the water needed to
irrigate the eighty acres of orchard, vineyard, and garden that used to
be surrounded by an adobe wall. Reservoirs, cisterns, and zanjas of
brick, stone, and cement are seen here and there, and several remnants
of the masonry aqueducts are still found in the village.

CHAPTER XVII

SANTA CLARA DE ASIS

Rivera delayed the founding of San Francisco and Santa Clara for reasons
of his own; and when, in September, 1776, he received a letter from
Viceroy Bucareli, in which were references clearly showing that it was
supposed by the writer that they were already established, he set to
work without further delay, and went with Padre Pena, as already
related. The Mission was duly founded January 12, 1777. A square of
seventy yards was set off and buildings at once begun. Cattle and other
Mission property were sent down from San Francisco and San Carlos, and
the guard returned. But it was not long before the Indians developed an
unholy love for contraband beef, and Moraga and his soldiers were sent
for to capture and punish the thieves. Three of them were killed, but
even then depredations occasionally continued. At the end of the year
there had been sixty-seven baptisms, including eight adults, and
twenty-five deaths.

The present is the third site occupied by Santa Clara. The Mission was
originally established some three miles away, near Alviso, at the
headwaters of the San Francisco Bay, near the river Guadalupe, on a
site called by the Indians So-co-is-u-ka (laurel wood). It was probably
located there on account of its being the chief rendezvous of the
Indians, fishing being good, the river having an abundance of salmon
trout. The Mission remained there only a short time, as the waters rose
twice in 1779, and washed it out. Then the padres removed, in 1780-1782,
and built about 150 yards southwest of the present broad-gauge (Southern
Pacific) depot, where quite recently traces were found of the old adobe
walls. They remained at this spot, deeming the location good, until an
earthquake in 1812 gave them considerable trouble. A second earthquake
in 1818 so injured their buildings that they felt compelled to move to
the present site, which has been occupied ever since. The Mission Church
and other buildings were begun in 1818, and finally dedicated in 1822.
The site was called by the Indians _Gerguensun_--the Valley of the Oaks.

On the 29th of November, 1777, the pueblo of San Jose was founded. The