Plano de la fortificación del Real de San Bruno en Californias

   Map was in a letter of March 26, 1685, by Eusebio Francisco Kino (1645-1711)

[Facing west/north is to the right]

The Real de San Bruno was founded in Oct. 6, 1683 by Admiral Isidro de Atondo y Antillón and the Jesuit father Eusebio Francisco Kino and abandoned less than two years later due to the scarcity of water in the area, on May 8, 1685.

On the back: "It came with a letter from the Viceroy Conde de Paredes, dated March 26, 1685. Nº2º/ 2º California"

A: The Church
B: The Warehouse
C: The Guard Corps
D: The Barracks

Drone view (from Jimmy Lee Cook) May 2019, facing east/ south to right.
1683 Ruins have been erased. Google Earth view on 9-22-2023
Google Earth View, 12-24-2022, facing west/ south to the left. Appears that the ancient site and original walls have been destroyed and rebuilt in 2022.
INAH map of San Bruno (from Kino’s original map). Facing west, south to the left.

South or point of triangle end, May 2019 (David Kier photos)
North side.
Close up of north side stones. Cameron Steele speaking, host of Trail of Missions 2019 TV tour.
Highest wall at San Bruno, northwest corner.

While not a permanent California mission, as the Jesuits would establish in later years (1697-1767), San Bruno was an experiment to learn what would be required to establish missions in California. The Jesuits and Spanish military first attempted at La Paz, with a mission they named Guadalupe in April of 1683. That project failed after 3 months. They returned to Mexico to resupply then try again further north (at San Bruno) and found friendlier native people, in October of 1683. Insufficient water, outbreaks of scurvy, and lack of supplies ended San Bruno in May of 1685. Padre Kino learned  a great deal from both the La Paz and San Bruno attempts which made the 1697 mission of Loreto and the sixteen others succeed, for a time.

The YouTube portion of our visit to San Bruno, in May 2019: https://youtu.be/YePZWvJdFCg?t=377

Read more about San Bruno (2019): https://www.bajabound.com/bajaadventures/bajatravel/san_bruno

More photos and details on the missions of Baja California: https://vivabaja.com/missions1/

See all the Baja California missions or what is left, in this quick look and data page, from north to south: https://vivabaja.com/mission-site-photos/