56 HISTORY OF PASADENA. 



Angeles, the bride being dressed in mourning,* and having ridden in on 

 horseback from Jurupa [now Riverside], while Don Abel came with his 

 friends from lyos Angeles. And after the nuptial ceremony the whole wed- 

 ding party went to I^os Angeles for the usual social festivities. The youth- 

 ful bride of this occasion, then only sixteen, is now Mrs. Col. R. S. Baker 

 (widow) of L,os Angeles, the wealthiest woman in Southern California. f 



SOME SAN GABRIEL ITEMS. 



"The earthquake of December 8, 1812, at sunrise, overthrew the main 

 altar, breaking the St. Joseph, the St. Dominic, the St. Francis, and the 

 Christ, damaging the church considerably, bringing down the top of the 

 steeple, and badly cracking the sacristy walls, and injured the friars' houses 

 and other buildings." — Hist. CaL, V^ol. 2, p. j^6. 



The wall of the north forebay or water-head cistern at the old stone 

 mill was cracked by this earthquake before a wheel was put in for its spout, 

 and hence the mill never had but one wheel, although built for two. The 

 walls were built so massively solid as they are, in order to withstand earth- 

 quakes, in addition to their possible need as a fortress. 



The first orange culture ever attempted in California, was at San 

 Gabriel, from 1820 to '25. 



In 1829 the Mission sheep were estimated at 54,000. 



Robinson's book, " I^ife in California," written mostly in 1829 to 1835, 

 and published in 1846, gives a picture of this old Mission church as he saw 

 it, and it had a high pointed steeple on it. This was afterward blown down, 

 and the unique five-groined stone belfry, as now seen there, was built in 

 its place. On page 32 Robinson says [1829] : 



"There are several extensive gardens attached to this Mission, where 

 may be found oranges, citrons, limes, apples, pears, peaches pomegranates, 

 figs and grapes in abundance. From the latter they make yearly from four 

 to six hundred barrels of wine, and two hundred of brandy ; the sale of 

 which produces an income of more than $12,000. The storehouses and 

 granaries are kept well supplied, and the corridor in the square is usually 

 heaped up with piles of hides and tallow. Besides the resources of the vine- 

 yard, the Mission derives considerable revenue from the sale of grain ; and 

 the weekly slaughter of cattle produces a sufficient sum for clothing and 

 supporting the Indians." 



In 1 83 1 Col. J. J. Warner estimated the Mission hogs at 1,000 head — 

 "used chiefly for making soap," he says. The same year the Mission's grape 

 vines were reported to be 50,000. It was this year also that Chapman built a 

 ship here in parts and hauled it to San Pedro in ox-carts. Alfred Robinson, 

 who saw it launched, calls it the Refugio, a schooner of sixty tons burden ; 

 but Bancroft calls it the Guadalupe. This discrepancy is easily explained. 



*A Spanish woman who was there at the time told me that the bride not only stood up in mourn- 

 ing attire, but in going to the altar she walked over the flagstone under which her grandfather was 

 buried, and it was talked of as a bad omen for the girl's future, in social gossip. 



|-Abel Stearns owned six great ranches in 1868— total 140,000 acres. — Hist. Los Angeles Co.,p.is'i. — 

 Mrs. Baker was assessed in 1S94 on $264,255 valuation in r,os Angeles county. 



