He Built His Little Camp Fire, Cooked His Frugal Meal, And Slept There During The Night, Doubtless Committing Himself And The People Who Refused To Receive Him To The Protecting Mercies Of God.

The next day the chiefs of the town came to him, clothed in their ceremonial costumes and feathery head-dresses, and bade him leave the place.

He held up his crucifix as an index of his mission, and endeavored to tell them that he came solely to do them good. But they would have none of him, and on the following day, the memorable Fourth of July, they expelled him peaceably but forcibly from their town. He returned to the Colorado River again on July 25, and soon to San Xavier, his mission, a failure.

Establishes Missions among the Yumas. Now he threw his whole heart into the two missions which the authorities had decided to place among the Yumas. Captain Palma, a Yuma chief, who had been very friendly, had urged it repeatedly, and now the desires of both were to be fulfilled. In 1779, Garces went to prepare the way, and the following year the establishment took place. The missions were eight miles apart; one was named La Purisima Concepcion; the other, San Pedro y San Pablo de Bicuner. Garces and Barraneche took charge of the upper mission, and Diaz and Moreno of the lower.

Garces Is Killed. The missions were a failure from the start. The few Spanish soldiers sent to guard the padres were obliged to utilize some of the best lands which were tilled for their own benefit. The appropriations from the treasury were too small to permit of anything but the rudest and simplest of structures, and Palma and his friends soon became disgusted with the whole affair. On July 17 the Indians, many of whom had been hostile from the first, arose and massacred both colonies of white men, as well as a small force of soldiers under former Governor Rivera, of California, who was encamped temporarily on the western side of the river. At first, Garces' life was spared, but before the day was over he and his co-laborer were beaten to death, and his unselfish mission on earth ended. In my book "In and Out of the Old Missions of California", I give this interesting and tragic history in fuller detail. This, then, is the man whose name is given to the railway building at Needles, in order that his heroic labors for the Indians of the Colorado River region may not be forgotten.

CHAPTER XXVI. Powell's And Other Explorations Of The Grand Canyon

In the chapters on Tovar and Cardenas, Fray Marcos and Garces, I have given some idea of the history of the Spanish explorations of the Grand Canyon region. In this chapter is presented an account of the brave work done by later explorers, until now the Grand Canyon and the whole canyon system of the Colorado River is as well known as the course of many a less dangerous stream.

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