Missions of California, Compiled From a Series of Articles in P.G. & E. Progress

by Don J. Baxter

Local history of California, the Spanish Missions

40 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

Reviews

[Jonathan Jerden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not great writing, about 21 missions along the El Camino Reale - loosely established by the Spanish King in cooperation with the Catholic Church of Spain along with the Mexico-based soldiers between 1785 and 1818 . . . along a 600+ mile stretch of California's coast from San Diego to Sonoma as a bulwark against real and perceived English and Russian military and colonial encroachments.

Never any funding, poorly located sites, crudely built and often burned or earthquaked to rubble just a few years later. Further ransacked regularly by the Natives - the Chumash & the Mohave tribes among others, bands of renegades, sea pirates, as well as ever-changing loyalties among both the Spanish and then the Mexican soldiers. Massive deaths from scurvy, starvation, and the Natives coming down with all the European viruses including Small Pox, Measles, and Mumps. The romance of the Missions is myth; the actual planning, execution, and operation was far more a story of widespread failure than a success to tame the wilds and convert the Natives.