Mission San Francisco de la Espada
San Antonio, Texas
Photographed at Mission Espada, San Antonio, Texas
Construction of the Mission
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The Indians made the mortar for the mission buildings; lime kilns stand near the river channel, north of the mission compound. The construction of the little stone church and various other buildings was started in the 1740s and completed in the late 1750s. About 1760 the building of a larger church was begun, but nearing completion, it was found unsafe and unsound. To prevent injuries, the church was deliberately demolished. The Indian houses, previously jacales, brush and straw huts, were stone apartments along three of the stone walls of the square which was an irregular rectangle. The stone granary extended beyond the square.
Education on the Frontier
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The Franciscan friars at Mission Espada taught the Coahuiltecans ("Kwa-weel-tekens") a variety of skills. An inventory, completed in 1772, described the mission's fields:
"The mission has two fields which are fenced in with strong mesquite logs nailed and tied. They have gates, locks and crossbars. The large field is extensive enough to accomodate fourteen fanegas (about 122 acres) of corn, the necessary amount of beans, and orchards. Cotton is planted. There is an orchard fenced in with logs, large enough for planting whatever vegetables one may wish. It has 88 clingstone peach trees..."
National Historic Park
Here the Indians, hunters-and-gatherers before, learned farming. The friars taught them to thrash beans and shell corn in the thrashing area near the large granary.
The Acequia System
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The success of any new mission was dependent upon the planting and harvesting of new crops. The need for water made the design of an acequia system- irrigation ditch system- a high priority. The irrigation was so important in Spanish Texas that cropland was measured in suertes, the amount of land that could be watered in one day.
The Moslems introduced the use of acequias to the arid regions of Spain. Once the Franciscans arrived on the frontier, they found the system well suited for use in the desert southwest. In order to distribute the water, missionaries and Indians built seven gravity-flow ditches, five dams, and an aqueduct- a fifteen mile network that irrigated about 3,500 acres of land, for the San Antonio Missions.
The "acequia madre" (mother ditch) began at the Espada Dam, almost three miles away from Mission Espada. To make the ditch slope consistantly downhill the Indians built and aqueduct across Piedras Creek. Using floodgates, the aquador (water master) controlled the volume of water sent to each field for irrigation and for such auxiliary uses as bathing, washing, and power for mill wheels.
Craftsmen
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Along the plaza there were workshops where Indian carpenters, blacksmiths, soapmakers, brickmakers, spinners, and weavers made and fixed goods and tools that were used at the mission. The inventory in 1772 included about 300 mesquite logs, a frame saw, two adzes, a chisel, four medium sized and repaired metal pots, tallow for soap, 10,000 bricks stored, two looms, one spindle, 750 pounds of white wool, and fifty-five pair of shears. The shears were to trim wool from the herd of up to 4,000 sheep. The Indians, only familiar with deer and buffalo meat, learned to raise sheep and cattle. The cattle herd at times numbered over 1,200.
Decline and Rediscovery
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In 1772 the large cattle herd supplied wealth to the community of the mission, which consisted of approximately fifty Indian families. By 1794, only fifteen families remained to receive a share of its lands. In 1778, the government declared all unbranded cattle to be federal property, including the mission's herds. Because of this loss, the mission declined. Some Indians returned to their original lifestyles; others pursued their new skills; a few remained in the community that grew around Mission Espada.