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fishbuck
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Yes... much easier than actually going there.
"A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for." J. A. Shedd.
A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it. – Albert Einstein
"Life's a Beach... and then you Fly!" Fishbuck
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David K
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Location: San Diego County
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Here is what is under the image in my post:
SANTA CATALINA 31°39'38.10" 115°49'16.00" Located on a hilltop overlooking a cemetery on the far side of the community of Santa Catarina,
east of Ejido Independencia off Hwy. 3.
In my book, page 166, I give the kilometer marker for the turnoff: 91 (on Hwy. 3, between Ensenada and San Felipe). The Paipai Indian village is
called Santa Catarina, a slightly altered spelling of the mission (Santa Catalina). The little town is just over 5 miles from Hwy. 3 and the mission
site is 5.6 miles from the highway.
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fishbuck
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Seems easy enough to find.
Might need to go there and look.
"A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for." J. A. Shedd.
A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it. – Albert Einstein
"Life's a Beach... and then you Fly!" Fishbuck
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David K
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Posts: 64478
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Yes, it is easy... just drive through the little town heading NE and when you arrive at the hillside cemetery, the mission was on the top of the hill
above it. A road goes up along the left side of the graveyard. We parked at the bottom and walked up (Elizabeth and I with Roy, The Squarecircle) back
in 2006 after helping Baja Pits for the 500 (south of Valle de Trinidad). Photos of the race and mission site (there is almost nothing to see unless
you look close on the ground): http://vivabaja.com/606/
Here was my article on the mission from a few years ago, that was edited and put into my book:
The Mission Santa Catalina story begins with the actions of Padre Juan Crisóstomo Gómez while serving as Dominican President from 1790 to
1793. Padre Gómez had recently completed the construction of the great stone church of Mission San Ignacio, and also had practiced immunization to
halt the spread of disease among the Indians. Gómez authorized three mountain missions be founded to secure the inland areas of the northern
peninsula and to Christianize the natives. Immediately after the founding of the first mountain mission at San Pedro Mártir, the search for the
second mission site began in the region instructed by the Viceroy.
In October of 1794, SergeantJosé Manuel Ruiz and Padre Tomás Valdellon examined the place named Santa Catalina midway between the mission of San
Vicente and the Colorado River. The most important aspect of a mission site was a reliable year-round source of water. A year later, Ensign Alférez
Bernal led an expedition and explored the region. Governor Borica provided Bernal with a list of ‘prime essentials’ a mission site must possess.
The list included: a constant source of water, land for raising wheat and maize, near-by firewood and pasture, and numerous available heathen.
Lieutenant-Governor José Joaquín de Arrillaga, traveling north from his home in Loreto, left Mission San Vicente on September 5, 1796, to examine
Santa Catalina and the route to the Colorado River. This was but one of four expeditions that year to determine if a land route to Sonora was
feasible. Arrillaga had met hostile Indians at the Colorado River and returned to San Vicente by way of San Diego. In an October 1797 letter,
Arrillaga determined that a garrison of soldiers should be stationed in the delta region with a presidio at the head of the gulf and a detachment at
Sonoita and San Felipe, thus securing a sea route of escape. The first order of business, however, was to establish a mission at Santa Catalina.
The order for a new mission was placed by the Viceroy and the governor. The mission was to be strongly fortified as it was known to be in dangerous
territory. Santa Catalina would also be the last mission built on the peninsula that was authorized by the Spanish government. No other mission site
was so greatly researched by repeated expeditions than Santa Catalina.
Lieutenant-Governor Arrillaga had desired to separate California into two political districts, and his 1796 expedition was to be influential in that
happening. Governor Borica also favored the plan, yet nothing of it came for several more years. Governor Borica died in July 1800, shortly after
leaving Alta California for Durango. Arrillaga was made governor but was allowed to remain at his residence in Loreto.
On August 6, 1797, building was begun at the future mission site for the church (33 feet by 17 feet), priest’s house (17 feet by 17 feet) and a
gaurdhouse. November 12, 1797, was the day that Mission Santa Catalina Virgen y Mártir was officially founded by Padres José Loriente and Tomás
Valdellon. It was the 7th Dominican California mission, the 25th mission on the peninsula, and the 42nd mission in all of California. The location was
a place the natives called Jaca-Tobojol, which means “place where the water falls over stones”. The elevation at Santa Catalina is 3,900 feet
above sea level.
In 1798, an adobe house with two rooms was built with each room measuring 14 feet by 17 feet. In 1799, another adobe house measuring 14 feet by 20
feet was constructed to serve as a shelter for girls and single women. Santa Catalina had a population of 133 Indians in 1800. Another house measuring
17 feet by 17 feet was also built that year. In 1802, an adobe structure with two rooms measuring 14-foot square was constructed and may have served
as a workshop.
Eight Dominicans are named serving Santa Catalina, José Loriente in 1797, Tomás Valdellon in 1797 to 1804, Jacinto Fiol 1804-1807, Manuel de Aguila
was stationed at the mission in 1808 and 1809. Antonio Fernández was assigned to Santa Catalina from 1809 to1810, and again from 1815 to 1817 from
his post at San Vicente. José Duro was the priest from 1810 to 1811, followed by Manuel Saiz from 1811 to 1812. Padre Felix Caballero was perhaps the
last Dominican in charge at Santa Catalina (1819-1839) and is named as such in an October 3, 1822 letter from Padre José Miguel de Pineda, of Mission
Santo Tomás.
California was officially divided into two districts on March 26, 1804. Arrillaga was made governor of Upper (Alta) California, and Captain Felipe de
Goycoechea was appointed to be governor of Lower (Baja) California. Alta California also was called Nueva (New) California, and Baja California was
called Antigua (Old) California. These names (Nueva and Antigua) appeared on documents describing the two regions of California for many years. The
idea for a third mountain mission, ordered by Padre Gómez, was abandoned.
In a letter written in Loreto on December 23, 1808, the Dominican Padre Ramon López wrote: “The two missions in the hills, Santa Catalina and San
Pedro, cannot give what they don’t have. The minister at Santa Catalina formerly was able to send something, but now he struggles just to make ends
meet.”
The population at Santa Catalina was reported as more than 600 in 1824 then down to 250 in 1834. This would have made Santa Catalina the most populous
of the Dominican missions. In October of 1839, the Santa Catalina mission was attacked burned, and 16 neophytes were slain. Padre Caballero, nor any
other Dominican, ever returned to rebuild Santa Catalina.
The walls have melted back to the ground leaving almost nothing to visualize the once important mission. Archeologists in recent years have excavated
to the stone foundation at a corner of a mission room and accurately mapped the site with sophisticated equipment. The Pai-pai Indians are still
living near the mission. Their village is called Santa Catarina which is a slightly different spelling than the mission’s name.
To reach the Santa Catalina mission site by Santa Catarina, use the Ensenada-San Felipe highway (Mexico #3) and drive just south of Km. 91, in the
town of Ejido de los Heroes de la Independencia. Go east, on a well-graded dirt road. Near the 5 mile mark from Hwy. 3, take the fork to the right and
go downhill, then work left through the little town of Santa Catarina soon going over a hill to the cemetery. Turn left and go up the hill, above the
cemetery. The mission site is 5.6 miles from Highway 3.
[Edited on 7-27-2018 by David K]
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