May 1st to the diputacion, Figueroa mentioned the plan for northern settlement, but said nothing to indicate that any actual progress had been made.[1] The 14th of May, however, he sentenced a criminal to serve out his term of punishment "at the new establishment about to be founded at Santa Rosa."[2] In June the rancho of Petaluma was granted by the governor to Vallejo, and the grant approved by the diputacion, this being virtually an end of the mission claim.[3]. Respecting subsequent developments of 1834-5 in the Santa Rosa Valley, the records are not satisfactory; but Figueroa, hearing of the approach of a colony from Mexico, resolved to make some preparations for its reception, and naturally thought of the northern establishment, which he resolved to visit in person. All that we know positively of the trip is that he started late in August, extended his tour to Ross, examined the country, selected a site, and having left a small force on the frontier, returned to Monterey the 12th of September.[4] To these facts there
- ↑ Leg. Rec., MS., ii. 48. He alludes, however, rather to the foundation of a fort than to settlement.
- ↑ Dept. St. Pap., Ben. Mil., MS., lxxviii. 23.
- ↑ Leg. Rec., MS., ii. 118-22. Vallejo's claim to Petaluma as finally confirmed by the U. S. authorities rested on a later grant by Gov. Micheltorena.
- ↑ This is Figueroa's own statement in his Manifiesto, p. 7, except the time of starting, about which I know only that F. was still at Monterey on Aug. 21st. Dept. St. Pap., MS., ii. 172. I find not a single document in any archive bearing on the subject. Vallejo, Hist. Cal., MS., iii. 22-7; Alvarado, Hist. Cal., MS., iii. 33-4; and Fernandez, Cosas de Cal., MS., 91-5, give long and circumstantial narratives, the last taken, as is claimed, from F.'s report to the min. of war, of F.'s expedition to the north which they represent as
Colon., MS., ii. 316-17; the second, of Jan. 8, 1834, in Vallejo, Doc., MS., ii. 211; and the third, merely stating that the padre had consented to the settlers' remaining temporarily, of Jan. 13th, in Id., ii. 218. It is in the latter letter that I find the name Sta Rosa applied to the region for the first time, though the valley had been certainly once and probably several times traversed by the Spaniards. There is a newspaper story to the effect that in 1829 Friar Aniaras (Amorós?) with a single companion wandering northward from S. Rafael, went up the Chocoalami stream to Lúcas Point, where they baptized an Indian girl on the day of Sta Rosa, being driven away immediately after the ceremony by hostile gentiles. Gilroy Leader, March 19, 1875, and other papers. Fernandez, Cosas de Cal., MS., 87-8, also speaks vaguely of attempts in 1829 to found an establishment at Sta Rosa. It is very probable that the padres from S. Rafael or Solano reached this region on several occasions, and that the name Sta Rosa was applied from the day, during one of these visits, when some particular locality was explored or some notable event occurred; but I have found no original record of these occurrences.
