Southern California . hich will ever be fraught with meaning as longas men suffer and yearn for better things. Father Serra and his three fellow-toilers in the workof establishing the missions, were life-long friends, andhad been associated from youth in the order of SaintFrancis. In middle life they were sent together to theCollege of San Fernando in the City of Mexico, andafter much persuasion received permission from thehome authorities to attempt the founding of a chain of -- V- I * - * -A i t\vtnt> oj* J3&.n Ui ct© .Vu<i£J*fl missions in Alta California. The Jesuits of Lower Cali-fo
Southern California . hich will ever be fraught with meaning as longas men suffer and yearn for better things. Father Serra and his three fellow-toilers in the workof establishing the missions, were life-long friends, andhad been associated from youth in the order of SaintFrancis. In middle life they were sent together to theCollege of San Fernando in the City of Mexico, andafter much persuasion received permission from thehome authorities to attempt the founding of a chain of -- V- I * - * -A i t\vtnt> oj* J3&.n Ui ct© .Vu<i£J*fl missions in Alta California. The Jesuits of Lower Cali-fornia had just been replaced by Franciscans, and thetime seemed ripe for an attempt at gaining a foothold tothe north. The country was an unexplored wilderness,except that over a century before Vizcaino had discov-ered the bays of San Diego and Monterey, and had toldof the hosts* of savages living in the land. Accordingly, in 1769, an expedition left Mexico forthe unknown land, divided into two detachments, one 1. going by land and driving stock for the mission estab-lishments, and the other embarking upon the sea in twovessels, one of which was lost before reaching SanDiego. The plan called for the establishment of a mis-sion at San Diego, another at Monterey, and a third at apoint to be chosen midway between the two. I wouldthat I could dwell upon the trials and disappointmentsof the first few years in this strange land — of the per-ils from unfriendly Indians, the danger of starvation,the wanderings without map or guide in search of Mon-terey, but for all this the reader must be referredto more detailed narratives. Then followed the labor of building churchesand cloisters, with no materials at hand and with only the rudest of tools, ? with unskilled workmen and often
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