Pedro Fages

Pere Fages (1734–1794), nicknamed L'Ós (The Bear), was a Spanish soldier, explorer, second Lieutenant Governor of Las Californias province of New Spain from 1770 to 1774, and second Governor of Las Californias province from 1782 to 1791.

Career
Fages was born in Guissona, Lleida province, Catalonia, Spain. In 1767, Lieutenant Fages left Spain with the Free Company of Volunteers of Catalonia for New Spain, to serve under Domingo Elizondo in Sonora. In 1769, Fages was selected by Visitador (Inspector general) José de Gálvez to lead the ship-borne portion of the Gaspar de Portolà led expedition to found San Diego, California. Fages sailed from the Baja California Peninsula town of La Paz on January 10, 1769, aboard the San Carlos, and arrived at San Diego Bay on April 29 with scurvy-ridden troops, after sailing over 200 mi (320 km) off course because of cartography errors. From San Diego Fages and 25 of his Catalonian soldiers accompanied Portola on the 1769-70 land expedition to locate Monterey Bay. During this time he was promoted to captain.

After Portolà left California in 1770, Captain Pedro Fages was left in charge of the Presidio of Monterey, as the somewhat independent lieutenant-governor of California Nueva (New California), which in 1770 became part of Las Californias, and was later split from Baja California to become Alta California. Later in 1770, Fages led another expedition from Monterey by land to explore the east side of San Francisco Bay. Rather than follow Portola's difficult trail around Monterey Bay to Santa Cruz and along the coast, Fages found an easier route through present-day Salinas and the Santa Clara Valley (today's U.S. Route 101). Fages' new trail became the preferred route, and missions were later established along that road at Mission San Juan Bautista, Mission Santa Clara and Mission San Jose.

Fages set out again in 1772, following his own trail north, but pushed on past his previous stopping point. Accompanied this time by Fray Juan Crespi, who kept a daily journal, the party skirted San Pablo Bay but were prevented from going farther north by the Carquinez Strait. Following the bay around to the east, Fages' group climbed the slopes of Mount Diablo and became the first Europeans to see the Sacramento River Delta, the Central Valley of California and the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Seeing that it was impossible to cross the wide river without boats, the party looped around to return to San Jose through today's Contra Costa County (roughly following today's I-680 highway).

Fages earned his nickname l'ós while hunting bears near San Luis Obispo. He quarreled with Father Junípero Serra, president of the Alta California missions, and was replaced as lieutenant-governor by Fernando Rivera y Moncada in 1774.

In 1777 Fages returned to Sonora to fight the Apaches, where he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. In 1781 he successfully quelled the Quechan (Yuma) Indian revolt and temporarily reopened the Colorado River crossing of the Anza trail at Yuma, Arizona. The Quechan successfully re-closed the trail for the next 50+ years after he and his troops departed.

Pedro Fages was appointed Governor of Las Californias in 1782, replacing Felipe de Neve. He returned to Monterey, which had replaced Loreto as the capital of the Californias in 1777. Fages was promoted to colonel in 1789, and resigned his governorship in 1791. Pedro Fages moved back to Mexico City, where he died in 1794.

Personal life
Fages married Eulalia Callis June 3, 1780 in Mexico City. She was born October 4, 1758 in Barcelona, Spain and journeyed to Mexico City with her mother and brother to join her father Agustín Callis, the original captain of the Free Company of Volunteers of Catalonia. Eulalia loved fashion and believed in charity. At Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo, she gave away her clothing after seeing the lack of clothing worn by the Indians.

Fictional portrayals
Pedro Fages appears as a minor character in the 1955 film Seven Cities of Gold, which presents a fanciful and historically inaccurate account of the founding of Spanish California. Lieutenant Fages is played by Mexican actor Victor Junco. In the credits, Fages' name is misspelled as "Faces."

Governor Fages and his wife make a brief appearance in the Isabel Allende novel Zorro. Pere Fages is the protagonist of the historical novel La última conquista (2005) by Ramón Vilaró and is a secondary character in Los acasos (2010) by Javier Pascual.