Francisco Hermenegildo Tomás Garcés (April 12, 1738 – July 18, 1781) was a Spanish
FranciscanMost Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
missionary who explored much of the southwestern part of North America, including what are now
ArizonaArizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, southern
CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, and northeastern
Baja CaliforniaBaja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...
. Garcés was born April 12, 1738, in Morata de Jalón (Valdejalón county),
Zaragoza provinceZaragoza is a province of northern Spain, in the central part of the autonomous community of Aragon.Its capital is Zaragoza, which is also the capital of the autonomous community. Other towns in Zaragoza include Calatayud, Borja, La Almunia de Doña Godina, Ejea de los Caballeros and Tarazona.Its...
,
AragonAragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
, and was ordained in 1763. He served at the Franciscan college of Santa Cruz in
QuerétaroQuerétaro officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro de Arteaga is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities and its capital city is Santiago de Querétaro....
New SpainNew Spain, formally called the Viceroyalty of New Spain , was a viceroyalty of the Spanish colonial empire, comprising primarily territories in what was known then as 'América Septentrional' or North America. Its capital was Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire...
(Mexico). In 1768, when the King of Spain expelled the
JesuitsThe Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
from their extensive mission fields in northwestern New Spain, present-day Baja peninsula Mexico and the
Southwestern United StatesThe Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...
), Garcés was among their replacements. He was assigned to
Mission San Xavier del BacMission San Xavier del Bac is a historic Spanish Catholic mission located about 10 miles south of downtown Tucson, Arizona, on the Tohono O'odham San Xavier Indian Reservation...
near present-day Tucson,
ArizonaArizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
.
The expulsion of the Jesuits by the Spanish King set in motion a sequence of dramatic events in the missions. While the Franciscans from the Querétaro college took over responsibility in the
Sonoran DesertThe Sonoran Desert is a North American desert which straddles part of the United States-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S. states of Arizona and California and the northwest Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur. It is one of the largest and hottest...
region in the present day State of
SonoraSonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....
Mexico and southern U.S.
ArizonaArizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, other Franciscans from the college of San Fernando in Mexico City, under the leadership of
Junípero SerraBlessed Junípero Serra, O.F.M., , known as Fra Juníper Serra in Catalan, his mother tongue was a Majorcan Franciscan friar who founded the mission chain in Alta California of the Las Californias Province in New Spain—present day California, United States. Fr...
, were assigned to replace the Jesuits in Baja California.
Serra's Baja California Franciscans were also charged with spearheading a bold advance of the Spanish missionary frontier northward into the
Las CaliforniasThe Californias, or in — - was the name given by the Spanish to their northwestern territory of New Spain, comprising the present day states of Baja California and Baja California Sur on the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico; and the present day U.S. state of California in the United States of...
Province of the Viceroyalty of
New SpainNew Spain, formally called the Viceroyalty of New Spain , was a viceroyalty of the Spanish colonial empire, comprising primarily territories in what was known then as 'América Septentrional' or North America. Its capital was Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire...
, beginning in 1769. In 1773, control of the Baja California missions passed to the
DominicansThe Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
. The Franciscans in upper Las Californias, present day California, like the Jesuits in Baja California before them, recognized the desirability of establishing on overland connection with New Spain through the region of the
Colorado DesertCalifornia's Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert, which extends across southwest North America. The Colorado Desert region encompasses approximately , reaching from the Mexican border in the south to the higher-elevation Mojave Desert in the north and from the Colorado River in...
crossing the lower
Colorado RiverThe Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...
.
Garcés became a key player in that effort. He conducted extensive explorations in the intervening, unsettled region of the Colorado and
MojaveThe Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, in the United States...
deserts and northern Arizona, sometimes on his own and a major expedition in 1774 with the soldier-explorer
Juan Bautista de AnzaJuan Bautista de Anza Bezerra Nieto was a Novo-Spanish explorer and Governor of New Mexico for the Spanish Empire.-Early life:...
and the legendary De Anza Expedition. The missionary met with and produced accounts of several Indian tribes, including the Havasupai and Mojave.
In 1779 Garcés was assigned to ill-fated hybrid mission/colonies being established on the Colorado River among the
QuechanThe Quechan are a Native American tribe who live on the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation on the lower Colorado River in Arizona and California just north of the border with Mexico...
. The warlike native peoples soon clashed with the disruptive Spanish settlers, and in July of 1781 Garcés and his fellow missionaries were among those killed at the
Mission San Pedro y San Pablo de BicuñerMission San Pedro y San Pablo de Bicuñer was founded on January 7, 1781 by Father Francisco Garcés to protect the Anza Trail where it forded the Colorado River....
in a general uprising and massacre. Garcés' body was later re-interred at
Mission San Pedro y San Pablo del TubutamaMission San Pedro y San Pablo del Tubutama is located in Tubutama, Sonora and was first founded in 1691 by Father Eusebio Francisco Kino.Father Antonio de los Reyes on 6 July 1772 submitted a report on the condition of the missions in the Upper and Lower Pimeria Alta...
. He is considered to be a martyr.
Legacy
The
El Garces HotelThe El Garces Hotel is a historic railroad station and hotel located in Needles, California. Built by the Santa Fe Railroad under contract with the Fred Harvey Company in 1908, the El Garces is designed in an elegant Neoclassical and Beaux-Arts style and was considered the 'Crown Jewel of the...
, named in Garcés honor, is a historic Railroad Station and Hotel located in The City of
Needles, CaliforniaNeedles is a city located in the Mojave Desert on the western banks of the Colorado River in San Bernardino County, California. It is located in the Mohave Valley, which straddles the California–Arizona border. The city is accessible via Interstate 40 and U.S. Route 95...
, the site where he passed by in 1776. The El Garces Hotel was built by the Santa Fe Railroad under contract with the
Fred Harvey CompanyThe origin of the Fred Harvey Company can be traced to the 1875 opening of two railroad eating houses located at Wallace, Kansas and Hugo, Colorado on the Kansas Pacific Railway. These cafés were opened by Fred Harvey, then a freight agent for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad...
in 1908. It is designed in an elegant
NeoclassicalNeoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
and
Beaux-Arts style, was considered the "Crown Jewel" of the entire Fred Harvey chain.
There are two memorials to Father Garcés in
Bakersfield, CaliforniaBakersfield is a city near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley in Kern County, California. It is roughly equidistant between Fresno and Los Angeles, to the north and south respectively....
: a statue located at the
Garces Memorial CircleGarces Memorial Traffic Circle, informally known as Garces Circle or just The Circle, is the only traffic circle in Bakersfield, California. The traffic circle is located at the intersection of Chester Avenue, Golden State Avenue and 30th St in Bakersfield. The Circle was originally built as a...
on Chester Avenue and the city's Catholic high school,
Garces Memorial High SchoolGarces Memorial High School, commonly shortened to Garces High School, is a Catholic high school in Bakersfield, California.Founded in 1947, the school is named after Father Francisco Garcés, a Spanish Franciscan friar and missionary who explored much of the southwestern part of North America,...
.
Garces National ForestGarces National Forest was established by the U.S. Forest Service in Arizona on July 1, 1908 with from portions of Baboquivari, Tumacacori and Huachuca National Forests. It was named in honor of Franciscan missionary Father Francisco Garcés - an early exlorer of southwestern North America...
was established by the U.S. Forest Service in southern Arizona on July 1, 1908 with 78,480 acres (317.6 km2) from portions of Baboquivari, Tumacacori and Huachuca National Forests. It was combined with
Coronado National ForestThe Coronado National Forest includes an area of about 1.78 million acres spread throughout mountain ranges in southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico....
on July 1, 1911 and the name was discontinued.