News of the establishment of the missions and military posts at San
Diego and Monterey was in due course carried to the City of Mexico,
where it so delighted the Marques de Croix, Viceroy of New Spain, and
Jose de Galvez, that they not only set the church bells ringing, but
forthwith began to make arrangements for the founding of more missions
in the upper province. Additional priests were provided by the College
of San Fernando; funds liberally subscribed; and the San Antonio made
ready to sail from San Blas with the friars and supplies. On the 21st of
May, 1771, the good ship dropped anchor at Monterey, where, in the
meantime, Junipero, though busy enough among the natives of the
neighborhood, was suffering grievous disappointment because, from lack
of priests and soldiers, he was unable to proceed at once with the
proposed establishment of San Buenaventura. The safe arrival of ten
assistants now brought him assurance of a rapid extension of work in
"the vineyard of the Lord." He was not the man to let time slip by him
unimproved. Plans were immediately laid for carrying the cross still
further into the wilderness, and six new missions - those of San
Buenaventura, San Gabriel, San Louis Obispo, San Antonio, Santa Clara
and San Francisco - were presently agreed upon. It was discovered later
on, however, that these plans outran the resources at the president's
disposal, and much to his regret, the design for settlements at Santa
Clara and San Francisco had to be temporarily given up.

There was, none the less, plenty to engage the energies of even so
tireless a worker as Junipero, for three of the new missions were
successfully established between July, 1771, and the autumn of the
following year. The first of these was the Mission of San Antonio de
Padua, in a beautiful spot among the Santa Lucia mountains, some
twenty-five leagues southeast of Monterey; the second, that of San