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San Jose Mission was
dedicated to St. Joseph, the spouse of the Holy Virgin, June 11, 1797, by direct
order from the Apostolic College at San Fernando. Padre Lasuen founded it, and
appointed Padres Isadore Barcenilla and Augustine Morino as priests in control
of the Mission. It was the sister to Santa Clara, and situated three miles away,
on the foothills of the Coast Range, where the beautiful city of San Jose is now
located, and fifty miles south of San Francisco. The region is noted for its
immense stretch of fertile and well-watered lands, upon which the flocks and
herds could graze and wander in native pastures without limit, summer and
winter. These were the resources from which the Missions prospered and amassed
their wealth. Here Nature, again, with but little care, yielded bountifully her
products to minister to the comfort and luxury of man.
This Mission at an early day led many others in riches and in the influence
these bestowed upon it. Hunting in the mountains and trapping on the Sacramento
and San Joaquin Rivers were sources of considerable wealth. The great mountains
around the open country tempered the climate and promoted health and vigor,
while they stirred the soul with their awe-inspiring scenery. Stanislaus, the
renegade leader, like Yoscolo of the Santa Clara Mission, was educated here. But
he too, like his ingrate associate, turned on the hands that nurtured him, and
in 1825, with a band of about one hundred Indians, raided the ranches and drove
away hundreds of cattle and horses. The animals were some days afterwards
recovered as a result of a battle between the robbers and a small force of
twenty men led by Guillermo Castro, who subsequently became a Mexican General,
and commanded the Mexican army against General John C. Fremont in his famous
bear campaign for the conquest of that part of California. It was a species of
guerilla warfare in which Castro excelled by reason of his ability to hide in
the mountain recesses beyond the reach of Fremont, who at last turned away to
pursue his campaign more effectively in Southern California. |
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