Which mission did Mission Santa Barbara trade with?

Answer 1

Santa Barbara, like San Diego and Monterey, was listed on the Spanish maps of California long before the arrival of the Franciscans. It had been so named by Sebastian Vizcaíño some 60 years after its discovery by Cabrillo in 1542. From the time of the first march of the Portolá expedition, it had been warmly regarded as a likely spot for mission settlement.

The padres, however, were 13 years in California before an opportunity for founding a mission at Santa Barbara occurred. By then, Governor Felipe de Neve was their arch enemy, who openly preferred civil colonists to mission neophytes. Nevertheless, he had agreed at a meeting in San Gabriel to allow the fathers to place a mission at San Buenaventura and at Santa Barbara, although his own interest was in the new presidio he planned to establish on the latter site. It was agreed that all three establishments would be instituted by one expedition. The padres and their military escort started out from San Gabriel in the spring of 1782, but circumstances prevented the governor from participating in the founding of San Buenaventura.

When the governor finally met the expedition at Santa Barbara, the new presidio was quickly established with Father Serra an eager participant in preparing the military chapel. After this had been completed and the governor did not make a move toward the creation of the projected mission, Fr. Junípero approached de Neve and asked him when he intended to order the work on the mission. The governor replied that Santa Barbara could wait until the Franciscans were willing to follow the new Reglamento, which had been ignored at San Buenaventura. In their hearts each probably knew that the other would never give in and since the governor had clearly won the field at Santa Barbara, there was nothing for the defeated padre to do but return to his own mission at Carmel.

It was five years before the Father Presidente received word that a mission would at last be placed at Santa Barbara. By that time, de Neve was gone and his place had been taken by the former governor, Pedro Fages. Some years before, Fr. Serra had made the long trip to Mexico in order to secure Fages' removal and it must have been a discouraging experience for the aging padre to learn that his former enemy had returned. The old father did not survive Fages' appointment for long, as he passed away on August 28, 1784, leaving the burden of mission problems to be shouldered by the able and willing Father Lasuén.

The administration of Father Fermín Lasuén has often been called the "golden Age" of California's mission system. Although this period extended considerably beyond the 18 years of Fr. Lasuén's presidency, it was his constructive energy and executive ability that set the pattern for prosperity.