Re: Spanish missions google earth?
Hi gullum: you posted -->.Most of the missions built in the desert areas were made of adobe, and unless they have been pretty well maintained, there would be almost nothing left to see (especially on a satellite pic).
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True, but they would, in general, still be in an identifiable form by Aerial or Stat photographs. As you pointed out, they were constructed of adobe which probably has long since melted away. However, since most used a rock base for their walls, they may still be visible.
In any event, the ground where they were built, would clearly show the difference between the texture of the soil and adobe. Many that I have found this way, were very visible if you knew what to look for.
The outline of the walls was clearly outlined, but not visible from the ground level.
In the search for La Tarasca, we could never find the base stones of the mission to prove it, even though we knew where the walls were. Then one day an Indian took us to us to a near looong cattle watering trough. The owner had constructed it using the orig mission wall base rocks.
Old trails, arroyos, roads are easily seen due to different compaction of the earth. They stand out like the proverbial sore thumb.
Don Jose de La Mancha
