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Show Old Spanish ! MAY nE Rr -toed : . " . DY STATE Or I-0XCl CALIFORNIA (Snn Francisco letter.) T!m o,i. old Spanish, highway It to t reconstructed. Already a conccrt. il iCort Is Ij'ilm nin.le to rebuild the nn-cliflt nn-cliflt road travel. .1 by the Franciscan In Ihe day before the gringos camo nyirn than i century ago. The boards of sup"rvl...rs In all of ihi counties of California In which ntutlona, pueblos and presidio orlg-Inilly orlg-Inilly established aro lo.-nt.d will lie appealed to further the movement. Mmy of these bodies have already ac-re4"l ac-re4"l to the re.iienis of the association tint is seeking to have re-established tbi old. original hlghwny connecting it" twenty-one missions from north to nth. I hsve personally visited all tint Une of the missions, 1 believe, and bite traversed a goodly portion of the orilnnl road at various times, which wu1 used by the Franciscans and their frilowers and whose surface, as It re-Riini re-Riini today, wna largely rounded and saaothed by the rawhide sandals upon tfclr feet. The King's Highway. tl Camlno Real." the royal rond, or let literally, the king's highway, was ut made nor laid out by aurvey. The ynuclscans selected the most direct rata practicable between their pueblos til missions, and If portions of It wero cooked and curved It was becaune tlrrs were heavy grades or bills to be THE DOI.OUK3 MISSION, ssnuntnred too severe for the strength d their horses or rattle. Snn Diego eanty, the soi' ernmst In the state, 1, -lined tho Hint of the presidios, of 'Jlh there were four In California. wu other three one Is located at i Ii Hurbara, ono st Monterey and I t Han Francisco. Thoro were also I I ons at three, pueblos nnd at each , lo twenty-. inn missions, and this las originally used was a mllltury . l ay for the transiH tullon of H'4und aupiillcs. Tli pueblos of Los Angeles, Flrancl-farto Flrancl-farto (tf.n.la Cruz) and Man Jose wore aao on this original road, and befort tie advent of tho railroad It wai tiseu fnai Snn Diego to tho mission of San F-ahctHco Moluno and was kept In per-fct per-fct rcpulr. i.ut let us follow the old Ti. Imagining It to still bo paiisabls nl the way, and noto some of the ln-teestlng ln-teestlng scenes that will bo avullnhle (On Original Rond, San Francisco.) I tc the tourist as soon as ha old road still have been rehabilitated. lb mission of Bar Diego waa found-el found-el In 17C9. Tho present city of tho same name was not dreamed of until a eutury later, but there remnlns In the present "Old Town," as the tlme-tuhlns gtrs It, a host of Interesting ruins of tb former people, and among them tit old mission, still In a fair stale of pratcrvntlon. A Hulned shrine, 11 front of Its partially ruined chapel may he scon the old HI Camlno Heal, at It It here t hut a stsrt It to bo made looking to the resurrection of that road to Its terminus, E.111J or more mllos to the north. From this point north-railward, north-railward, distant a little more than 3D mllM, the original road takes lis way through beautiful mountain canyons to, (hi mission of Ban Iuie Hey. Tho mla-slos mla-slos ll In rutin except the chapel, which has boon partly reconstructed within the present decode and which It tow rated as one of the best example) exam-ple) of mission architecture to be scon gnrwhero in the slate. ijlvo ruined portion presents a cotn-prbenslve cotn-prbenslve Idea of the Immensity of jit work done by the Franciscans, for sons of the old wnlls still standing nl the long tiers of ruined archways ar massive In site. Kl Camlno Heal psi-ee directly In front of thu mission, mis-sion, and la to-day an excellent road- ''Vrom San Mill H'1? mission the orlg Inal road continues toward the mission f Ban Juan Cuplstrano, crossing the f.n, Into the present Orange county In In, an Onofro Canyon, about three nd a halt mll' trom ,he coast. It M.es directly through tho town of j Jrailbrook and for tho greater part of the .IlKHii.e from San l.uls Hoy to San Jun i Is to-day the best road In tun. The minion of San Juan Caplatrano la In a moie nun,, I condition, peihapa, than almost any of the other missions. About the mill, lie of the lust century it was are. ke.l by un earthiuuko and many vjrins lost their lives. Tho mailer chapel hn been kept in a fair state of preservutlon. however, and some of the relict of former gn ntness may be seen within Its rooms. There Is a baptismal font hero of rarest workmnnshlp, being carved most beautifully beau-tifully from s solid block of fllnt-IIke granite. Home of the original paintings paint-ings and atatuary used In this mission are preserved In the present chapel and are sal. I to be among the finest specimens speci-mens of early Hpanish nrt brought to this country. (Inly ths Kesr Walls tend. The large rhnpet, which was constructed con-structed many yenrs after the founding of the mission. Is fotnlly demolished, however and only the rear wall stand. The cathedral bells at this mission, I am assured, occupy the same place today to-day In the open belfry that they did when placed there originally, more than a century ago. There or alio some of the first oluclal documents Indited In-dited by th hand of Father Junlpero Berra to bo seen here. El Camlno leal passes along the lower side of what was originally the east wall of the mission mis-sion and Is the main road from Caplatrano Capla-trano to Santa Ana todny. From Santa Ana the original road, which Is now Main street In that place, continued northward to a point on tb Hnr.tn Ana river, about four mUcs from the present town of An.iheim. Only three or four years ago this was abandoned aban-doned by the county supervisors for a now route, beruuso of the fact Hint tb road paralleled tho Boiithnrn Pacific tracks In dung. Tons proximity for a dlstnnee of Hcvcrul miles. From Ana-helm, Ana-helm, through Fiillerton's main street to Whlttler, und thenco lo Ixs Angeles tho road Is still In good condition and In dully use a. soes Alionl l.os Angeles. At Loa Angel. a the first of the old pueblos waa establlsh'd. There wore two missions In what Is now IOB Angeles An-geles county; the first, Kan (Inbrlol, about eighteen miles toward tho north, . wna used as a renter of supplies for the southern missions. It Is fairly woll preserved today and Its main chapel, with heavy buttressed walla of baked dobe slabs. Is Impervious to the rev-sges rev-sges of time. A modern roof of shingles, shin-gles, however, mnrs the beauty of lta original effect The second mission In l-"t Angeles county wss San Fernando, distant twenty-eight miles a little weat of north from Sun Uabricl. One of Ihe finest preserved ancient lllo roofs to be seen on any of the missions Is hero, snd the fountains In the patio are of Immense else and unusual un-usual construction. The long corridors of archway, peculiar pe-culiar to almost all the mission, ar seen here to perfection and the ur-roundlng ur-roundlng scene I well adnpted to et . i.i , I ON THE ROYAL SPANISH ROAD AT 8T. JOSE MISSION. off the beauty of the place. Her tb tourist will first note tb fnntattio drapery of Hpunlsh moss on the II v oak trees. Before approaching the mission mis-sion from the south he will see, covering cover-ing several miles of tb Journey, magnificent mag-nificent groves of live oak and sycamore syca-more trees. The scarcity of underbrush under-brush Is also noticeable and the ground for the moat part is as clean as a laws. Nuttire seems to hv been in a quiescent quies-cent state here for centuries. The leaves of the trees have been festooned with graceful garlands of most, bright green, dull gray or silvery white, while swaying listlessly from the upper brancher arbutus and wild smllax add to tho peaceful effect. A Wrenlh of Hsanlnlsesneaw Sun Fernando, fur from ths nols of I the uteain roads, with Its wealth of reminiscence, Its Inexhaustible fund of Interesting hittury engrossed Indelibly upon the pages of It ancient ledge. Is a mission well worth more than a passing glance. The road originally used to cross the range from tiun Fernando lo Ventura, is but lll-dellued In some places at this day. Mining and oil prospectors hsv mode new roads and better one; surveyor sur-veyor have found new passes; supervisors super-visors have Improved branches from county roadH, until It aeem Impossible to definitely and surely resurrect the original highway, but there ar old Spanish settlers In that locality who doubtless can give reliable Information. |