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 the cemetery and mortuary chapel at Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, San Luis Rey, California, 1885. The cemetery and nearby buildings are in dilapidated condition. Rocks, twigs, and wild grass cover the cemetery lot. Picket-fence-like boundaries can be seen spread out in the cemetery (possibly marking grave spots?). Crosses are also seen throughout the cemetery marking grave spots. Parts of the dome roof and the wall of the nearby mortuary chapel have crumbled. At the left end of the building in the background stands a dome-capped tower. "Although the last mission to be founded in the south, San Luis Rey the 'King of the Missions' came to be the largest and richest of all. A great quadrangle was 500 feet on a side. An intricate aqueduct system supplied water for the mission and gardens as well as for pools used for bathing and laundry. In the year 1831 an incredible 16,000 cattle, 25,500 sheep and 2,150 horses graced the far-flung ranchos. 395,000 bushels of grain and 2,500 barrels of wine were produced by that same year. Mexico, once free from Spain, began to divide the spoils of the mission system. Governor Pio Pico and his brother alone appropriated 90,000 acres of Mission San Luis Rey land for themselves. By 1846 the last vestige of mission life had disappeared. Finally, the U. S. Government gathered the last of the Indians into a 'temporary' home on a reservation at Pala. They are still there, the only original site where Mission Indians are still ministered to. The original decree, signed by President Abraham Lincoln on March 18, 1861, which returned the mission buildings and a few surrounding acres to the Church, is displayed today in the mission museum. Even so, years of vandalism and neglect followed before Franciscans from Mexico returned in 1892, to begin a restoration, which has recaptured much of the grandeur of old." -- unknown author.
Type
image
Format
2 photographs : glass photonegative, photoprint, b&w 26 x 21 cm. glass plate negatives photographic prints photographs
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