Show 87 ll 11 C AT jib f i special correspondence hod hd it not been for the portuguese e sailors daring sea rovers and for the protecting flag of the spanish mon archs aichs I 1 wonder where america would be on the map to today day duzs years after columbus voyage west ward another portuguese cabrillo by name also sailing under the spanish flag came coasting up these califor nia shores and sailed into this sheltered harbor looking for water he found it and also some rather is indians who in modern parlance put up a fight after a skirmish cabrillo ao bo the old bool s eay say declared peace named the harbor ban san miguel and sailed away coith ward we next hear that his sailors so admired the flaming poppy beds at the foot of point loma they must have been very numerous that year to be visible from the sea that they ex claimed in delight capa de flores to prote it we find los flores canon to this day tradition oil having clung closer to this name than to that given to the bay farther south for the next explorer who happened along ill ed st james better than doughty michael and re christened the bay for his patron st james or san diego that must have been about 1596 but this name seems to have survived the blank of over years for when dear old father gunipero Juni pero poro serra brought his little force to start on his be beloved lovd mission work in the name san diego was retained it gasn wasn t all easy work founding missions in those days nor were the was wounded the ruins which the mission pilgrim now gazes upon are on the site of the mission destroyed in that uprising from 1784 the mission prospered in peace and plenty father gunipero Juni pero or his as si stants had planted an olive orchard still standing from which all other ol 01 ves in the state have been kropa gated men may cone co ne and men may 0 but this old olive orchard will pro probably bably endure for generations to come ge oi ol ine tile lex can war i hie he puo pu o 0 ot of OH oll town Is 1 the oldest of california organized in 18 j in 1810 earthworks were thrown UP an and t these ese were the defense of the harbor when in stockton entered it with the frigate congress congre s and captured the fortifications since ailed called fort stockton St when gen kearney a little army after their march of 2 miles across the desert from fort leaven worth rea bed hed this p pirt pi rt of the country just four months they had been on the way they had two en gage ments with vath the mexicans one at san pasqual and one at the san sin bernardo ranch victorious in both although with heavy loss the little band of americans were footsore and hungry and in an enemy s country kit carson the noted volunteered with lieutenant beale of the navy to to go to san diego twenty nine miles away and secure relief from stool ton we can imagine the joy 41 V 4 0 9 I 1 11 I 1 X I 1 4 ct I 1 7 1 in the old town of kearney s hard pressed little band when re enforcement s came to them from the city old town now Is only a suburb ol 01 the city of ean san diego on the beautiful harbor of that name A q quaint sleepy old place a I 1 ferary pi pl grimage to those and there are many who have made of helen hunts hunt s ramo ram 0 na a classic of early california days for here inca li cd tha th pr eat et father rather gaspara who married ramona and alessandro As the story goes father gaspara gasparas s house was at the end of a long row low adobe b uld ing now fallen into decay band all its rw 0 lar t 5 4 at aa d iv 4 e a indians so peaceable and tractable they eem to have become later lter at first the mission was fount founded led ditl in the presidio or fortification and the first weeks were enough to discourage any one but a most devout and ardent Franc franciscan isgan padre fhe mexicans were enrici en with the pestilence and father Juni gunipero pero went up and down doun the beach caring for the s ck and dy ing and burying the dead in less than a month after landing there was an uprising among the indians and the spaniards had to fight hard for the privilege of mal ing converts in the wilderness after five years the mission was nas removed inland about six m les up the river to a beautiful spot commanding a view of the whole mission valley and the ocean beyond ev ei en yet the indians did not tal tale e kindly to the newcomers and planned a surprise attack upon the nev loci tion at least 1000 indians joined in n the I 1 and every inhabitant of T road to the c d chapel rooms except those occupied by the father had been long uninhabited on the opposite side of the way in a neglected weeda open stood his chapel a poverty stricken I 1 atle place its walls imperfectly whitewashed decorated with a few coarse pictures and by broken sconces of looking glass rescued in their dilapidated condit on from the miss on buildings now gone utterly to ruin the old chapel is boarded up now as s the adobe was crumblin crumbling away may and visitors ara are admitted only twice a month when service is held out side hang two bells from the theold old mission the date 1802 on one of them old town is old with desertion and decay A spanish cannon I 1 es neglected on the common the first frame hous in cal fornia is proudly pointed out the lumber having been brought around the horn from fromm bos doss iton ton an old cactus hedge blossoming just now brings up the days when thia this and others like it were planted as protect on against the stealthy prowling ii li dian than all is of the past telling of disuse and ct just out there in the cun uns bine shine is coronado known to all the world as the most beautiful sea sido side resort imaginable and that ion inq arm out there stretches down to old mexico |