Marcos Briones to Hermenegildo Sal
San Luis Obispo, January 8, 1797
(Cal. Arch., Prov. St. Pap., XVI: 239)
Says that the Father[1] sent some Christian Indians in search of a Gentile woman in order that she might be married to a Christian who had been her husband when they were heathen. That on the return with the Indian woman they passed by a rancheria where an old Gentile, accompanied by his two sons, killed Toribio, one of those who had gone after the Gentile woman. The latter was suspected of having poisoned her Christian daughter who died in this mission. That today he is setting out with three soldiers and some Christian Indians to apprehend the culprits.
Marcos Briones to Sal
San Luis Obispo, January 14, 1797
(Cal. Arch., Prov. St. Pap., XVI: 238-239)
That on the 8th inst. he set out from this garrison in search of the malefactors, as the governor had ordered him and he could not find them. That in one rancheria, among those which he entered, an old Indian woman told him that the Gentiles of that vicinity had assembled opposite the Nacimiento [River] looking for the [road to the] Tulares. That he turned back on account of lack of provisions but intends to return [to the Tulares] on the 19th in order to pacify that gathering of Gentiles.
Marcos Briones to Sal
San Luis Obispo, January 8, 1797
(Cal. Arch., Prov. St. Pap., XVI: 239)
He says that on the 18th he set out to apprehend the Gentile Indians who had killed Toribio, the Christian Indian of this Mission. That he fell upon a rancheria at the edge of the Valley of the Tulares, where he knew was the chief of the malefactors, whom he succeeded in catching. He brought him in company with two others whom he (the malefactor) had forced to burn the corpse of the defunct Toribio. That he arrived at this mission the 23rd and asked the said criminal why he killed Toribio. He [the Indian] replied that it was because a Christian [Indian], one of those who accompanied the deceased, had come close to his house and had said: “Is the old robber[2] here? If he is, why doesn’t he come out?” Whereupon he and his son chased the Christians as far as the place where they killed the said Toribio.
HERMENEGILDO SAL’S EXPEDITION, 1796
The first formally organized exploration, subsequent to Anza and Fages, was apparently carried out by an army officer, Hermenegildo Sal, in 1796. He was a lieutenant in command of the Monterey garrison and conducted a party into the Stockton area. He left no personal diary but did write a letter to the Governor. It is the transcript, or rather paraphrase, of the letter by one of Bancroft’s workers which is here presented.
Report of Hermenegildo Sal
San Francisco, January 31, 1796
(Cal. Arch., Prov. St. Pap., XIV: 14-16)
Report in which Lieutenant Hermenegildo Sal sets forth what he has learned concerning various matters, in order to communicate it to the Governor of the Province.