163
Escandon and Settlement of Lower Rio Gra11de, 1738-1779
said that the matter would have to be referred to his superiors. At the earnest request of Escandon, however, Fray Marquez agreed to take charge temporarily. But from March until August, when Father Fray Agustin Fragozo was sent to take formal charge, it was the Padre from Camargo who actually ministered to the spiritual needs of the mission and settlers. 35 Fray Agustin Fragozo seems to have applied himself diligently to his task during the early years. In his report of 1752 on the progress made by the Mission of San Joaquin del Monte, which extended its activities to the north bank of the Rio Grande, he stated that he had a facal church (structure of brush and mud with thatch roof) and a lodging of the same kind for himself. There was no regular mission as yet, but he had about three hundred Indians under instruction, who lived near the villa. The natives were friendly and docile, but they had not been formally congregated for lack of food. The location of the settlement and mission had proved ill advised, being subject to floods and incapable of irrigation. A ditch dug for the purpose was destroyed by the flood of 1751, which nearly ruined the entire settlement. It had been redug, but when the river rose it filled it again with silt. 36 When the mission was inspected in 1755 by Escandon, he reported that five nations: The Nazas, Comecrudos (Raw-meat-eaters), Tejones (Coons), Pintos, and Narices (Noses) had been congregated or reduced to civilized life, making a total of three hundred and twenty-six persons. About sixty had been baptized and many had been married by the church. Since 1750 most of these Indians had lived regularly at the mission, except for such periods of time as they had been obliged to forage in the woods for food. Fray Agustin Fragozo and Fray Garcia Resuarez declared that Escandon had frequently supplied the mission with corn, blankets, clothes, tobacco, and trinkets for gifts in an effort to keep the Indians congregated. 37 3SEscandon to the Viceroy, April 17, 1749:A. G. M., Provincias /nterll(JS, vol. 179, pt. 2, pp. 505-507; Diario que hizo el Pe. Fray Simon Yerro en el Seno Mexicano afio de t 7 49. A. G. M., Historia, vol. 29, pt. 2, pp. 283-285; Hill, /osJ u Escandon, 78. Fray Yerro says the formal founding took place on March 10, but Escandon reports it as having taken place on i\farch 14, 1749. S6Fray Agustin Fragozo and Fray Manuel Jose Silva, April 9, 17 52. A. G. M., Historia, vol. 29, pt. 2, pp. 390-39 t. S7 Statement by Fray Juan Bautista Garcia Resuarez, March 10, 1755. A.G. A-I., Provi11cias lnternas, vol. t 79, pt. 2, pp. 614-616; Report of Escandon, August 8, t 7 55, in Estado General de las fu11dacio11es, (Publicaciones del Arcliivo General XIV, 31-32). '
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