San Miguel History Project

Found in an 1887 San Miguel newspaper, a story that will amuse and leave you wondering.  Enjoy! "There is no fairy tale that is better known or more loved by young readers than the story of the little cinder wench, who was so ill treated by her cruel sisters, had such a delightful godmother, with a magic wand, and was so lucky as to lose her pretty glass slipper only to gain a prince and become a princess thereby. Looking over an old book we came upon an anecdote that is said to have been the origin of this favorite little tale.  Cinderella's real name, it seems, was Rhodope, and she was a beautiful Egyptian maiden, who live 670 years before the birth of Christ, and during the reign of Psammeticus, of the the twelve kings of Egypt. One day Rhodope ventured to go in bathing in a clear stream near her home and meanwhile left her shoes, which must have been unusually small, lying on the bank.  An eagle, passing above, chanced to catch sight of the little sandals, and, mistaki

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  A brief history of one of San Miguel’s historic treasures: Historic Rios-Caledonia Adobe      We begin with the period of  pre-California history called secularization, when Spanish control of the San Miguel Mission and its land was confiscated by Mexico.  The Mission lands were sold, given away or abandoned by the Mexican government.   Petronillo Rios was a sergeant in the Mexican military and he was assigned with the building of a home for the family that would oversee the Mission lands. In 1835, with the help of Salinan Indian workers, they constructed a two story adobe building to house the overseer’s family.       Following the Mexican American War (1846-48), the government of the United States took possession of California.  That meant the Adobe, and other former mission land ( except the missions themselves) was sold as private land.        Over the years, the Adobe was sold and resold many times and had many uses as well as owners tried to make a living.   The ro