eebled and aged padre fell before the altar and immediately expired.
As it had been reported that he was "leading a hermit's life and
destitute of means," it was commonly believed that this worthy and
devoted missionary was exhausted from lack of proper food, and in
reality died of starvation.

There were still a few Indians at Soledad in 1850, their scattered huts
being all that remained of the once large rancherias that existed here.

The ruins of Soledad are about four miles from the station of the
Southern Pacific of that name. The church itself is at the southwest
corner of a mass of ruins. These are all of adobe, though the
foundations are of rough rock. Flint pebbles have been mixed with the
adobe of the church walls. They were originally about three feet thick,
and plastered. A little of the plaster still remains.

In 1904 there was but one circular arch remaining in all the ruins;
everything else had fallen in. The roof fell in thirty years ago. At the
eastern end, where the arch is, there are three or four rotten beams
still in place; and on the south side of the ruins, where one line of
corridors ran, a few poles still remain. Heaps of ruined tiles lie here
and there, just as they fell when the supporting poles rotted and
gave way.

It is claimed by the Soberanes family in Soledad that the present ruins
of the church are of the building erected about 1850 by their
grandfather. The family lived in a house just southwest of the Mission,
and there this grandfather was born. He was baptized, confirmed, and
married in the old church, and when, after secularization, the Mission
property was offered for sale, he purchased it. As the church--in the
years of pitiful struggle for possession, of its temporalities--had been
allowed to go to ruin, this true son of the Church erected the building,
the ruins of which now bring sadness to the hearts of all who care for
the Missions.

CHAPTER XXIII

SAN JOSE DE GUADALUPE

There was a period of rest after the founding of Santa Cruz and La
Soledad. Padre Presidente Lasuen was making ready for a new and great
effort. Hitherto the Mission establishments had been isolated units of
civilization, each one alone in its work save for the occasional visits
of governor, inspector, or presidente. Now they were to be linked
together, by the founding of intermediate Missions, into one great
chain, near enough for mutual help and encouragement, the boundary of
one practically t