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-MTTCHELL ADOBE
HISTORY: Thomas Finley Mitchell was born in 1827 in Tennessee. His family moved
to Texas in the 1840's. Mitchell joined Company C of the Mounted Volunteers in
1845, at the age of 18. H~ served in the Mexican War and was appointed ·a Colonel
by General Sam Houston. Between 1850 and 1852 , Mitchell worked in the "north~rn
mines", on the American River in California. He acquired property in San Bernardino
around 1853 and a farm in El Monte between 1853 and 1858. In San Bernardino, Mitchell
met his future wife, Martha Catherine Taylor. This was in 1853 and Martha was then
only six years old. He paid for her education while she was growing up and she
attended the Mission San Gabriel.
Mitchell first came to "the Soledad" in 1858 or 1859. He moved into a shack in Paper
Mill Canyon, near Acton where he prospected for gold. He established a 160 acre
cattle ranch southwest of Soledad Canyon and Sand Canyon Roads in 1860. He was the
first American resident of lower Soledad Canyon. He freighted a frame miners cabin
from Paper Mill Canyon to Soledad Canyon and a shale fireplace was added. He stocked
the ranch with cattle driving them from El Monte. Then Colonel Mitchell went to San
Gabriel and married 17-year-old Martha.
The crowded miner's cabin prompted the construction of an adobe structure. The adobe
measured approximately 45 X 60 ft and was constructed of clay dug from a layer deep in
a hand-dug well. The roof was covered by either split redwood shake or very thin
cedar shake. It had a wooden floor of tongue and groove construction, kept polished
to a high sheen. The ceiling was wooden, constructed of light-colored wainscoating.
The old miner's shack became a storage shed. The Mitchell ranch prospered and Mitchell
increased his 160 acres to almost 1000 acres. He also raised wheat, corn and fruit
trees -- and later added beekeeping.
In 1872, Martha Mitchell organized a school for local children. Classes were regularly
held in the kitchen of the adobe but sometimes at the Lang Hotel and Spa. Original
students were the Mitchell, Stewart and Lang children. In 1879, THE SULPHUR SPRINGS
SCHOOL DISTRICT was formed. The District stretched from the Mitchell Ranch up canyon
to Agua Dulce.