In 1819, San Bernardino de Sena Estancia was created near present-day San Bernardino as an outpost of nearby Mission San Gabriel Arcángel. Although sometimes referred to as an "asistencia", or "a mission on a small scale with all the requisites for a mission, and with Divine Service held regularly on days of obligation, except that it lacked a resident priest", San Bernardino was really just an "estancia", or cattle ranch. In 1820, a -long irrigation ditch or "zanja" was dug using Native American labor to furnish water from Mill Creek, a major stream flowing out of the San Bernardinos, to the estancia and surrounding croplands. For the next twenty years, the Spanish – then the "Californios" under newly independent Mexico – practiced agriculture and ranching at the foot of the mountains.