The Stop
This Day, In Addition To The Needed Rest And The Necessity For
Exploration, Was To Give Opportunity For The Soldiers And People Of The
Expedition To Gain The Great Indulgence Of Porciuncula.[20] The Priests
Said Mass And The Sacrament Was Administered.
In the afternoon the
soldiers went to hunt and brought in an antelope (barrendo), with which
the land seemed to abound.
The next day they crossed the Los Angeles
river by the site of the present city, and named it Rio de Nuestra
Senora de Los Angeles de Porciuncula[21]. Passing up the river, they
went through the canon and came into the San Fernando valley, which they
called Valle de Santa Catalina de los Encinos - Valley of St. Catherine
of the Oaks. Five days they spent in the valley, and crossing the Santa
Susana mountains, perhaps by the Tapo canon, they came to the Santa
Clara river near the site of Camulos, and there rested, August 9th.
Portola named the river Santa Clara, which name it still bears, in honor
of the saint, whose day, August 12th, was observed by them. Five days,
by easy jornadas, they traveled down the river, and arrived on the 14th
at the first rancheria[22] of the Channel Indians. It being the vespers
of the feast of La Asuncion de Nuestra Senora, Portola named the village
La Asuncion. It contained about thirty large, well-constructed houses of
clay and rushes, and each house held three or four families. These
Indians were of good size, well-formed, active, industrious, and very
skillful in constructing boats, wooden bowls, and other articles.
Portola thought this pueblo must be the one named by Cabrillo, Pueblo de
Canoas (Pueblo of the Boats). This was the site selected for the mission
of San Buenaventura, founded March 31, 1782. The natives received them
kindly, gave them an abundance of food, and showed them their well-made
boats, twenty-four feet long, made of pine boards tied together with
cords and covered with asphaltum, and capable of carrying ten men each.
The next four days they followed the beach and camped, on August 18th,
at a large laguna, called by them La Laguna de la Concepcion. This was
the site of the future presidio and mission of Santa Barbara. Everywhere
were large populous rancherias of the Indians, and everywhere they were
received in the most hospitable manner and provided with more food than
they could eat. The next stop was three leagues beyond, on the shore of
a large lagoon and marsh, containing a good-sized island on which was a
large rancheria, while four others lined the banks of the lagoon.
Portola gave to this group the name In Mediaciones de las Rancherias de
Mescaltitan - The Contiguous Rancherias of Mescaltitan. The name of
Mescaltitan is still attached to the island, though the marsh is mostly
drained and contains some of the finest walnut groves in California. On
the 28th, they turned Point Concepcion and camped just north at a place
called by them Paraje de los Pedernales. Point Pedernales, about five
miles beyond, preserves the name. On the 30th they crossed a large
river, which they named the Santa Rosa, in honor of that saint, whose
day it was. This is now the Santa Inez, so called from the mission of
that name, established on its bank in 1804. Passing northward along the
beach, a sharp spur of the sierra jutting out at Point Sal turned them
inland through the little pass followed by the Southern Pacific Coast
Line, and they came, on September 10th, to a large lake in the northwest
corner of Santa Barbara county, to which was given the name of Laguna
Larga, now known as Guadalupe Lake. Three leagues beyond, they camped at
a lake named by Costanso, Laguna Redonda, but which the soldiers called
El Oso Flaco - The Thin Bear - and it is still known by that name. Here
Sergeant Ortega was taken ill, and ten of the soldiers complained of
sore feet. They rested on the 3d, and on the 4th reached the mouth of
the San Luis canon. Here they were hospitably received by the chief of a
large rancheria, whose appearance caused the soldiers to apply to him
the name of "El Buchon," he having a large tumor hanging from his neck.
Father Crespi did not approve of the name which the soldiers applied to
the chief, his rancheria, and to the canon leading up to San Luis
Obispo, and he named the village San Ladislao. As in so many cases the
good father was unable to make the name he gave stick, the saint has
been ignored, but Point Buchon, just above Point Harford and Mount
Buchon, otherwise known as Bald Knob, bear witness to the staying
qualities of the tumor on the chief's neck. Passing up the narrow canon
of San Luis creek, they camped at or near the site of the mission and
city of San Luis Obispo. From here, instead of proceeding over the
Sierra de Santa Lucia by the Cuesta pass into the upper Salinas valley,
whence the march to Monterey would have been easy, they turned to the
west and followed the Canada de los Osos to the sea at Morro Bay, which
they called El Estero de San Serafin. The Canada de los Osos[23], still
so called, they named because of a fight with some very fierce bears,
one of which they succeeded in killing after it had received nine balls.
Another wounded the mules, and the hunters with difficulty saved their
lives.
The travelers now marched up the coast until, on the 13th, they came to
a point where further progress was disputed by the Sierra de Santa
Lucia. This was where a spur from the sierra terminating in Mount Mars,
blocks the passage by the beach and presents a bold front, rising three
thousand feet from the water. Camping at the foot of the sierra, Portola
sent out the explorers under Rivera to find a passage through the
mountains.
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