Sherburne Friend Cook

“ We explored these, and other lands which up till the present have been considered unknown, swarming with heathen who are overwhelmed with error and who are without the least knowledge of God, who has placed us under the conquering banner of the most Catholic and pious monarch of all those who rule in our universe, our dearly beloved sovereign and Lord, Ferdinand the Seventh. ”

“ This day, seeing that the oak forest was full of arroyos without water, we went in search of their origin. After traveling a league we came upon a big village but all its people had hidden in the nearby willow thickets. From here we continued eastwardly and at about a league and a half we encountered another village, named Cohochs, its chief called Chumueu. We were received with much satisfaction by these poor people. All of them, after being instructed concerning God and the welfare of their souls, want to be baptized and have a mission. ”

“ Today we set out from this oasis and after about two leagues we found the source of the stream. It is a marsh well covered with grass. The open area may be entered by a valley filled with oak trees. At the end of it one sees a lake which, however, is pure salt water. To the east is located a moderate-sized village, the Indians of which seemed to us altogether too cunning and crafty in trading. Guided by three Indians from this village we came to another of the same size but hidden among ravines and badlands. ”

“ In the afternoon of this day the camp was raised and we crossed over to where an oak park runs along the course of the San Pedro River, discovered by the expedition of last April, in 1806. We traveled about eight leagues, four of them in front of the oak forest and the other four into the forest toward the east. For we found the river to be without water on account of the extremely thick growth of willow, cottonwood, torote, and ash, together with the great quantity of sand. Following the river bed toward the mountains one encounters water quite sufficient for the foundation of a mission. ”

“ Once the entrance to the Sierra is discovered, which the end seems to offer as a probability, it would be possible to test the truth of the story which the Indians have told for many years that on the other side of the Sierra Nevada there are people like our soldiers. We have never been able to decide definitely whether they are Spaniards from New Mexico, Englishmen from the Columbia, or Russians from Bodega.
From here we could make out at about ten leagues northwest the very high hill called Jesus Maria by the troops who have passed near its slopes. ”

“ This morning I went out with the Lieutenant and some soldiers to explore the lands and watercourses in the environs of the camp. A quarter of a league from the starting point we found a stream which carried a good quantity of water, substantially the same amount as the creek at Mission San Gabriel. A gunshot from the creek is a hill heavily covered with oaks and live oaks; the stream runs through land well suited to cultivation. A quarter of an hour from this creek is another one which has an equivalent amount of arable land. The latter stream could support two irrigation ditches. ”

“ At dawn we followed our course toward a junction with the party of Sergeant José Dolores Pico, a junction which we actually effected at about seven o’clock in the afternoon. In all the journey described no slaughter of horses has been observed and no adverse sentiment on the part of the Indians excepting only the fear inspired among them at the village of Tache and Sumtache by the fugitives from Soledad. I may note that at the village of Tache the Father baptized the only man discovered there, a man incapacitated, covered with leprosy [lepra] , and debilitated by illness. ”

“ At four o’clock in the afternoon we embarked, returning by the same way we had come. In a short distance 113 heathen Indians were waiting for us, Yatchicomnes and Mokelumnes. Half of them were painted and armed as for war. We approached, and after we had talked to them they put down their weapons and begged for peace. These heathen live mostly on solid ground and they could be visited on horseback if this became necessary. They penetrate to the slopes of the Sierra Nevada and state that the whiteness one sees is rock and not snow. ”

“ The other group of the party, which went down the river, discovered three villages which all together might contain 400 souls. All three are close to each other in a wide, pleasant plain along the banks of the river. In the first one visited eleven persons were made Christians, two old men and the others old women. The chief is named Chaochay. In the second village only one old woman was baptized for, although it was a large village, as soon as they spied us in the first village, the people all fled to the willow thickets. ”

“ The latter people have just approached us with much fear and with a tendency to prevaricate. Although they know that they have in their village Christians from Santa Clara, they deny it and furthermore declare that they will never again admit any [Christian fugitives] . If it were not for the nuisance it would cause us, the Lieutenant says he would flog them, but on the return trip he will do so if things go as they have this time. In the afternoon, after having dismissed all the wild Indians, we set forth in the same direction, and traveled two leagues. ”

“ We met on this river many very affectionate and affable heathen. For lack of an interpreter no one was baptized, since the language is totally different from the one we left behind us. According to the few words they spoke which we could understand they want a mission and want to become Christians. This river has excellent land for agriculture and grazing and has a good oak forest. In the mountains there is pine. The river is called La Pasión, a name given by the first expedition to discover it. It has also much ash, willow, torote, and wild vines. ”

“ Diary of the expedition of exploration made in the month of May of 1817 by the Commandant of the Royal Presidio of our Father San Francisco, Lieutenant Don Luís Argüello, with his launch San Rafael, alias “The Fine One,” and by the Fathers Fray Ramón Abella, minister of the Mission of Our Father of San Francisco, and Fray Narciso Duran, minister of San José, with the launch named San José, alias “The Fisherman,” in the only two rivers which enter the Port of Our Father San Francisco, called the Sacramento and the San Joaquin. ”

“ So that they may kill soldiers and priests and thus deprive us of the spiritual conquest? Aside from the primary reason that they are sons of God, if those who wish and beg for missions do not receive them, they will take up arms against all the soldiers who enter their territory.” Witnesses to this truth are Father Pedro Muñoz, Señor Moraga and in part I myself. In order that Your Reverence may fully understand this I shall set forth what I saw in the year 1804 in the village of Bubal where I went with no more protection than two soldiers. ”

“ In this village two old men and two old women were made Christians. In the middle of the mountain range is the source of a big river which separates into two branches, one to the other side of the range, the other being the San Joaquin. That portion of the expedition which went down the river found nothing but bad lands, with little grass and saline in places. It might be possible to found a mission on this river where there are good level areas and an abundance of timber, but it lacks firewood and grazing in this region. ”

“ Farther down we came onto another village which had been completely removed at the same time. We even caught them going ashore, whereupon they threw away their possessions, abandoned their boats, and hid in the tule swamps. No matter how hard we tried we could not succeed in finding more than four persons and two dogs. They said they had done this on account of the fear which they had for us. Here again is land under water. On this day the Father from San José baptized some sick people and infants who had some connection with the neophytes of San José Mission. ”

“ The big river divides into the two branches described and another which goes by a different route, and this the Indians say is smaller, and at times dries up. From these rivers is formed the Lake of the Tulares, which I have described. Three leagues below this village the rivers reunite and form the lake. In the three leagues there is a great forest of cottonwood. All the territory covered this morning is alkaline, and with some grass. The cottonwood forest has considerable foliage and also grass. To the north of the village one can see nothing but bare hills. ”

“ The great extent of sand which it has is damaging in its effect, for only at the time of the melting of the snow or in the rainy season does water fill copiously all the stream beds in the oak forest. Nevertheless it would be easy to get water if a mission were established. For this oak forest, which contains about 3,000 souls34 who want baptism and a mission, is the place most suitable for a mission of all that we have explored. There are fine lands for cultivation and great meadows in many parts of the oak forest which are green all the time. ”

“ On the 22nd the Reverend Father Fray Narciso decided to ascend the San Joaquin River in order to visit a rancheria called Pasasimes. Together with Sergeant Soto I obtained information concerning the- 279 - situation of this village and the condition of the Indians living in it, with the purpose of going in another direction in case there was no fear of an attack by the heathen. The said Soto told me that in the region in which this village is situated there was no cause for apprehension, that the Indians of this village went often to Mission San José and that they were very docile. ”

“ During the initial period of settlement and exploration in California, from 1769 to 1776, several important and well-known expeditions entered the area, among them those of Portola, Anza, Fages, and Cañizares. As a result the coastal strip and the vicinity of San Francisco Bay became well known. The interior did not receive so much attention. Following Anza only two recorded expeditions went into the Central Valley, that of Moraga, described by Palóu (Bolton, 1926) and that of Fages, the account of which has been translated by Priestley (1913) . ”

“ It makes a bend in the plain some 7 leagues from Telame. Its speed and the dense brush along its banks prevented our passage. It fills the lakes of Buenavista, of Gelecto, and of Thuohuala. In all our trip we did not see a good tree, nor wood enough to cook a meal, nor a stone, nor even grass enough for the horses, more than bunch grass, or what grows in the swamps. This big river ends as such in Buenavista Lake or loses itself in ponds and swamps. Along all the border of the plain [i.e., along the river] there is a great meadow a league wide, very heavily overgrown with brush. ”

“ Six heathen Indians returned who, filled with apprehension, said that all the Christians had gone to the mission and would not be allowed to come back, but they were lying. Finally they said they would take us to their village and would come back in the morning to do this. So we sent them away. In all we have covered today we have not found any place suitable for establishing a mission.
24th day. We got up early and without moving camp I went out with the Lieutenant and four soldiers to the north, with the intention of getting to the Río de Dolores [Tuolumne River] two or three leagues away. ”

“ We saw during this morning some boats with people and some houses empty of people, because at the noise of the launches they cleared out. At six leagues we reached another opening to the starboard, running northeast. Either the latter or the one previously mentioned is that which forms the main Sacramento River. We passed by the latter and kept along the same one we had been navigating. The whole river is made a great grove by the number and luxuriance of the trees, although only with difficulty can one get to shore. ”

“ This Indian should be removed from that place with all his village for many reasons. The first is because he has killed many unconverted Indians and is still killing them. He is the most feared Indian in that entire country. The other reason is that he gives refuge to Christian fugitives, and they know that neither Christian nor heathen will go to look for them there on account of the terror which he inspires. ”