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Joseph Mitchell. 
Joseph Mitchell, civil engineer, for long resident in Inverness, 
and latterly in London, was born at Forres on the 3rd November 
1803. His father, John Mitchell, was appointed, under Mr Telford, 
as inspector of works, in connection with the extensive road works, 
which, with the other great works then being carried out by Mr 
Telford, were the first means of opening up the Highlands to full 
access with the southern parts of Great Britain. Mr John Mitchell 
held the general inspectorship of the extensive system of com- 
munication known as the Highland Boads and Bridges. It is 
worthy of remark that Mr John Mitchell attracted the attention 
not only of Mr Telford, but also of the poet Southey, who wrote 
in terms of high commendation, both of his talents and moral 
qualities. 
Joseph Mitchell seems in many respects to have inherited his 
father’s energy and abilities. He was educated at the celebrated 
Academy of Inverness, which for many years was under the charge 
of the well-known Alexander Nimmo, C.E., who was long the per- 
sonal friend of Telford and of Sir David Brewster, for whose Ency- 
clopaedia, he wrote several articles. 
Mr Mitchell became a Fellow of this Society in 1843. He be- 
came a civil engineer under the immediate auspices of Mr Telford, 
who caused him to engage in the practical masonry of the lockgates 
of the Caledonian Canal at Fort Augustus, after which Mr Mitchell 
not only became an apprentice in his office, but an inmate of his 
house, a striking proof of the high opinion which that great 
engineer had formed of his personal qualities. Here he made the 
first survey of the St Catherine Docks, which were carried out under 
Mr Telford’s superintendence. 
In 1824, when only twenty-one years of age, the whole of the High- 
land Boads and Bridges system was, on the death of his father, put 
under Mr Joseph Mitchell’s charge, a fact which shows how great 
a trust was reposed in him by Mr Telford. During the long period 
of thirty-nine years he had these roads, extending over the rugged 
and difficult counties of Inverness, Boss, Cromarty, Sutherland, and 
Caithness, not only to inspect but to provide additional roads and 
