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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.
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