The Mission Chain

After six weeks at San Gabriel, the reunited expedition finally pushed north on February 21, 1776, threading through the Newhall Pass and up the Santa Clara River valley into Tataviam and then Chumash territory. At La Rinconada, near present-day Rincon Point, the colonists reached the Pacific Ocean for the first time on this leg of the journey. The coast here funneled between steep chaparral mountains and the blue channel, with the Channel Islands visible offshore. Father Font was captivated by the Chumash — their large, organized villages; the glass-bead currency that linked coastal and inland peoples; and above all their remarkable tomols, plank canoes capable of crossing the open Santa Barbara Channel to the islands.

The expedition moved through a string of populous Chumash villages, trading glass beads for baskets, wooden cups, and fresh fish. At Rancheria del Cojo near Point Conception — the western gate through which Chumash tradition held that souls departed for the afterlife — the party experienced the fierce winds and confused seas that mark this transition between Southern and Central California. Rounding the cape, the column traveled north along coastal terraces past Laguna Graciosa among the great sand dunes of what are now the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes, camping in a landscape utterly unlike the Sonoran desert they had departed five months before.

The mission chain welcomed the expedition at each major stop. At Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa on March 2, the colonists were received with 'bells, volleys, and Te Deum,' and Anza served as godfather at a Native boy's baptism — the intertwining of religious mission and colonial settlement made flesh in a single ceremony. After a further rest at Mission San Antonio de los Robles in the remote Santa Lucia Mountains, the march through the Salinas Valley brought the colonists to the Royal Presidio of Monterey in a downpour at 4 PM on March 10, 1776. Three volleys of artillery announced their arrival. The following day at Mission Carmel, festive bells and a Te Deum of thanksgiving rang out. The 240 settlers had traveled over 1,200 miles since September, with just one death.