It was founded by the Dominican missionary Félix Caballero in June 1834[1] in an area long inhabited by the Kumeyaay people.

The mission's inland site, about 25 kilometers east of Misión San Miguel was presumably chosen for the agricultural potential of its wide valley.

However, conflicts seem to have been frequent, both with the local groups and with Quechan from as far away as the lower Colorado River.

In 1840, a rebellion under a local leader, Jatñil, forced Caballero to abandon the mission.

Stone foundations and adobe walls from the short-lived mission survived at the site as late as the middle twentieth century.