Editing Mission San Juan Capistrano (section)

===Rancho Period (1834–1849)===
On November 22, 1834, commissioner [[Juan José Rocha]] formally acknowledged receipt of the Decree of Confiscation.<ref>Engelhardt 1922, p. 116</ref> The final inventory for Mission San Juan Capistrano was compiled by [[José Maria de Zalvidea]] and four of the commissioners, and included:

[[File:San Juan Capistrano 1850 by HMT Powell.jpg|thumb|right|287px|A pencil sketch of Mission San Juan Capstrano drawn by H.M.T. Powell in 1850 shows the domes over the sanctuary and transept, and much of the side walls, as being intact at the time.<ref>Stern and Miller, p. 87</ref>

The rendition omits the mounds of rubble that would have been present at the time of Powell's visit. The structure was reduced very nearly to its present state during the 1860s in a misguided attempt to restore the edifice to its original glory The picture shows that more of the Great Stone Church survived the quake than what is presently standing.<ref name = "krell157"/>]]
* buildings ($7,298);
* chapel ($1,250);
* furnishings, tools, and implements ($14,768);
* contents of chapel and sacristy ($15,568);
* ranchos of [[Rancho San Mateo|San Mateo]] and [[Rancho Mission Viejo|Mission Viejo]] ($12,019); and
* library holdings ($490)
for a total valuation of $54,456.<ref>Engelhardt 1922, p. 115</ref> Mission credits totaled $13,123 while debts equaled a mere $1,410. The Mission library included three volumes of [[Fray Juan de Torquemada|Juan de Torquemada]] and twelve volumes of the ''[[Año Cristiano]]''. The names of 2,000 neophytes were carried on the Mission rolls. Mission agricultural holdings for that year consisted of:
* 8,000 head of cattle;
* 4,000 sheep;
* 80 pigs;
* 50 horses;
* 9 [[mule]]s;
* 150 ''fanegas''<ref>A ''fanega'' is equal to 100 [[Pound (mass)|pounds]]</ref> of maize;
* 20 ''fanegas'' of [[bean]]s; and
* 50 barrels of wine and brandy.<ref>Engelhardt 1922, pp. 182, 185</ref>

Thereafter, the Franciscans all but abandoned the Mission, taking with them most everything of value, after which the locals plundered many of the Mission buildings for construction materials.<ref>Robinson, p. 42: In spite of this neglect, the Indian town at San Juan Capistrano (along with those at [[San Dieguito complex|San Dieguito]] and [[Las Flores Estancia|Las Flores]]) continued on for some time under a provision in ''Gobernador'' Echeandía's 1826 Proclamation that allowed for the partial conversion of missions to ''pueblos''.</ref> According to Bancroft, "The population of San Juan Capistrano in 1834 had decreased to 861 souls, and in 1840 it was probably less than 500 with less than 100 at the pueblo proper; while in its crops San Juan (Capistrano) showed a larger deterioration than any other (missionary) establishment."<ref name="Engelhardt114"/> By 1835, little of the Mission's assets remained, though the manufacture of hides and tallow continued in full swing as described in [[Richard Henry Dana Jr.|Richard Henry Dana's]] classic novel ''[[Two Years Before the Mast]]''.<ref>Young, p. 24: In May 1935, Dana wrote that San Juan was "the only romantic place on the coast."</ref> The Mission was declared to be "in a ruinous state" and the Indian ''[[pueblo]]'' dissolved in 1841.<ref>Hallan-Gibson, p. 28</ref> San Juan Capistrano was officially designated by Governor [[Juan B. Alvarado]] as a secular Mexican town on July 29, at which time those few who still resided at the Mission were granted sections of land to use as their own.<ref>Engelhardt 1922, p. 144</ref> Following this change in status, the area around the Mission began to decay rapidly; [[Santiago Argüello]] (then prefect of the southern District of Los Angeles) complained to the Commandant of the [[Presidio of Santa Barbara]], Don [[José de la Guerra y Noriega]], that "...the unfortunate missions of San Gabriel and San Juan Capistrano [have] been converted into [[brothel]]s of the [[majordomo|mayordomos]].<ref>Engelhardt 1922, p. 155: "''¿Porqué no se echa una mirada a las desfortunados misiones de San Gabriel y San Juan Capistrano? Estas se han convertido en lupanares de los señores mayordomos''." From the ''De la Guerra Papers'', vol. vii, pp. 82–83.</ref>

Four years later, the Mission property was auctioned off under questionable circumstances for $710 worth of tallow and hides (equivalent to $15,000 in 2004 dollars) to [[English people|Englishman]] [[John (Don Juan) Forster]] (Governor [[Pío Pico]]'s brother-in-law, whose family would take up residence in the friars' quarters for the next twenty years) and his partner James McKinley.<ref>Engelhardt 1922, p. 157</ref> More families would subsequently take up residence in other portions of the Mission buildings. [[José María Zalvidea]] left San Juan Capistrano on or about November 25, 1842, when Mission San Luis Rey de Francia's Ibarra died, leaving the Mission without a resident priest for the first time (Zalvidea had been the Mission's sole priest ever since the death of [[Josef Barona]] in 1831.)<ref>Engelhardt 1922, p. 182</ref> The first secular priest to take charge of the mission, Reverend [[José Maria Rosáles]], arrived on October 8, 1843;<ref>Engelhardt 1922, p. 188</ref> [[Vicente Pascual Oliva]], the last resident missionary, died on January 2, 1848.<ref>Engelhardt 1922, p. 227</ref>