e Another Mission Unit

ALIFORNIANS will be glad of the completion of the

restoration of the La Purisima Mission near Lompoc,

which adds another unit to the chain of missions in the
state in a condition which can be appreciated.

State and national park services and the CCC combined
to” make this restoration possible. The “restoration is
a part of a-large state park, and was recently dedicated
as such,

The missions of California constitute an attraction which
is.one of the strongest for California residents and tourists
alike. They represent one of the best associations which
we can have with a past California that is gone for good.

Muddle-headed name changers and Coney island architec-
ture has about done for most of the flavor of an earlier
California, and the missions are the more appreciated. The
same sort of callousness that is so prevelant today all but
destroyed the missions for us too.

The building skill of the Indians under the direction of
the mission fathers proved strong enough to make build-
ings that withstood the depredations of men, weather and
time.

California is not the only state with early missions. Ari-
zona has some fine examples, even older than ours. But
it is in California that most of them are found, and in the
best state of preservation or restoration.