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Lieutenant Manuel Rodríguez, acting commandant of the company from Aug. 23,
1799, till 1803, when he became commandant of the post and so continued till late in
1806.
Lieutenant Francisco María Ruiz, acting commandant from late in 1806 till 1807.
Lieutenant José de la Guerra y Noriega, for a short time in 1806-1807.
Captain José Raimundo Carrillo, from late in 1807 till 1809.
Lieutenant Francisco María Ruiz, lieutenant and acting commandant from 1809
till 1821; then captain and commandant.
Captain Ignacio del Corral, nominally commandant from 1810 to 1820, but never
came to California.
Lieutenant José María Estudillo, Oct. 23, 1820, to Sept., 1821.
Captain Francisco María Ruiz, Sept., 1821, to 1827, when he retired at age of
73.
Lieutenant José María Estudillo, from early in 1827 to April 8, 1830.
Lieutenant Santiago Argüello, from April 8, 1830, to 1835.
Captain Augustin V. Zamorano, from 1835 to 1840; was here only during 1837-8
and never assumed command of the company.
Captain Pablo de la Portilla was nominally commandant of the post by seniority
of rank, whenever present, from 1835 until he left California in 1838.
Page 98
PART II. CHAPTER II. BEGINNINGS OF AGRICULTURE AND COMMERCE.
The range steer was the first historical character in the commercial life of San Diego.
He it was who drew the ships from far-off New England; furnished material for an
export trade with the United States, Mexico, South America, and the Sandwich Islands
and even laid the foundations of social life at Old Town by supplying an interest to attract
and support a population, including some families of large means, when the military
society began to pass away. Every early visitor to San Diego refers to the hidehouses
which stood out conspicuously near La Playa and which, for many years served
as the emblem of its commercial importance. The trade in hides and tallow was the significant
thing during that quarter of a century--1821 to 1846--in which San Diego rested
under the Mexican flag. The cultivation of the soil was a different story, and one full of
human interest.
The members of the first expedition of Spanish settlers brought seed with them
from Mexico and it was planted in the fall of 1769 on the river bottom, directly opposite
Presidio Hill, probably at a place now known as Serrano's field. This first crop was a total
failure--the ground was too low and the winter rise of the stream in 1770 destroyed
the grain. The second crop was also a disappointment. It was planted too far away from
the stream to be irrigated and, as it was a season of light rainfall, only a small quantity
of maize and of beans was harvested. The third year the scene of operations was
moved up the valley to a place called Nuestra Señora del Pilar near the site subsequently
occupied by the Mission. The result was not immediately satisfactory, as only
about twenty bushels of wheat were harvested, but the priests now bent their minds to
the task in earnest, worked out crude methods of irrigation and finally established their