Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189 Public Domain. Release under the CC BY Attribution license--http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/--Credit both “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library; From the California Historical Society Collection at the University of Southern California Send requests to address or e-mail given USC Libraries Special Collections specol@usc.edu
Description
Photograph of a view of cacti bed north of Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana, Mission Hills, California, ca.1886. Clusters of Opuntia-type cacti form the cacti bed (at left). Several trees are visible in the foreground. In the distance, a line of trees run parallel to the church and other buildings of the mission. "San Fernando Mission Rey de Espana, seventeenth of the twenty-one missions founded by the Franciscans, was established on September 8, 1797. Its location was ideal, for it was in fertile country, and it was to become one of the major supply sources for the pueblo of Los Angeles (22 miles away) as it grew. The mission farms produced olives, dates, wheat, barley, corn, and other foods. It had 7000 sheep and many other livestock. The secularization that took place in 1834 was, of course, disastrous. The buildings fell into disuse and were vandalized for their building materials. During the Mexican-American War most of the mission lands, covering much of the San Fernando Valley, were sold for $14,000 John C. Fremont used the mission as his headquarters. Following the war the missions were returned to the Catholic Church, but the deterioration continued. Today, the convent buildings dating to the mission days remain. The church, damaged severely in the 1971 Sylmar earthquake, was demolished, and an exact replica built." -- unknown author, ca.2002.
Type
image
Format
2 photographs : glass photonegative, photoprint, b&w 21 x 26 cm. glass plate negatives photographic prints photographs
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