branch of the mission. The pioneers failed to find Monterey, but on the 25th October, 1769, they discovered the now famous harbor of San Francisco, justly named the gem of the Pacific, its Golden Gate, the outlet connecting it with the ocean, forming the entry to the finest seaport on the western seaboard of America. Land-locked as it was, the noble bay had escaped the notice of previous explorers, and even now its great importance seems scarcely to have been recognized. Naming it San Francisco, after the titular saint of the Jesuits, Portola led his party back to San Diego, and for six long years the site of the present capital of California was left to the undisturbed possession of the natives.
An image should appear at this position in the text. To use the entire page scan as a placeholder, edit this page and replace "{{missing image}}" with "{{raw image|Columbus and other heroes of American discovery; (IA columbusotherher00bell).pdf/170}}". Otherwise, if you are able to provide the image then please do so. For guidance, see Wikisource:Image guidelines and Help:Adding images. |  |
CITY HALL, SAN FRANCISCO. (1885.)
For sixty years after their first arrival at San Diego the Jesuits carried all before them in Upper California, and when the overthrow of the Spanish dominion in Mexico—which has been characterized as the death-*blow of the mission system—took place in 1822, their settlements along the coast numbered as many as twenty-one. As in Lower California, however, the exclusiveness of the missionaries was fatal to the growth of permanent settlements: the emigration of Europeans to the districts belonging to them was discouraged; no inland colonies were founded; and, after living for years in an almost patriarchal state, more than 18,000 Indians owning no authority but theirs, the Fathers were deprived, by act of the Mexican Congress, of their plantations, and forbidden to employ the Indians to work for them. As a result, they were compelled, one by one, to abandon the country for which they had done so much. During the latter years of their sway, many speculators and trappers had, in spite of their opposition, penetrated into their territories, and the first seeds had been sown of many a now thriving community; but, before we relate the adventures of those travelers whose exploits entitle them to rank among our heroes, we must go back a couple of centuries to trace the further course of exploration in the Eastern States.
