THE MARCH OF PORTOLÁ AND THE DISCOVERY OF THE BAY OF SAN FRANCISCO
By Zoeth S. Eldredge
Log of the San Carlos and
Original Documents Translated and Annotated
By E. J. Molera
Published by the Reception Committee
of The California Promotion Committee
This Book is published with the approval and
endorsement of the Executive Committee of the Portolá Festival.
San Francisco
"Serene, indifferent of fate, Thou sittest at the Western Gate; Upon thy heights so lately won, Still slant the banners of the sun; Thou seest the white seas strike their tents, O warder of two continents, And scornful of the peace that flies, Thy angry winds and sullen skies, Thou drawest all things, small or great, To thee beside the Western Gate."
CONTENTS
THE MARCH OF PORTOLÁ AND THE DISCOVERY OF THE BAY OF SAN FRANCISCO
DATA REGARDING DON GASPAR DE PORTOLÁ AFTER HE LEFT CALIFORNIA
Causes that Decided the Government of Spain to Send an Expedition by
Report of Don Juan Manuel de Ayala Commander of the Packet Boat San
Description of the Newly-discovered Port of San Francisco
Introduction
In the annals of adventure, there are no more thrilling narratives of heroic perseverance in the performance of duty than the record of Spanish exploration in America. To those of us who have come into possession of the fair land opened up by them, the story of their travels and adventures have the most profound interest. The account of the expedition of Portolá has never been properly presented. Many writers have touched on it, and H. H. Bancroft, in his History of California, gives a brief digest of Crespi's diary. Most writers on California history have drawn on Palou's Vida del V. P. F. Junipero Serra and Noticias de la Nueva California, and without looking further, have accepted the ecclesiastical narrative. We have endeavored in this sketch to give, in a clear and concise form, the conditions which preceded and led up to the occupation of California.
The importance of California in relation to the control of the Pacific was early reco