , 0rtega;who rode miles ahead to blaze a Then came word 'that Russian fur trail for ttie.mairi party. dashing bl(l1~ traders were establishing scat- into Indian villages, niarking campsites tered settlements on the northern each day. Pacific coast. kst excuse, Arnong [hose soldiers was a strapl)ing but it Was a ready one and in March young man barely turned 20, whose staminnto withstand the dangers OF tlie '176% Spanish .officials in Mexico City r*ilds and the ra,lages or disease llad were ordered to move northward im- nledintely. ~h~~ to aAlluv earned him the rank of corporal. was ca[ifornia, and claim it for spainin Jose Antonio Yorba and 011 this eVe('i- Lion lie was to stand in the valley of the .face of the Russian 'tn,enace.v Of prilne importance. Carlos reasoned. ally Brit- Santa Ann River, much of which he ish claims to t!le paciric coast n,ould bc ~011ldlater Own and pass on to descen- eliminated once alld for all by the enter- dmts \who still live here totii!~. ' prise. Fither Juan Cvspi. the official cliarist The man chosen to lead this expedi- for the expedition, left no dollbl as Lo its purpose. It Was being llndcrtaketl. Ilc tion was.a dogged army llatlle(~ ',Don Gaspal- dc Portola. tiis \\Tote. to promote "t!le jircater glory Or destination was 10 be hlonterey, a piacc adthrough the con\'ersion or souls 'for the service.of the king whose (1onlill- described , by all earlier spallisllesp- lorer, Vizcaino who sailed along tile ions were being enlarged by this expedi- California doastline in 1602. Vizcaino tie?."' called Mont'erey, a.natural harbor. on JUIY '22, the expedition camped ~o~tol~.~~~'to first mar, near what is now Sari Clemente. There to enter \$,hat i~ today orallgecounly. .: the-tw~'$Tiesl~\i.ere"~oId'bf two ba(lly ~h~ espedition, or ,.hrfour sc,l;,- ,.injured Indian...., . .. cliildren,who. were dying- rate ones totaling aboul 300 men. Iclt Loreto. Baja. Calil.. on March 9. They They baptized- the youngsters and the arrived in San Diego six weeks later following day the party conlirl~lcdnorth- ward. where Father Junipero Scrra estab- Each soldier carried a long lance. the lished the first of the 21 Franciscan butt of which rested against his hip. A missions that were to dot California. broadsword hung at his side and a short The trip was a disaster. One of the two musket was strapped to each saddle. groups that had sailed for San Diego by The soldiers wore steel helmets arid a sea was* .lost and never heard from sleeveless coat made of six or seven ~aga~,,Only126 men straggled into San thicknesses of tanned, tough leather lo ',Dlpgo ;'by landsand sea and of that guard against thc arrows of enemy number, wrote Portnla, only half were Indians. ftt for contiriucd servlce. But there was no need to [ear these Indians. Curious and friendly almost to a fault, they welcomed this sLra11gc caravan. Spain's American ire Expanded (Continued From Page 1) - Father Crespi named it San- The easy camaiaderie on They,~esledin that "pleasant tiago, after the patron saint arroyo!!',for a day, leaving the of that warm sunny day along the He wrote in his meticulously Spain. The name stands today. river bank became ,in an in- following.. c,, mprning, . July 26;but .kept diary: "The valley. is all . , Father Crespi also proved not befor~o!iserving St. Anne's stant, a time of terror. With a green with good grass and.has himself to be something oi a Day withla '.'Holy sacrifice of low rumble, then a roar, the many wild grapes and one prophet. "If this ' watering the. Mass" to the mother of earth suddenly erupted in a sees some spots that resemble place should remain throuph- violent shaking and rocking in Mary. , ;; vineyards. 'I gave,this valley .. out the year (it was nearly dry what Father Crespi described After , traveling for two the name of San Juan Capis- when he first came upon it:. 11 hours the!party came to the as "a horrifying earthquake.", lrano,'for a mission so that would be a sitc for building a 'edge of's large plain. &fore It stuck at 1 p.m., the padre this glorious saint who in life city on account ol' thc Inrge noted, and "lasted about half converted so niany souls, may them ondhis St.. Anne's Day, amount.of land and the exten- "as far: .as thc eye could as long as an Ave Maria." ,pray God'in heaven for the sive plain that the arroyo has reach,': spread what was. to The first aftershockstruck 10 conversion . of :these poor on both sides." be known as the Santa Ana minutes later "though not as souls." . : The following day. July 28. violently" and was followed by (~es~ite'theit: zeal to con- Valiey,.named in honor of the Portola and his expedit~on two more within the next three vert the'.Indians to the ways of day and the saint. traveled four miles further. hours, he wrote. the church, the friars had con- , hey .pitched camp at what is proba6ly now El Toro and camping along what the sol- Father Crespi named the ,verted;scarcely 500 by 1773 in river "Jesus de 10s Temb- all of California). the following day again diers named tile Santa Ana River. Hido~ians place the lores" to mark in history that. ~he'Portolaexpedition was traveled riorth across the plain, 'staying close to- the camp at about the junction of violent afternoon, but the name a true trail blazer. Along the never stuck. paths he chose, often hacked foothills, passing Red Hill in the Newport and Rivers!de freeways. Portola had had enough of 'out of.thick brush by sword- what is nowvvTustin. Ortega guided his horse up Again Father Crespi uas the Santa Ana River country swinging soldiers, were to fol- and the next day pushed across low, Father Junipero Serra. Red Hill .to:the peak and what prophetic. He wrote of the unfolded ,kcore.his. eyesas lie-.. riqer: "It is not at all bosed In the rivcr "witl~great difficulty the president fathcr or all on account of the swiftness of California missions and the reached:.:itht? top presented a by banks. It is evident from the sands on its banks that in the the current." Iie followed tile .Juan Bautista De Anza party 'magnificentsight. The San' Joaquin .slough .at rainy season it must hare foothills, soon reaching a little which .founded what is today green valley with a large vil- San Francisco. Later came that time.ran far back from great floods which would pre- what is now Upper Newport vent crossing it. It has a great lage of Indians who also were the. future Spanish and Mcxi- very friendly. can governors, the Americans Bay. deal of good land which can easily be irrigated." The valley was named Santa - Genera{ Fremont, Kit Car- Ortega's eyes must !lave blinked. in wonder as they "We pitched camp on the left Marta, but is known as La son, . Commodore Stockton, Habra today. scanned 'a ' vast field .of bril- bank of this river," the padre General ' Kearney -' and a liant yellow dry mustard cov- wrote in his diary. "On its right The expedition then pro- host of other famous men who ceeded to what isnow Whittier. emblazoned their names in ering what is today Tustin and bank there is a populous ~II- California h,istory. Santa Ana. lage of Indians who received us wit^' the aid, of his. famed :. Like sentinels guarding the with great friendliness. Fllty- brown plain, great clumps of two of them came to camp 311d enginekr,.,. ;Miguel. : Costanso, their chief told us by slgrls Portola, the soldiers; :the, 'In- sycamores towered. Far off in the distance .lay a wide green which we understood very \r ell dian helper!; ..the. inuleteers: swamp 'and beyond that, the that we must come to live u ~th ' and the padres' blazed 'the :El : them; that they would make Camino .