Barbara. It was the same with the following Mission. It
had long been decided upon. Its site was selected. The natives called it
_Algsacupi_. It was to be dedicated "to the most pure and sacred mystery
of the Immaculate Conception of the most Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of
God, Queen of Heaven, Queen of Angels, and Our Lady," a name usually,
however, shortened in Spanish parlance to "La Purisima Concepcion." On
December 8, 1787, Lasuen blessed the site, raised the cross, said mass
and preached a sermon; but it was not until March, 1788, that work on
the buildings was begun. An adobe structure, roofed with tiles, was
completed in 1802, and, ten years later, destroyed by earthquake.

The next Mission founded by Lasuen was that of Santa Cruz. On crossing
the coast range from Santa Clara, he thus wrote: "I found in the site
the most excellent fitness which had been reported to me. I found,
beside, a stream of water, very near, copious, and important. On August
28, the day of Saint Augustine, I said mass, and raised a cross on the
spot where the establishment is to be. Many gentiles came, old and
young, of both sexes, and showed that they would gladly enlist under the
Sacred Standard. Thanks be to God!"

On Sunday, September 25, Sugert, an Indian chief of the neighborhood,
assured by the priests and soldiers that no harm should come to him or
his people by the noise of exploding gunpowder, came to the formal
founding. Mass was said, a _Te Deum_ chanted, and Don Hermenegildo Sol,
Commandant of San Francisco, took possession of the place, thus
completing the foundation. To-day nothing but a memory remains of the
Mission of the Holy Cross, it having fallen into ruins and totally
disappeared.

Lasuen's fourth Mission was founded in this same year, 1791. He had
chosen a site, called by the Indians _Chuttusgelis_, and always known to
the Spaniards as Soledad, since their first occupation of the country.
Here, on October 9, Lasuen, accompanied by Padres Sitjar and Garcia, in
the presence of Lieutenant Jose Argueello, the guard, and a few natives,
raised the cross, blessed the site, said mass, and formally established
the Mission of "Nuestra Senyora de la Soledad."

One interesting entry in the Mission books is worthy of mention. In
September, 1787, two vessels belonging to the newly founded United
States sailed from Boston. The smaller of these was the "Lady
Washington," under command of Captain Gray. In the Soledad Mission
regist