EI.DORADO 207 



Spaniards to the territory, and the Governor being- 

 unable to enforce his commands, was compelled to al- 

 low the Russians to remain in possession until 1840, 

 Avhen they left of their own accord. Before the com- 

 mencement of the struggle in Mexico for independence 

 from Spain in 1822, the missions in California were, 

 to some extent fostered by the Spanish government 

 and supplies were occasionally sent them. But when 

 war began this aid was withheld and these establish- 

 ments soon began to fall into decay, and the Padres, 

 deprived of their authority, returned to Spain or Mex- 

 ico, or took refuge in other lands. The Indians, being 

 free from restraint, soon sank to their original condi- 

 tion of barbarism. 



From T769 to 1823 twenty-one missions were 

 founded in Alta, California. The first was the one at 

 San Diego by Father Junipero Serra, July, 1769, who 

 was commissioned president of all the missions of Up- 

 per California. The padres chose wisely and well the 

 most beautiful and fertile spots for their establish- 

 ments, and in time became possessed of immense flocks 

 and herds and enjoyed most of the luxuries of civil- 

 ized life. Their church property was confiscated by 

 the Mexican Government in 1833, and at present no 

 trace of their presence or greatness is to be seen ex- 

 cept in the dilapidated and crumbling walls of their 

 mission structures and the declining cross as it droops 

 in melancholy .solitude over the silent city where lie 

 their buried dead. 



