Part I: The Mission Economy from 1768 to 1834

Part I: The Mission Economy from 1768 to 1834

Introduction: From 1768 to 1810, Spain planned and executed its "Sacred Expedition" to colonize and possess Alta California to ward off the looming Russian incursion. During this time, it was illegal for the missions to trade with anyone except Spain and, of course, the local Indians. During the Mexican Wars for Independence from 1810 - 1821, however, there was no support received by the missions from Spanish Mexico, but also no enforcement of the ban on trading with other countries outside of Spain. 

With the overthrow of Spain in 1821, Mexico and the rest of the Spanish New World (Caribbean, Central America, South America) had their hands full struggling to establish their own new world order. Thus, from 1821 - 1834, the missions continued without meaningful attention or support from Mexico. Trade in the form of barter expanded with other countries who had been venturing along the California coast since the 1780's with the advent of the sea otter fur trade. Finally, the mission era ended when independent Mexico issued final secularization orders to disband the Spanish mission system around 1834.

Economic Structure: In 1768, Fr. Junipero Serra, O.F.M. and Visitador-General Jose de Galvez planned the economic structures of the first two missions (San Diego and Monterey). Two missionaries would be assigned to each mission and each would receive an annual stipend (i.e. salary) of 350 pesos from the "Pious Fund" (later raised to 400 pesos). The Pious Fund was set up in Lower California by the Jesuits in 1698 in order to fund the missions with monies donated by wealthy Spaniards who hoped it would ease their way into heaven. Viceroy Croix also allowed 1,000 pesos for the founding of each new mission, which also came from the fund. The newly established structure caused heated conflicts between the missions, presidios and Spanish bureaucracy throughout the entire mission period.

 

 

San Blas: The new port of San Blas (see map) was founded by Galvez in 1768 with 136,000 pesos from the Pious Fund. The small harbor was to transport supplies to Alta California via sailing vessels (see map). In the early days of the missions, the colonies relied on supply ships to bring foodstuffs to ward off starvation while mission agriculture was being established. In later years when the missions became self-sufficient, the shipments provided tools and religious supplies which could not be manufactured by the colonies. Indian laborers and skilled Spanish craftsmen were also transported via ship.

 

Mission Re-Supply: The Spanish had a difficult time navigating the California coast in their small crude "packet" ships. This mission supply line was unreliable, as sailing along the California coast was difficult and time consuming. Voyages were often delayed due to lack of supplies, bad weather or sick or missing crew members. 

 

Land re-supply was tried, beginning with the Portola overland expedition of 1769 - 1770. It didn't help that there was a chronic shortage of mules for transport, or that the route to the missions was long, hot and difficult. The "Yuma Crossing" was the only location where the Colorado River could safely be crossed by a land expedition to California. The "Yuma Massacre" of 1781 wiped out two recently established missions ("La Purisima Concepcion de la Virgen Santisima" and "San Pedro y San Pablo de Bicuñer") at the crossing and forced all future mission trade to occur exclusively by ship.

 

Mission Accounting: The mission economy was conducted on a barter basis, as actual cash transactions were only conducted in Mexico. Both missionaries and soldiers were paid in goods, since there was nowhere to spend pesos. Only after 1810 did the California economy begin to use currency as trade volume with outsiders increased. 

 

Each Mission and Presidio kept a detailed set of account books for domestic transactions to be used for the collection of debts in Mexico. There was little systemic procedures for making entries, and modern accounting principles were completely unknown. Thus, accounts were infrequently totaled and the exact standing of each mission was rarely known. To add to the confusion, individual economic transactions were also logged in these books, but debts were often ignored or overlooked. Fortunately, many of these books have survived and continue to reveal additional understanding of mission history.

 

Upcoming Part II: The Transactional Details of the Barter Economy

 

The “packet ship” San Carlos.