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Ot1r Catl,olic Heritage in Texas
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1727. From the distant fort at Conchos, he had first gone to Santa Fe, then retracing his steps, he had made a careful investigation of conditions at the Presidio of El Paso del Norte del Rio Grande, before going to Sinaloa. It was from this remote outpost that he proceeded to Texas, stopping only for a few days at Janos, San Felipe el Real in Chihuahua, and continuing hence by way of Monclova, San Juan Bautista, San Antonio, and Los Tejas to the :f'.residio of Nuestra Senora del Pilar de los Adaes. "The distance from Sinaloa to this presidio, according to the itinerary followed, is nine hundred leagues," declared Rivera in his report. Conditio11s found at Los Adaes. Here he found a garrison of one hundred men, including the officers, all under the command of the gov- ernor who resided at this post. The soldiers were employed in guarding the presidio, which although built of timber, was well protected by a stockade; in watching the horses; in the cultivation of a few fields where grain and vegetables for their maintenance were raised; in improving their quarters, and in helping the three missions founded in the vicinity by the Franciscan missionaries. from the College of Zacatecas. Upon his arrival, a proclamation declaring his intention of conducting a formal inspection of the presidio was made. He asked the governor to present his book of accounts and his muster roll of enlistments and to retire with all subaltern officers to a safe distance, as required by law. These orders were placed in the guardroom for all to read. A questionnaire concerning the conduct of the governor and his officers was prepared and the various soldiers permitted to testify freely in the absence of their officers in order to determine if there were grounds for censuring them. When the investigation was concluded and the governor and subalterns had returned they were informed that no irregularities or serious offences had been discovered for which they could be held liable. An inspection held imme- diately thereafter disclosed that two of the men were unfit for military service and they were consequently replaced at once. A set of rules for the guidance of the officers in charge of the garrison was prepared and given to the governor, together with a list of the maximum prices that could be charged for the most commonly needed supplies, all of which had been sold heretofore at figures far above their actual value or cost. Agreeable to the authority granted to the inspector by the viceroy to fix salaries more equitably in accord with the conditions found, the rate of pay which had been four·hundred and fifty ,pesos a year was reduced to four hundred and twenty.
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