Our Catholic Heritage, Volume III

Destruction of the San X nvier 1 '/issions 2 95 a public summons, that Father Arricivita be ready to attend the survey which would be undertaken on the following morning. But in spite of the haste, the actual investigation did not get under way until July 2. Each one of the commissioners on this day was administered an oath with all formality to perform his duty honestly and without bias. The party then went to the point where the Arroyo de las Animas (Brushy Creek) flows into the San Xavier (San Gabriel) where the actual survey of the lands and waters was begun. The depth of the river and its width were carefully noted and the lands on both sides were surveyed with the assistance of Father Arricivita and the three aides of Eca y Mt'tsquiz. The party then moved about half a league above the juncture of the two streams and repeated their survey that same day. On July 3. they went a distance of nine thousand varas upstream, more or less to a crossing known as Paso de los Apaches, ap- proximately five miles above the juncture, where they made careful obser- vations on the amount of water and the extent of the arable lands along the river. On July 5, they continued upstream for a distance of two leagues to the crossing of Santa Rosa de Viterbo, where they repeated their survey. On July 6 they surveyed the country in the vicinity of Santa Maria de la Visitacion, located about two leagues still higher up the stream. The distance from this point to the juncture of the two streams was estimated to be about seven leagues or approximately eighteen miles. In addition to the detailed description of the lands and water along the San Xavier, we have in these surveys the location of the three missions, which is given with great accuracy. The first of these was Mission San Ildefonso, situated about an eighth of a league from the juncture of the San Xavier and Arroyo de las Animas, on the south bank of the former, on a small knoll or hill. The cultivated fields of the mission were along the gentle slope of the hill, where three fanegas (some three hundred pounds) of corn had been planted, besides some beans and chili, all of which were growing well in spite of the absence of rains. Above San Ildefonso, on the same side of the river, some two miles upstream stood Mission San Francisco Xavier de Horcasitas. This, too, was built upon a hill and was surrounded by a wall or fence. Between the two missions there was a great flat or plain which measured five thousand varas in length and one thousand eight hundred in width. Up stream from San Francisco Xavier and along the southern bank of the river there was a level stretch of land twel\'e hundred vt1ras long and three hundred varns wide. The cultivated fields of the mission were in

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