The Anza Expedition: Captain Juan Bautista de Anza’ s Overland Trail into Alta California
by Mike Monroe
Map of the De Anza Expedition 1775-1776. Photo Credit: National Park Service
Captain Juan Bautista de Anza II( 1736 – 1788) of the Tubac Presidio in Sonora, Nueva España, was directed by the Spanish Viceroy in 1773 to identify a land route from New Spain into Alta California. Tubac lay south of today’ s Tucson, Arizona. Attempts to colonize California by sea had proven dangerous, and Spain, wary of Russian and English advances, made settlement a priority.
In January 1774, Anza organized a reconnaissance expedition across the Sonoran Desert with a small party of soldiers, servants, and one Franciscan priest, Francisco Garcés. They reached Mission San Gabriel on March 22, then pressed on toward Monterey with only six soldiers on horseback, retracing much of the Portolá trail of 1769. They stopped at San Luis Obispo and San Antonio before arriving at the Monterey Presidio on April 18, later visiting the Carmel mission site at the reliable Rio de Carmel. Anza’ s diary recorded encounters with the Chumash along the Santa Barbara Channel and his puzzlement at debris from a wooden vessel washed ashore near Monterey. With little time to linger, he retraced his route and returned to Tubac on May 26, completing a journey of nearly 1,200 miles. That November, after another 1,275 miles to Mexico City, he was welcomed as a hero by Viceroy Bucareli, who quickly authorized a second, colonizing expedition.
In October 1775, Anza departed again with more than 240 settlers, soldiers, and servants, together with livestock and supplies. After five months of difficult travel, they reached Monterey on March 10, 1776. The expedition had endured hardship yet suffered only one death, a mother in childbirth, while eight infants were born on the trail, including Salvador Linares, delivered on Christmas Day. From Monterey, Anza, his lieutenant José Moraga, and Padre Pedro Font set out to chart the final route to San Francisco.
Map of the Amah Mutsun lands on the Central Coast. Photo credit: amahmutsun. org
On March 24, 1776, they left Monterey and crossed into the Pajaro River country. Earlier explorers had avoided the wetlands of the Hollister plain, called la Bolsa or“ the pocket,” where creeks flooded the land into a vast seasonal lake. Anza chose a more direct, riskier crossing. The exact ford is uncertain, but near today’ s Sargent Ranch the party fought through mud and vegetation to cross successfully by midday. They then followed
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