The Beginnings of San Francisco (V. 1)
by Zoeth Skinner Eldredge (9780217378987)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: WHILE Don Jose de Galvez was organizing the expedition for the conquest of California, there was in the far-off frontier presidio of Tubac, a gallant soldier, Juan Bautista de Anza, by name, who manifested the liveliest interest in the undertaking. He petitioned the visitador-general for permission to make a journey overland from Sonora by way of the Rios Gila and Colorado to meet the expedition of Portola at Monterey bay. He proposed to pay the entire cost of the journey and only asked to be allowed to take with him twenty soldiers whom he himself should name. It was represented that with the reduction of California a road of communication could be opened between Sonora and the new foundations by which the latter could be succored more surely and quickly than by the uncertain sea voyage. Anza's request was refused. The visitador-general did not consider such an expedition necessary at that time and the opening of such a road was believed to be extremely difficult, if not impossible. Not only were the two great rivers, the Gila and the Colorado, to be crossed, but between them and Sonora lay vast, inhospitable deserts.f The expedition led into California by Portola founded the presidios of Monterey and San Diego, and under their protection, the missions San Diego,Monterey, San Antonio, San Gabriel, and San Luis Obispo. The life of the new establishments was precarious in the extreme. All supplies were brought in by sea from La Paz or San Blas, and the ships were sometimes many months on the voyage. The only ships the government had at that time on the western coasts of New Spain were a few small, poorly constructed, ill found boats built at San Blas for carrying dispatches and supplies to the missions. In addition to the ordinary perils of the sea, dread scurvy, that decimator ...

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