Page:The Californian volume 1 issue 1.djvu/11

Rh

THE first ship ever built in California was the work of Father Juan Ugarte. This was in 1719, at the darkest period of the Jesuit colonization of the peninsula, when the supplies which had hitherto supported the Missions had been cut off, and the missionaries found themselves obliged to rely upon their own resources.

Father Juan Ugarte was, in his humble way, one of the great men of his age. He was not only one of the founders of California, but he was that one of them who first established agriculture and manufactures in the country. It was under his direction and fostering care that the first fields were planted, the first orchards set out, the first vines grown, and the first grapes pressed. He was also the first to bring over cattle and flocks from Mexico, and subsequently after he had got his fields and orchards and vineyards to growing and flourishing-to set up spinning-wheels and looms; so that within less than a decade of years, although compelled to depend entirely upon itself, the colonization of California was self-sustaining, and all owing to the extraordinary exertions and the wonderful practical ability of this one man. If the great man be he who makes two blades of grass grow where only one grew before; if, as we are now beginning to be made to believe, the greatest man be he who most successfully cultivates the arts of peace-then must the name of Juan Ugarte be rescued from the comparative oblivion in which it has been allowed to sink, and advanced high on the roll of human excellence.

The circumstances under which this first Californian ship was built, and the uses to which it was applied, as well as the character of its builder, render it one of the most interesting structures of which our early history treats. As before stated, it was in 1719, when all hopes of further support from Spain and Mexico for the Jesuit colonization of California had been abandoned, and the missionaries were left to depend upon themselves alone. At that period they had but a single ship, and that a very smail one, which had been tossed about for years, and was strained and wrenched in almost every joint. All the others had been cast away in the waters of the tempestuous Gulf, and destroyed. Several attempts had been made to repair old wrecks, and one new vessel had been tacked together on the opposite shore of Sinaloa; but none of these proved of any utility: every one in a short time went to pieces, and there was nothing left to keep up communication, and, in case of danger, to carry the colonists to a place of safety, but the one crazy little transport referred to, which was liable to split with every shock and sink in the first gale. Under these circumstances, a ship of some kind, well built and reliable, was a necessity; and the only way to procure it, after so many fruitless trials, seemed to be-and, in fact, as it afterward turned out, proved to be-to build it in California, where the laying of every plank, and the driving of every spike, could be superintended by some one who was interested in seeing the work well and faithfully done. So thought Father Ugarte, and no sooner had he formed the thought than he set about carrying it into execution.

Ugarte was not a ship-builder, but neither had he been an agriculturist or a manufacturer. He was, however, one of those practical geniuses to whom all occupations seem subservient, and to whom nothing that seems indispensable is impossible. He was at this time engaged in missionary labor at Loreto, on the Gulf shore of the peninsula, in the midst of one of the most rocky, sterile, treeless tracts of country in all America. Upon looking around him, he found neither timber nor trees suitable for timber, nor iron, nor sails, nor tar, nor other necessary materials; nor were there shipwrights, sawyers, or carpenters, nor even any surplus of provisions for such persons, had they been present. To any other man these obstacles would have proved insurmountable. But, upon making inquiries, Ugarte was informed by the Indians that in the mountains, about two hundred miles to the northwest of Loreto, there were large and straight trees which might possibly serve his purpose; and distant as they were, uncertain as the result might turn out, and difficult as the way was sure to prove, he at once determined to go thither, and see for himself whether they would answer, and, if so, whether they could be brought to the seacoast. Accordingly, procuring the attendance of a shipwright from across the Gulf, and taking along two soldiers, and several natives as guides, he proceeded to scramble over the craggy mountains of Guadalupe for the forests of which he had been informed. After a long