California Mission
San Luis Obispo de Tolosa
751 Palm St. San Louis Obispo, CA 93401
Native Life
The Chumash enjoyed a bountiful existence in the region now known as San Luis Obispo. As skilled hunters, fishermen and stewards of the land they dined on fish, seafood, and rabbit, game such as deer and bear as well as an abundant variety of fruits, nuts and seeds. California Indians practiced traditional values for respecting their resources. A source of food was often also a source of warm clothing, such as rabbit meat for food and fur for warmth.
The Chumash lived in communities or tribes, working together to provide food, shelter, spiritual guidance and knowledge to all members. Chumash tribes constructed villages in the best environments based upon the season. The Chumash were extremely healthy and thrived from a lifestyle learned and passed from one generation to the next.
In 1772 Father Junipero Serra established Mission San Luis Obispo De Tolosa. A newly established mission was typically staffed by 15 people or less. The Spanish pursued Chumash for the purpose of creating a labor force. The Spanish used many tactics to draw native people to the missions. “A typical day for mission occupants was to: rise early to breakfast, work to midday, lunch, siesta, then work until 5 o’clock mass, 6 o’clock meal, evening lessons in music, Spanish, Christian teaching, and recreation” (The Fifth Mission, Old Mission Gift Shop).
Cultural Impacts
Mission Padres and soldiers required Indians to study their Christian religion and western language and observe their customs. The Chumash were prevented from speaking their native tongue, practicing their religious ceremonies and eating their common meals.
Along with the Spanish and the missions came livestock, sugar and milk. None of these were native to California and all had devastating consequences to the native people.
Livestock such as cows, goats, pigs and chickens were allowed to roam and feed freely on the land. These animals consumed massive quantities of the native plant life that the Chumash had depended upon for food and medicine. Native animals such as deer and bear began to disappear as a result of the livestock consuming the food that was abundant before. For the Chumash that were not in the mission, this meant that their sources of grains and meat were diminishing making them dependent upon new sources for food.
The introduction of sugar and milk into the Chumash’s already healthy diet led to tooth decay, diabetes and other health issues never before experienced. Diseases and infections quickly followed these conditions leading to a high rate of death for native people in the missions.
The Spanish brought with them diseases that California native people had never before experienced, such as the Measles, Influenza and Small Pox. Thus, Native people had not been able to build up immunities to these illnesses and often did not survive after contracting them.
Prior to contact by the Spanish, there are conservative estimates that nearly 15,000 Chumash people thrived in this area. By 1838 only approximately 170 remained. The loss in population can be attributed to the establishment of the mission and the resulting loss of their natural resources, poor health caused by poor nutrition, the introduction of foreign disease, and death as a result of punishment for not conforming to the mission way of life.
Colonization & Governance
The Spanish chose mission locations based upon many different factors including the density of Indian populations to use for labor, advantageous geographic locations and the abundance of food while building the mission. This particular mission location was selected in part for the plentiful bear population as a source of food while the mission was being built and livestock was being delivered. “Remembering the Valley of the Bears Father Serra sent a hunting expedition to bring back food. Over 9,000 pounds of dried bear meat was sent to relieve the missionaries. It was after this that Father Serra decided that this would be an ideal place for the fifth mission” (The Fifth Mission, Old Mission Gift Shop)
Resistance
Most Chumash people did not want to be part of the new mission. As a result they organized resistance to save their families and ways of life. One such resistance occurred in November of 1776. The Chumash shot fiery arrows onto the dry thatched quarters of the priests. The priest then began to make their roofs out of tile. (The California Missions, 129.)
Secularizations
Secularization occurred in 1835. By this time the Chumash way of life was forever changed by disease, foreign livestock and loss of native food sources. The land they once cared for and thrived on was either no longer available to them or so severely changed that they could not return to life as they knew it prior to the mission establishment. “Most of the Chumash who left the mission settlements sought jobs as domestic servants and cowboys on the big ranches. Others who wished to return to their old way of life had to move far from the coast, to the southern San Joaquin Valley, where they lived a more traditional way of life with the Yokuts and Kitanemuk” (p. 15, California’s Chumash Indians, Santa Barbara Museum)
General Information
San Luis Obispo de Tolosa
CA aboriginal people:
Chumash
Current CA Indian tribe(s) in area:
Salinan Tribe of Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties
P.O. Box 2166
Concord, CA 93930
(916) 458-4551 Phone