The Camino Real leaves La Purisima to the north, climbing directly out of the canyon and crosses MESA LAS MESAS then decends in ARROYO PURISIMA VIEJA.
The old trail was badly erroded when Crosby travel here, 30 years ago. But, it can be seen where it joins the Paso Hondo automobile road about 7 miles
northwest from San Isidro.
PURISIMA VIEJA was the original site of the mission La Purisima Concepcion. The Jesuits tried to locate their missions close to Indian villages
('rancherias'), but often the water source, which was enough for drinking, was not large enough for also growing crops, so a new site was established.
PASO HONDO and SAN JOSE DE GUAJADEMI (San Jose de los Arces) is on the Camino Real. At San Jose, the trail has a major junction.
The oldest route went right (northeast) directly for Mulege, near the gulf. In the 1760's, most travelers used a new route that took the Camino real
northwest along ARROYO AGUA VERDE and headed for the mission of Guadalupe, in the mountains.
Baja Almanac page 36:
Some of El Camino Real is shown starting at the bottom of the map by 112?15' longitude (between I & J). ARROYO LAS CHIVAS is reached and where the
Camino Real continues north, another trail (traveled by Crosby) makes a slight detour and goes to EL REPARITO, LAS CHIVAS, EL TULE, LA VINORAMA and
rejoins the old camino at SAN MARTIN.
The next section goes over a ridge to ARROYO SAN RAYMUNDO then upstream to SAN MIGUEL, a major visita of Mision Guadalupe. Ruins are still visible at
San Miguel.
SAN ESTANISLAO and SAN JUAN are along El Camino Real as it continues northward, finally arriving at MISION GUADALUPE (1720-1795).
From the diary of Fr. Junipero Serra, 1769
David K - 10-16-2003 at 09:04 PM
On the Camino Real, between La Purisma and Guadalupe, Serra had an interesting encounter...
"I met there with about ten Indian families: men, women, boys and girls. When I asked them what they were doing there, they answered, with much
sorrow, that they belonged to the Guadalupe Mission, not to any particular rancheria, but to the principal village, and that the Father, for lack of
food, had been forced to send them to the mountains to look for food, and that, not being used to that way of life, they had no success."
"They suffered very much, especially at seeing their babies starve and hearing them cry..."
Serra provided relief with his supply of ground corn from which he prepared 'atole'. He then instructed the families to return to Guadalupe, as he was
aware a supply ship had arrived at Mulege for Mision Guadalupe's needs.
They thanked the good Father by singing a hymn about the love of God, Serra found very touching.
Some Notes on Mision Guadalupe...
David K - 10-17-2003 at 11:55 AM
GUADALUPE (Del Sur)
The next mission established in (Baja) California was Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, in 1720. Located high in the sierra west of Mulege, in a densely
populated native area.
The previous year Father Juan de Ugarte harvested timber near here to build the first ship in California used to explore the gulf ('El Triunfo de la
Cruz'). Built from the giant guerivo trees, such as those still growing west of Los Barriles shown to me by Jimmy Smith http://davidksbaja.com/baja15/page5.html . The local natives requested to have their own mission be established here.
A hurricane collapsed the church and took 100 lives, in 1744. The mission was abandoned in 1795 and the few remaining Indians were moved to La
Purisima. Many walls remain at the site of Guadalupe. Ruins of a Guadalupe's visitas can be seen as well (San Miguel, El Valle, and a third that was
destroyed by road building, called El Patricio). http://davidksbaja.com/bajamissions/page4.html bajalera - 10-17-2003 at 03:50 PM
Interesting and a good job, but be cautious with the term rancheria. This was not a village, but a hunting-and-collecting group that exploited a
specified territory, moving from place to place.
Did you ever recover the stuff you lost on the Amigos board?David K - 10-17-2003 at 09:33 PM
Yes, in my reply to you in the El Rosario Pemex thread, I mentioned that Baja Bernie had some of my mission posts on Amigos, saved... The part about
Guadalupe above is one.
The word 'rancheria' is not mine, but a quote from Junipero Serra's diary... 'Rancheria' to the padres was the term for an Indian village. Visita or
estancia was a mission's visting station or sub-mission that the priest would visit, but not reside at. New missions were often first visitas. These
were often located near rancherias (labor and water source). Thanks for your interest!academicanarchist - 10-19-2003 at 06:16 AM
The church that collapsed at Guadalupe in 1744 was described as having been one of the finest in the Peninsula at that time. It predated completion of
the churches at Comondu, Mulege, Loreto, and San Francisco Xavier. A later report states that the replacement church built at Guadalupe, built of
adobe and stone, was stronger than the one that collapse, so the Jesuits did learn their lesson from the collapse of the church in 1744. bajalera - 10-19-2003 at 08:20 PM
Glad to hear your material was rescued---I've been visiting in the States for a while and missed your response. Give me an OOPs on the rancheria. I
should have been cautious about assuming that Jesuit terms were continued by Serra and others. Sorry I was so narrow-minded!David K - 10-19-2003 at 09:22 PM
Not a problem! Asking questions and interacting on this Internet Baja oasis is how we all expand our knowledge and appreciation of the magical
peninsula!
Rancheria
academicanarchist - 10-20-2003 at 03:28 AM
It should be noted that rancheria is a generic term used by the Spanish all along the northern frontier. David K - 10-20-2003 at 07:08 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by academicanarchist
It should be noted that rancheria is a generic term used by the Spanish all along the northern frontier.
Generic term for 'Indian village'?
rancheria
academicanarchist - 10-21-2003 at 04:28 PM
Generic term for an Indian settlement that did not look like a town to the Spaniards.
