The Salinan Indians had heard about the fathers before they came, and were anxious to join them. At the San Miguel mission founding ceremony, 25 children were baptized and a long, peaceful relationship began.
Early Years of San Miguel Mission
Father Buenaventura Sitjar, who had been at San Antonio, was the first administrator.
Father Juan Martin took his place. By the end of the first year, the Fathers and Indians had built a 71-foot-long brush fence, an adobe chapel and a house.
San Miguel Mission 1800-1820
San Miguel Mission grew quickly and there were over 1,000 neophytes there by 1803. By 1805, there were several adobe houses and forty seven Indian houses.
Despite its poor soil and hot climate, San Miguel Mission was quite successful. The Indians came willingly to live and work there. Some worked in the fields and vineyards, others were herdsmen. Others were taught to be carpenters, stone masons, blacksmiths, weavers, soap makers, leather workers or other trades. The workers were especially good at making roof tiles, and they made 36,000 of them between 1808 and 1809.
A serious fire destroyed most of the San Miguel mission buildings and supplies in 1806, but other missions helped them recover. In 1810, San Miguel Mission had 10,558 head of cattle; 8,282 sheep and 1,597 horses. The fathers and neophytes made adobe blocks for ten years before a new church was built between 1812 and 1818. San Miguel Mission in the 1820s-1830s
Father Martin died in 1824 and his assistant Father Juan Cabot took over. In 1827, Father Cabot reported that the San Miguel mission lands included several ranchos covering a large area that extended 18 miles north and south, 66 miles east and 35 miles west. He also reported that it had an adobe house on the coast at San Simeon. Father Cabot had a shelter built at a hot springs south of the complex, where the natives could soak in the hot waters and get relief from arthritis, a common ailment.
San Miguel Mission always had good relationships with the natives. In 1831, when secularization was coming, the Indians were told they could leave, but none of them did.
Secularization
San Miguel Mission was the last to be secularized, and the civil government took it over on July 14, 1836. Three years later, most of the natives had run away, and Father Moreno found the San Miguel mission buildings in such bad condition that he had to go somewhere else. Father Abella, the last Franciscan left, died in 1841.
In 1846, Governor Pio Pico sold the land and buildings to Petronillo Rios and William Reed for $600. Reed used it as his home, and had a store there. After the Gold Rush, it became a stopping place for miners traveling from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and it was used for a saloon which was one of the most popular along the El Camino Real, and as a dance hall.
In 1878, the Catholic church returned, and Father Philip Farrelly became the first pastor.
San Miguel Mission in the 20th Century
In 1928, the Franciscans returned. The old San Miguel Mission has now been repaired and restored and is used as a novitiate, or training school, for those becoming Franciscan Friars
