Page 19 - lareina1929

LA REINA LOS ANGELES IN THREE CENTURIES 15
And yet, to one with the understanding heart, the days of romance and care-free
existence were indeed well worth living.
But, within the Pueblo, De Neve's wise provisions as to land ownership still
held good, and were not affected by F ages' free-handed system. It had been made
a rule that a good adobe house should adorn each lot within three years, and that
chickens and growing crops should be found upon each farm within four years.
Governor Fages, through Jose Arguello, presented each of nine families with deeds
to their homes in 1786.
Twenty-eight families, numbering 139 souls, made up the population in the
year 1790. The Pueblo had nearly tripled in strength in nine years. The list of
Who's Who revealed the names of Verdugo, Sepulveda, Lugo, Ruez, Pico, Garcia,
Figueroa and others which have become household names. In a productive way
things were looking up. Only the San Gabriel Mission raised more grain than the
lands of the Pueblo, and the cattle of the community numbered 12,500 head.
By 1800, production had increased so far beyond local needs that a project to
export 3400 bushels of wheat a year to San Blas, Mexico, was started. When one
remembers that De Neve founded Los Angeles for the particular purpose of making
importations from San Blas unnecessary, the significance of the project is apparent.
The Pueblo at the close of the century found itself with 7 0 families, 315 people
and 30 small adobe houses either grouped about the Plaza or clustered nearby The
hunger for sociability in a new, strange country and the necessity of protection from
thieving Indians naturally made for a dose-built community Huddled together
there in their thatched adobes under the bright California sun, with all nature
inviting them to come afield, they lived in "splendid isolation" from the world of
Washington, Robespierre, Goethe and James Watt. What mattered it that mail
came only once a month from Mexico, when none could read or write? What
mattered it if the King of Spain would allow no foreign vessel to visit the coast?
Did not the Spanish ships from Mexico bring in all the clothing they needed and
did not they have enough to eat from their own fields and pastures? And as for a
school, why bother about it? Were not the padres educated?
Such was Los Angeles when Jefferson finally drove the Federalists from power,
and Napoleon returned alone from his Egyptian campaign. St. Louis was still an
outpost of the French fur traders. Fort Dearborn was yet to be captured by the
British and recaptured before the American city of Chicago was to be built up around
it. Washington, D. C., remained unincorporated, Philadelphia still being the capital
of the nation. Cleveland, Indianapolis, Wilmington, M emphis, Minneapolis, Tampa,
Kansas City Seattle, H ouston and Omaha had not come into existence.

St Vincent's College, now Loyola University, used to stand at Sixth and Broadway and
had the whole block to Seven th S treet and to H ill Street as a campus