Background
Miguel Costansó was born in Barselona, Spain in 1741
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Miguel Costanso
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Career
Costanso was the ensign (alférez) of engineers sent under Governor Gaspar de Portolá to make astronomical observations when José de Gálvez, visitor general of New Spain, and his coadjutor Francisco de Croix the viceroy, decided to send, in 1769, a “Holy Expedition” to occupy Alta California. Costanso sailed from La Paz, Baja California, on January 10, 1769, on the paquebot San Carlos, reaching the port of San Diego, Alta California, on April 29 or 30, after no terrible days at sea.
On July 14 he was a member of Portolá’s famous party which set out by land to find Sebastián Vizcaino’s noteworthy port of Monterey, upon which a fort was to be built. On this expedition Costansó and Father Juan Crespi took observations of the latitudes, usually with fair agreement; they also participated in bestowal of place names along the coast, many of which survive in use.
Costanso returned to Mexico in July 1770. He was the author of the first book which concerned Alta California exclusively, his Diario histórico de los viages de mar y tierra hechos al norte de la California, finished at Mexico October 24, 1770, and printed there before 1771. It contains the complete account of Portolá’s first expedition promised in the preceding brief pamphlet, the Extracto de noticias del Puerto de Monterey, of which two editions were printed at Mexico. The Diario histórico was preceded by Costansó’s fuller Diario del viage de tierra hecho al norte de la California, finished at San Diego, California, February 7, 1770, manuscript copies of which are in the Sutro Library and Archivo Nacional, Mexico City.
In 1772 he was consulted as an expert on the feasibility of the plan proposed by Juan B. Anza to connect Sonora and Alta California by a land route; his affirmative advice contributed to the success of Anza in the founding of San Francisco in 1776. Again in 1794-1795 engineer’s opinion was called for when the problem came up of defending the coast from European enemies. He also served as consulting engineer in affairs concerning the drainage of Mexico City through the Huehuetoca Canal, in the fortification of Vera Cruz, and in the matter of the military judgment on Intendant Riaño’s strategy in opposing Miguel Hidalgo’s attack on Guanajuato in 1811.
