Spanish Colonialism

The architect of the Spanish advance into northern California and subjugation of the natives was Inspector General Joseph de Galvez, who in 1767, dispatched a zealous Franciscan priest (Father Junipero Serra) to find sites for a set of Catholic Missions to be co-habited with military garrisons, thus, firmly establishing a Spanish foothold in alta California. Enroute from San Diego, and hoping to find resupply ships in Monterey Bay, the Don Gaspar de Portola expedition (with Friar Juan Crespi) unwittingly past its destination and ended up serendipitously fumbling upon San Francisco Bay in November of 1769. Portola's advance team (headed by Sergeant Jose Francisco de Ortega) reportedly camped by a very tall tree (EI Palo Alto) along a creek they called Arroyo San Francisquito. Famished, ill, and beset with fleas (hence the name Alameda de los Pulgas "the way of the fleas") they were greeted by friendly Ohlone natives who brought them black tamales and atole. In the spring of 1776, Juan Bautista de Anza (with Friar Pedro Font) sought the same site to establish a colony here, but finding the streamflow of San Francisquito too low eventually located the colony of Mission Santa Clara on the banks of the Guadalupe River farther to the south. Humble buildings of wood poles plastered with mud and roofed with tule reeds were built. The establishment got flooded out in the winter of 1779, so the padres wisely decided to rebuild on higher ground. They finished an adobe-construction church in 1784 (which was later destroyed in a 1818 earthquake). Excavations made in 1911 at Campbell and Franklin Streets uncovered remains of that church, including the cornerstone which contained Spanish coins and the crucifix placed by Junipero Serra. The missions required much in the way of supplies from the motherland. (The road that connected the missions together was called "the royal highway" El Camino Real, though locally it was called Camino del arrastradero della mission Santa Clara.) The missions were also supported by the conscripted Indians forced to work in unfamiliar foreign methods of agriculture, shepherding, and ranching. Many died under the discipline of mayordomos, but many more died of disease; of the 7,324 Indians baptized at Santa Clara, 6,556 died from syphilis, measles, and smallpox, Jose Pena (a soldier from the Presidio de San Francisco de Asis) was granted permission in 1822 to occupy 4400 acres of grazing land (seven sections) on the peninsula but sold off much of the land rights to others. The three largest Spanish ranchos established locally were operated by family Dons with the surnames: Buelna, Robles, Soto, and Arguello.

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