Page 5 - eternalvalley1969

The Sacred Expeditions Mission San Fernando and the Asistencia were located on a vast acreage
called "Rancho San Francisco." When Spain was expelled from Mexico in
1821 the Mexican government encouraged the settlement of California by
In 1769 Father Junipero Serra sent out a Sacred Expedition north from offering land grants. Grants were limited to eleven square leagues - about
San Diego with the intention of finding the legendary Monterey Bay. In order 49,000 acres - and there could be no absentee ownership nor transference to
to maintain such a route the Padres were always on the lookout for mission any ecclesiastical botly. The term Mission, which once meant only the church
sites, which had to be located at intervals of a day's journey by foot. It was town with its gardens and orchards, had come to include extensive tracts over
on the 1769 Expedition that Father Juan Cresp1 recorded his impressions of which cattle, horses and sheep were allowed to roam at will. So, in effect, the
the Eternal Valley area as a "very suitable site for a mission." He had in mind Mexican government had offered for disposal lands it did not own if the mis-
another link in the chain of missions between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. sion claims were allowed.
The mission envisioned by Father Crespf did not become a reality. In- By 1830 two generations of Californians by birth had developed, and
stead, a mission was built at San Fernado in 1797 and as a result, an Asistencia there was a clash of interest between the rapidly growing population and the
was established in the Eternal Valley area. The Asistencia became the head- large holdings of the missions. It was resolved in 1833 when the Mexican Con-
quarters for local activities and a training school for local neophytes who fur- gress passed the bill for secularization of the missions.
nished labor for San Fernando Mission's maintenance and operation.
The primary role of the Mission was, of course, to convert the Indian to Rancho San Francisco
Christianity and to bring European culture to the pagan wilderness. The
accomplishment of this purpose required a church, many outbuildings, the and the del Valle Family
establishment of numerous trades and occupations, and a means of support-
ing - through stock raising and agriculture - hundreds of Indians, troops,
In October 1834, Lieutenant Antonio del Valle was commissioned to
civilians and padres.
take over Mission San Fernando. As administrator of the Mission, del Valle
traveled the entire length of Rancho San Francisco between San Fernando
and Santa Barbara. These long horseback rides first acquainted him with the
possibilities of Rio Santa Clara and Rancho San Francisco. In 1839 Don
Antonio del Valle petitioned Governor Alvarado for the Rancho. His petition
was granted and Mission Asistencia became the first del Valle rancho home.
After del Valle's death in 1841, the rancho was partitioned and divided
among his children. A portion of the Rancho called Camulos was always as-
sociated with Don Y gnacio del Valle, Antonio's eldest son.

~~\' ; I~· i • .._.._/ ):\~•• -- del Valle's cousin and two friends made the first authenticated gold discovery
~~-~~. ' ·, ~~. -~-;;.. . Gold ! Gold ! Gold !
Tradition tells us that it was from the old Asistencia that Francisco Lopez,
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--~._--._ --- :.a... ~ ,,/ -,:' , in California. It led to the settlement of the first mining camp in California
. . .-...
j
at Placeritas Canyon. Lopez and his companions had found gold clinging to
...
/
the roots of wild onions nearby and their discovery touched off a rush of
,,,~
Artists reconstruction of th• Aaietencia of lliHion San Fernando, built ill . , . prospectors from Sonora, Mexico as well as from all parts of California.
18oli, near the Cutaic Junction, It wu later occupied lrT the Del Valle
after Orant of Rancho San Franciaco,
Done lrT Adolph Henkel, of Nmall 1957
When war with Mexico erupted in 1846, Col. Fremont led a battalion
southward against General Andres Pico. Pico hoped to halt the Americans at
THE MISSION ASISTENCIA San Fernando Pass, but greatly outnumbered, he could only make a token
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