Santa Cruz Mission Industry

SANTA CRUZ MISSION PROJECT

Presented by Sean Heaney

The industry of the Mission began successfully.  Crops and orchards soon were thriving in the fertile soil along the San Lorenzo River.  The padres introduced many new fruits, nuts, grains, herbs, flowers and vegetables to the people in California.  Some of the most popular new foods at the Mission were:  olives, oranges, beans, peppers, lemons, wheat, grapes, barley, oats, squash, corn and watermelons.  1796 records show that the Mission produced 1,200 bushels of grain, 600 bushels of corn, and 60 bushels of beans.  This food had to feed almost 500 peopler.  For most of the Missions, if it was a dry year with little rain, the workers had very little to eat.  They would be hungry until the next crop harvest.  When this happened, the padres allowed them to gather food in the traditional ways of their people.

            Cattle, oxen and sheep grazed along the property of the mission, which extended from Ano Nuevo in the north to the Pajaro River to the south.  Missions took an inventory, or counted, the livestock they were raising.  Inventories are very important for understanding what work the people were doing, what they were selling and trading and what they were eating.  In 1806, 15 years after the Mission was started, the Mission livestock inventory included:  2,400 cattle, 5,400 sheep, 120 pigs, 3,200 horses and 92 mules!  Also, since Santa Cruz is on the coast, there was an abundance of seafood at the Mission as well as water for crops.   

            The natives worked at spinning, weaving, blacksmithing, leather tanning, and adobe brick and roof file making.  Extra vegetables and fruits were sometimes sent to help feed the people at Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo to the south.

            Mission Santa Cruz was known as the "Bad Luck Mission" even while it was open because things went wrong so often.  Rain and flood destroyed the first buildings.  Earthquakes damaged the structures.  Frequently, there were not enough workers and local townspeople stole horses and cattle.  Natives who did not like the Mission ran away.