Housing and Development Newsletter
Lacking the modern equipment available today, the effort required a tremendous amount of paid physical labor and planning, as the construction had to take place seasonally adobe bricks could not be left out in the rain, as they would have melted to mud.
Over the course of describing the reconstruction of the fort, in several installments, I hope to convey to the reader just what it takes to make and lay the bricks and gather the other materials required for fenestration and the roof structure.
The task was formidable, and Goicoechea was able to carry it out effectively with a cooperative labor force that included a mix of soldiers and local Chumash Indians. I came across only one hostile incident in the records, when a soldier disobeyed a Goicoechea order, was pulled down from a wall, arrested and sentenced to jail time.