A GUIDE TO THE HISTORIC TRAILS OF THE PADRES By KARL F. BROWN Illustrated with seventy-eight photographs By FLOYD RAY Foreword by REXFORD NEWCOMB Dean, College of Fine and Applied Arts University of Illinois COPYRIGHT 1939 BY KARL F. BROWN AND FLOYD RAY GARDEN CITY PUBLISHING CO., Inc. NEW YORK Chapel, San Diego De Alcalá Façade, San Diego De Alcalá...

Along the strand of the Pacific between San Diego and Sonoma, the intrepid monks of the Order of Saint Francis strung that cordon of missions that were to become, as time went on, the outposts of civilization along the sunset coast of California. Begun in 1769, this chain of churches along El Camino Real was complete by 1823, and in these establishments the devoted followers of Padre Junípero Serra sought to win for Christ and the Crown of Spain devotees among the dusky inhabitants of this land.

San Diego was first visited by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo in 1542, but it was not until two hundred and twenty-seven years later that the fear that Russia or England might take possession of California induced King Carlos III of Spain to organize an expedition to colonize the land. It was in 1769 that a band of about two hundred men set out by land and sea to settle in Alta California. In the last company to come overland was Padre Junípero Serra, who, although already advanced in age, had been app