Sale 2455 - Printed & Manuscript Americana, September 28, 2017

318 c   (MEXICO—BAJA CALIFORNIA.) Ugarte, Juan de. Manuscript report on the first 16 months of the California missions. 6 manuscript pages on 2 sheets, 12 1 / 4 x 8 1 / 2 inches, formerly stitched; moderate dampstaining and edge wear, three worm holes. Mexico, 25 February 1699 [12,000/18,000] The Jesuit missionary Juan de Ugarte (1662-1730) was in charge of the first effort to establish a chain of missions on the Baja California peninsula. Kino’s 1683 mission had been short-lived, and this report was written just two years after the establishment of California’s first permanent mission at Loreto. At this point, Fr. Ugarte was based in Mexico City, though he later established himself at the San Francisco Javier mission in 1702. This report was prepared for Carlos II, King of Spain, and offers a “breve noticia de el estado que las Californias, tienen en año y quatro messes”—the year and four months since Fr. Juan Maria de Salvatierra established the Loreto mission. It discusses prospects for fishing and pearling, conversions of Indians, construction of buildings, and more, emphasizing that the missions will help establish Spanish sovereignty over this territory, and requesting funds for its continued growth.