To facilitate overland travel, the mission settlements were situated approximately 30 miles (48 kilometers) apart, about one day's journey on horseback, or three days on foot. The entire trail eventually became a 600-mile (966-kilometer) long "California Mission Trail." Rev. Lasuén successfully argued that filling in the empty spaces along El Camino Real with additional outposts would provide much-needed rest stops where travelers could take lodging in relative safety and comfort.[1]: 132 [2]: 152 Heavy freight movement was practical only via water. Tradition has it that the padres sprinkled mustard seeds along the trail to mark it with bright yellow flowers.[3]: 79 [4]: 260
Today a growing number of people, calling themselves California Mission Walkers, hike the mission trail route, usually in segments between the missions.[5] Walking the trail is a way to connect with the history of the missions. For some it represents a spiritual pilgrimage, inspired by Jesuit priest Richard Roos' 1985 book, Christwalk.[6] The loosely organized group is attempting to formalize the route and establish markers, similar to the 330-mile (530 km) El Camino de Santiago, in Spain.
Asistencias were branch missions that allowed the priests to extend their reach into the native population at a modest cost.
Estancias
An estancia or estância is a Spanish or Portuguese term describing private landholdings used for farming or raising livestock. They assisted in the development of their parent missions.
^Yenne, Bill (2004). The Missions of California. Advantage Publishers Group, San Diego, California. ISBN 1-59223-319-8.
^Bennett, John E (January 1897a). "Should the California Missions Be Preserved? – Part I". Overland Monthly. XXIX (169): 9–24.
^Markham, Edwin (1914). California the Wonderful: Her Romantic History, Her Picturesque People, Her Wild Shores. Hearst's International Library Company, Inc., New York.
^Riesenberg, Felix (1962). The Golden Road: The Story of California's Spanish Mission Trail. McGraw-Hill, New York. ISBN 0-07-052740-7.
^"El Camino Real's California Mission Walkers". California Mission Guide. 2014.
^Roos, Fr. Richard (1985). "Christwalk". Paulist Press.
^"San Juan Capistrano – California Missions Foundation". californiamissionsfoundation.org. Retrieved 2022-04-16.
^"U. S. Mission Trail, the Mission Trail Today - Spanish Missions in California - Asistencia Santa Eulalia". www.usmissiontrail.com. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
^"California's Lost Mission". Daphne Wynne Nixon Paintings. 2009-02-04. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
^"San Mateo asistencia (hospice) and granary". San Mateo Daily journal. 2009-02-02. Retrieved 2015-06-17.
^"U. S. Mission Trail, the Mission Trail Today - Spanish Missions in California - Asistencia Santa Paula". www.usmissiontrail.com. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
^"Ventura". CA State Parks. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
^"History". The Rancho San Marcos. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
^"U. S. Mission Trail, the Mission Trail Today - Spanish Missions in California - Asistencia Santa Paula". usmissiontrail.com. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to California missions.
California Missions Foundation
California Mission Studies Association
California's Spanish Missions
Library of Congress: American Memory Project: Early California History, The Missions
Tricia Anne Weber: The Spanish Missions of California
California Historical Society
National Register of Historic Places: Early History of the California Coast: List of Sites
California Mission Sketches by Henry Miller, 1856 and Finding Aid to the Documents relating to Missions of the Californias : typescript, 1768-1802 at The Bancroft Library