6023 Spring Doins ANZA EXPEDITIONS History

their own was located. The operation took the whole day, and despite all efforts,
a bull and a horse were drowned and swept downstream. The next night the
expedition camped again at Arroyo de los Osos (San Antonio Creek), and
another day’s travel brought them again to San Gabriel.
No longer a starving frontier outpost, since De Anza’s last visit the mission
had been moved about three miles to the north to a dependable water source,
and was now thriving. Font wrote that “Overall, the entire organization of the
mission seemed to me excellent….” At the time of his arrival, there had been an
Indian uprising at Mission San Diego, and there was fear, later proved
unfounded, of a general Indian revolt throughout the region. On January 7, 1776
Anza, military governor Fernando Rivera de Moncada, Father Font, and 30
soldiers started there to aid in putting down the rebellion. The survivors, living at
the presidio after the mission buildings had been burned and expecting another
attack, joyfully greeted the reinforcements. Anza was anxious to resume his
journey, but felt that duty required him to remain available to Rivera at San
Diego. As January turned into February, with yet no plans for a military campaign
by Rivera, Anza decided to resume his original task of moving the settlers and
their goods to San Francisco. Adding impetus to this plan was the fact that the
massive influx of the Anza party at San Gabriel was literally causing starvation at
the mission.
Anza, far from home and faced with conflicting duties, had to decide on
his own how to proceed. Driven both by his commission from the Viceroy and his
duty as a military officer, he was in pulled two directions at once. He coordinated
with Rivera, who was opposed to the plan to settle San Francisco because of the
revolt (Anza felt the danger was greatly overstated), and it was decided that
Rivera would stay at San Diego and Anza would continue on his original mission.
Although both men were cordial, this compromise decision caused a permanent
rift in their relations. Anza determined that he would lead his people beyond
Santa Barbara, which had a large Indian population which had recently attacked
Spanish travelers. Once past the threat, the expedition would proceed on its own
to Mission San Luis Obispo while Anza went ahead to reconnoiter the San
Francisco area in advance of the settlers.
San Gabriel to Monterey
Finally, on February 21, having wasted a month and a half at San Gabriel,
the expedition headed north once again. That night they camped at Cahuenga, a
low pass through the hills, now within the city of Glendale. From here they
basically followed the route of today’s Highway 101. They were now on the
Camino Real, which had been in use since 1769 and was well known to the
travelers. They passed many Chumash villages, and Font left detailed
descriptions of the people and their habits in his journal. Fears of attack were
quickly allayed, and the journey proved relatively easy through this region. They
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