Editing Spanish missions in California (section)

=== Shelved plans for additional mission chains ===

Work on the coastal mission chain was concluded in 1823, completed after Serra's death in 1784. Plans to build a twenty-second mission in Santa Rosa in 1827 were canceled.<ref name="hittell499a" group="notes">"By that time, it was found that the Russian colonies were not such undesirable neighbors as in 1817 it was thought they might become... the Russian scare, for the time being at least was over; and as for the old enthusiasm for new spiritual conquests, there was none left."</ref>{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}

The Rev. [[Pedro Estévan Tápis]] proposed establishing a mission on one of the [[Channel Islands of California|Channel Islands]] in the Pacific Ocean off [[San Pedro Harbor]] in 1784, with either [[Santa Catalina Island, California|Santa Catalina]] or [[Santa Cruz Island|Santa Cruz]] (known as ''Limú'' to the [[Tongva people|Tongva]] residents) being the most likely locations, the reasoning being that an offshore mission might have attracted potential people to convert who were not living on the mainland, and could have been an effective measure to restrict smuggling operations.<ref>Bancroft, pp. 33–34</ref> Governor [[José Joaquín de Arrillaga]] approved the plan the following year; however, an outbreak of ''sarampión'' ([[measles]]) killing some 200 Tongva people coupled with a scarcity of land for agriculture and potable water left the success of such a venture in doubt, so no effort to found an island mission was ever made.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}

In September 1821, the Rev. Mariano Payeras, "''Comisario Prefecto''" of the California missions, visited Cañada de Santa Ysabel east of [[Mission San Diego de Alcalá]] as part of a plan to establish an entire chain of inland missions. The [[Santa Ysabel Asistencia]] had been founded in 1818 as a "mother" mission.   However, the plan's expansion never came to fruition.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}