December 1684 – Atondo and Kino, along with their military and scientific party become the first Europeans to cross Baja California by land. They arrived at what is now San Gregorio. Kino continued to develop maps of the explorations of the new area, but San Bruno was officially abandoned in May of 1685.

1686 – Kino gets the okay to build three missions. He travels to inland Sonora, and within a few days he established his first three missions: Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, in Cosari; the second mission in Carburica; the third mission at Ímuris. Under Father Kino's careful and knowledgable instruction and help, gardening and cattle farming begin in the area. The Jesuit priest also organized the clearing and planting of fertile river lands, and the construction of chapels. He also elevated the depth of skills in groups of native peoples with the introduction of apprenticeships and artisans programs. Kino established missions at San Ignacio, Magdalena, San Xavier del Bac, Cocóspera, Caborca, Tumacácori, and Tucson. Father Kino was extremely effective at Christianizing the natives living along his seventy-five mile 'parish.'

1687 – the church at Dolores is finished and becomes Kino’s residence and place of work.

1689 – Father Visitor Gonzalez visits Kino's region and reports back that the growth and expansion are phenomenal. As a result, four more Jesuits are assigned to the missions of Kino.

1691 – At Tumacácori, Pimas in procession with crosses and flowered arches plead with the Jesuits to come and live in their villages.

December 1692 – Father Kino, Father Campos, and Father Leal explored the Altar River. When Kino returns from the trip, he establishes Nuestra Señora de la Purisma Concepción in Caborca.

November 1694 – Kino explored the Gila River up to the Casa Grande ruins.

April 1695 – following the murder of Padre Saeta at Caborca and rebellions at Tubutama and Oquitoa, Father Kino brings back the peace in the Pimeria Alta.

January 1696 –while in Mexico City, he received permission to spend six official months in the Pimeria Alta, and wnother six months in California. Kino establishes five new missionaries that are assigned to the Pimeria. Kino, along with the Sobaipuris, explored the Santa Maria and San Pedro Rivers, north to the Gila River.

1698 – Kino mounted an expedition to survey the Gulf coast. Along the 800 mile, three week long trek, he sighted the Gulf of California. This sighting prompted a later expedition on the Gila River.

1699 – Kino and Manje, take a fortuitous rest in a Yuman village just east of the Gila Range. While there, they were presented with blue shells that Kino new came from the “opposite” shores of the Pacific.

April 1700 – Kino calls the “Blue Shell Conference” to talk with tribal leaders about the shells he'd seen at the Yuman village. Chiefs and couriers told Kino that the blue-crusted abalone shells did not occur in the Gulf waters, but rather came from the distant Pacific. Father Kino leads an expedition towards the area. On this trip he discovers California.

1706 – Padre Kino named Procurator of the northwest missions. This was merely a pacifying, official recognition of the work he had been doing all along.

March 15, 1711 – Father Kino dedicated the chapel at Magdalena. Later, he became weak, and finally died about midnight.

And in his memory…

On February 15, 1965, Father Kino’s statue, representing the state of Arizona, was unveiled in Washington’s Capitol Rotunda.

In May, 1966, Kino’s remains were found in the city of Magdalena de Kino, Sonora, by a group of researchers from Mexico and the United States.

On May 2, 1971, a monumental square in memory of Father Kino was inaugurated in Magdalena, Sonora, Mexico.

Kino wrote a number of books, among them are: Favores Celestiales (published in 1708), Exposición Astronómica de el Cometa (an account of the Comet of 1680-1681, published in 1681), and a map of the Pimería Alta region (published in 1705).

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