Winter 2014-2015 LaThe Journal of the SanPeninsula Mateo County Historical Association, Volume xliii, No. 1 Portolá Trail and Development of Foster City Our Vision Table of Contents To discover the past and imagine the future. Is it Time for a Portolá Trail Designation in San Mateo County? ....................... 3 by Paul O. Reimer, P.E. Our Mission Development of Foster City: A Photo Essay .................................................... 15 To enrich, excite and by T. Jack Foster, Jr. educate through understanding, preserving The San Mateo County Historical Association Board of Directors and interpreting the history Paul Barulich, Chairman; Barbara Pierce, Vice Chairwoman; Shawn DeLuna, Secretary; of San Mateo County. Dee Tolles, Treasurer; Thomas Ames; Alpio Barbara; Keith Bautista; Sandra McLellan Behling; John Blake; Elaine Breeze; David Canepa; Tracy De Leuw; Dee Eva; Ted Everett; Accredited Pat Hawkins; Mark Jamison; Peggy Bort Jones; Doug Keyston; John LaTorra; Joan by the American Alliance Levy; Emmet W. MacCorkle; Karen S. McCown; Nick Marikian; Olivia Garcia Martinez; Gene Mullin; Bob Oyster; Patrick Ryan; Paul Shepherd; John Shroyer; Bill Stronck; of Museums. Joseph Welch III; Shawn White and Mitchell P. Postel, President. President’s Advisory Board Albert A. Acena; Arthur H. Bredenbeck; John Clinton; Robert M. Desky; T. Jack Foster, The San Mateo County Jr.; Umang Gupta; Greg Munks; Phill Raiser; Cynthia L. Schreurs and John Schrup. Historical Association Leadership Council operates the San Mateo John C. Adams, Wells Fargo; Jenny Johnson, Franklin Templeton Investments; Barry County History Museum Jolette, San Mateo Credit Union and Paul Shepherd, Cargill. and Archives at the old San Mateo County Courthouse La Peninsula located in Redwood City, Carmen J. Blair, Managing Editor Publications Committee: Joan Levy, Publications Chairwoman; Albert A. Acena, Ph.D.; California, and administers Thomas Ames; Carmen J. Blair; Ted Everett; Pat Hawkins; Mitchell P. Postel; Mark S. two county historical sites, Still, Ph.D. and Shawn White. the Sanchez Adobe in Address correspondence to: Editor, La Peninsula, San Mateo County Historical Pacifica and the Woodside Association, 2200 Broadway, Redwood City, CA 94063 or [email protected]. Store in Woodside. Copyright © 2014 San Mateo County Historical Association. Unless otherwise noted, photographs are from the San Mateo County Historical Association. Cover: This statue of Gaspar de Portolá stands in Pacifica across Highway 1 from Pacifica State Beach and the ocean front. It was a 1988 gift from the people of Catalonia, Spain, to the Citizens of California in honor of Portolá’s place in the history of Alta California. Portolá’s statue looks eastward toward the high ridge that he and his expedition climbed on the afternoon of November 4, 1769, and from which his party became the first Europeans to view San Francisco Bay. Photo by and courtesy of Paul O. Reimer. Erratum: In the Summer 2014 issue, page 16, the J.H. Galleher House is incorrectly listed at 785 San Mateo Avenue. It is located at 785 Mills Avenue. La Peninsula, volume xliii, no. 1 Is it Time for a Portolá Trail Designation in San Mateo County? Paul O. Reimer Discovery of San Francisco Bay, a 1971 painting by Morton Künstler, is on exhibit at the San Mateo County History Museum. Don Gaspar de Portolá is depicted viewing the San Francisco Bay from Sweeney Ridge on November 4, 1769. Background for Portolá’s Presence in New Spain Francisco. The first two were destinations already Historic Spanish influence in California needs little visited by Spanish sea captains and heralded for their substantiation beyond the wealth of Spanish place safe and protective harbors. Permanent occupation names that decorate any map of the Golden State. and population of these key locations would insure the However, the absence of this Spanish heritage north territorial claims of Spain that had existed from the time of the Russian River and Fort Ross is also indicative of Juan Cabrillo’s 1542 sea expedition. of the international power contest evident during the Don Gaspar de Portolá, a Catalonian, had been reign of King Carlos III of Spain (1759-1788) as the appointed governor of Baja California in 1767 as a presence of Russian fur traders, from New Archangel, reward for his military service in Spain and Italy. Upon and English explorers, by way of Canada, threatened his arrival in New Spain, which consisted of the Spanish the Spanish claim to Alta California. In response, King holdings in Mexico and America’s Southwest, he was Carlos ordered his visitor general of New Spain, José given the sensitive task of replacing the Jesuit priests de Gálvez, to organize overland expeditions, with with Franciscans at 17 established missions in Baja support by sea, that would establish garrisons and California, the Jesuit order of the Catholic Church permanent missions in Alta California with particular having fallen out of favor with the king. emphasis on San Diego, Monterey and, ultimately, San His success in replacing the priests at the missions 3 was much to his credit. It was this notoriety that led then dispatched to the King Carlos III of Spain on May to Portolá heading the 1769 expedition north from 4, 1770.2 the Presidio of Loreto in Baja California. His goal was In 1773, King Carlos III, reacting to the range of further establishing Spanish claim to Alta California information available to him from Portolá’s exploration by colonization at San Diego and Monterey. After the and influenced by Spanish territorial interests, Russian fateful 78-day march from San Diego Bay, his expedition incursions and English progress across Canada, issued did not recognize Monterey Bay as the party’s leaders two royal edicts. They set forth actions to be taken by saw no expected supply ship or protective harbor. New Spain’s Viceroy Fra Don Antonio de Bucareli who Portolá’s extended march north crossed the Santa had replaced Viceroy Croix (September 1771). Although Cruz coastal plain into what is now San Mateo County. Commandante Pedro Fages, who Portolá had left In fact, his expedition first saw San Francisco Bay from in charge of the newly created Presidio of Monterey, what is now called Sweeney Ridge, recording it as undertook further local exploration in an attempt to big enough to harbor “all the navies of Europe,”1 and reach Point Reyes by land (November 1770), it was returned to San Diego after an arduous six-month trek not until the royal edicts of 1773 reached New Spain with discipline intact and without loss of a man (except that colonization of San Francisco, in addition to San for five “Christianized” Indians who deserted to stay in Diego and Monterey, became a clear objective. With more fertile Alta California). Then, after a brief respite the king’s approval and Viceroy Bucareli’s support, Juan of three months, Portolá led a smaller expedition back Bautista de Anza, commadante of the Presidio at Tubac, to Monterey Bay and the mouth of the Carmel River, pioneered a trail between New Spain’s Tubac, south of establishing both Mission San Carlos and Presidio of Tucson, Arizona, and Alta California’s Monterey, arriving Monterey, thus completing his assigned task. There there on April 19, 1774. This particular linkage was seems to be little mystery to obscure Portolá’s intended of potential logistic value since it offered a land route purpose of strengthening Spanish claim to Alta between New Spain and Alta California which was not California by means of permanent occupation. beset by the risks and seasonality of ocean passage. Upon return to Tubac in late May, Anza was ordered Place in West Coast History to recruit a colonization contingent from New Spain to Turning north on the shore of Monterey Bay led accompany him on the 1,200-mile march to the San Portolá to his most northerly campsite (now in Pacifica). Francisco Peninsula by way of Monterey. The trek to Sweeney Ridge resulted in a significant As the result, some 240 men women and children extension of Alta California’s colonization potential. with approximately 1,000 mules, cattle and horses, left Since Portolá had the blessing of the king and specific the Presidio of Tubac on October 23, 1775, bound for order from the king’s visitor general to occupy and San Francisco Bay. This expedition arrived in Monterey fortify the known harbors at San Diego and Monterey, on March 10, 1776, after a difficult trek in cold winter the king’s representatives in Mexico City hoped for conditions. While the colonizers rested in Monterey, Portolá’s success. Consequently, when the first official Anza rode ahead to the San Francisco Peninsula and journal that included a description of the sighting of by March 28, 1776, had decided upon locations for San Francisco Bay and the report of Portolá’s second both mission and presidio. The actual colonization was effort to initiate a Spanish presence in Monterey arrived left to Anza’s second in command, Lt. José Joaquín on April 24, 1770, Viceroy Croix ordered all bells in Moraga, when Anza was summoned to Mexico City in Mexico City to be rung in celebration. The viceroy’s order to report directly to the viceroy.3 laudatory letter along with the expedition’s report was At the same time that Anza was recruiting 4 La Peninsula, volume xliii, no. 1 his expedition members, Viceroy Bucareli was Process for Portolá Trail Designation implementing another directive of the royal edicts. Diaries of Portolá as well as those of his companions, Don Bruno de Heceta was given command of a Fray Juan Crespi, a Franciscan priest, and Ensign Spanish naval squadron, assembled in San Blas, to Miguel Costansó, an engineer, provide dates and sail northward along the coast of Alta California and, descriptions of the six campsites that the expedition north of Point Reyes, search for any sign of Russian established on its northbound route between Año presence.