sentences:  In 1769, Gaspar de Portolà camped on the banks of the San Lorenzo River and erected a wooden cross to mark the location as part of his exploration for Spain.This exploration offered the peoples of this richly, resourced area, known as Alta California, to be brought under Catholicism by the Friars Minor.Little more than twenty years later, in 1791, a Catholic mission, Mission Santa Cruz was consecrated nearby.