Misión Santa Catarina Virgen y Mártir
Mission Santa Catarina was founded on November 12, 1797 in the present-day Valle of El Álamo in the municipio of Ensenada, Baja California, México, by the Dominican missionary José Loriente. The ruins of the Mission are located at 31°49′38″N 115°49′16″W / 31.82722°N 115.82111°W.
The site chosen for the mission lay on a plateau at an elevation of 1,183 metres (3,881 ft) above sea level, surrounded by an irrigable valley in the Sierra de Juárez, some 62 kilometres (39 mi) east of Mission Santo Tomás. The location was previously known to the native Paipai as Ha'ketepohol, meaning "water that falls loudly". Following the precedent of Mission San Pedro Mártir, it was the second and last of the Baja California missions to be situated in such mountainous terrain.
Today, Santa Catarina is a village of Paipai and Kumeyaay Indians, but virtually nothing remains of the original structures. Archaeological investigations of the mission's traces are in progress.
The potential mission site was identified in 1794 by a military party led by Sergeant José Manuel Ruiz and accompanied by missionary Tomás Valdellón. In 1796 lieutenant José Joaquín de Arrillaga, a former gobernor (governor) of the Californias, confirmed the suitability of the site.
A key factor in the selection of this location was its proximity to the pass of Portezuelo, on a route that led east to the desert and to the Colorado River. The mission was intended as a defensive fort against eastern intruders as well as a center for converting the local Indians to Christianity.
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