Their food included seeds, roots, berries, the flour from acorns, small game, deer, fish, and shellfish.

Over the next few years speakers of yet another language group, Plains Miwok, moved to the mission from the north side of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

By the time Mission San Jose was closed as an agricultural commune in the mid-1830s, Plains Miwok was the predominant native language among its neophyte Indian people.

Valuable gifts of vestments, sacred vessels, religious statues, and paintings attest to the generosity of friends of the Mission in the Bay Area and abroad.

The silken fabrics and embroideries were products of various textile centers of the Spanish Empire, whose suppliers extended from Europe to Asia.

The site was chosen for the abundance of natural resources of the area including water, fertile ground, stones, and adobe soil suitable for building.

Thousands of cattle roamed the Mission ranges, and acres of wheat and other crops were planted and harvested under the direction of the Padres.

An 1833 inventory prepared by Father José González Rubio lists a church, monastery, guardhouse, guest house, and a women's dormitory, in addition to the thousands of acres of crops and grazing land.

The names of many pioneer families prominent in early California history, including Livermore, Peralta, and Alviso, were closely linked to the Mission.

In 1890, a Victorian-style rectory was built over the site of a portion of the adobe wing which housed the Padres and served as the administration building during the Mission Era.

Restoration efforts by the Native Sons of the Golden West in 1915 and 1950 saved the surviving portion of the Mission wing and converted it into a museum, set in the gracious surroundings of flowers and palm trees.

Old timbers and rawhide thongs demonstrate the practicality of the Padres who, having no iron nails for building, substituted the leather laces.

With its "simple and forthright" exterior, the Mission church stands as a tribute to those whose efforts made this dream come true.

Ecce Homo, a figure of Christ clothed in a scarlet robe and crowned with thorns, stands on a balcony above one of the side altars.

The original baptismal font of hammered copper on a turned wood base has been returned to the church, as has the bell wheel used by the Ohlones during the sacred parts of the Mass.

The reredos behind the main altar features a painting of Christ, a statue of Saint Joseph, and two carved figures: a dove represents the Holy Spirit, and at the top sits God the Father with detailed golden rays surrounding him.

It is considered to be a near-perfect replica of the original church, though it incorporates a concealed structural steel frame which provides earthquake resistance.