| San Gabriel Arcangel, founded in 1771 by Father
Jun pero Serra and the fourth in the California chain of 21
missions. It was moved
4.5 miles (7 km) to its present site in 1775.
The fortress like mission
church enormous walls are five feet thick
and the mortar used in their
construction has rendered them almost as solid
as if hewn from rock.
Mission San Gabriel must have had twenty thousand
acres under
cultivation, and , in 1820, this Mission alone
possessed one hundred
and sixty thousand vines, two thousand three
hundred trees, twenty-five
thousand head of cattle, and fifteen thousand
sheep. By the treaty
between the United states and Mexico, San Gabriel
Mission allowed
to retain all lands that was cultivated. Out
of those twenty thousand acres, one hundred
and fifty are all that left.
by Maria Hetenyi
|
