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Forbes Mill 🍞 Los Gatos

Forbes Mill 🍞 Los Gatos

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Forbes Mill 🍞 Los Gatos

Name: Forbes Mill 🍞 Los Gatos
Rating: 2

Recommended by 7 hikers

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Location: Los Gatos, Santa Clara County, California, United States

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Best Hikes to Forbes Mill 🍞 Los Gatos

4.8

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1. Lexington Reservoir Overlook – Saint Josephs Hill summit loop from Los Gatos

9.69km

02:51

270m

Moderate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Moderate

5.0

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2. Los Gatos 🐈 Main St 🐈 – Forbes Mill 🍞 Los Gatos loop from Los Gatos

7.06km

01:55

100m

Easy hike. Great for any fitness level. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Easy

5.0

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3. Vasona Lake – Forbes Mill 🍞 Los Gatos loop from Vasona Junction

12.0km

03:07

80m

Moderate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Moderate

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🕊️ 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒓

May 17, 2017

Forbes Mill is a former flour mill built in 1854 as the first commercial building to be established in what was first called Forbes Mill, then Forbestown, and finally Los Gatos. It served as the Los Gatos History Museum, saved from destruction in 1982. The museum seems open on weekends; its collections are part of New Museum Los Gatos. The existing two-story building, owned by the City, is actually a storage annex which was added to the original four-story stone mill building in the fall of 1880.
It was built as the Santa Rosa Flour Mill by James Alexander Forbes, born in Scotland in 1805. He came to California in 1831 as British Vice-Consul in San Francisco.
The California Gold Rush inspired James to build the first flour mill, with prices of $50/barrel. In 1850 he purchased 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) on Los Gatos Creek. In 1853 he raised $130,000 for construction from two lenders. The milling machinery arrived from New York around Cape Horn, the mill started grinding flour in 1855. Unfortunately, Forbes’s dam carried water via a flume from 0.5 miles (0.8 km) upstream to two 20-foot (6.1 m) high water wheels which proved to be inefficient, so he had to keep raising the water level, only sufficient during the winter months. Meanwhile new mills and the waning Gold Rush drove flour prices down to $5/barrel.
The mill and land were sold in 1857 to Gustave Touchard, one of Forbes’ creditors. Touchard hired others to run the mill, but they did not have much success with it either.
In 1866, he sold the mill to William H. Rogers, who had worked at a flour mill in Detroit and his own Mountain Flourmills in Placerville. He served as postmaster of Placerville and sheriff of El Dorado County until his purchase of now-named "Clifton Mill". He raised the waterhead to 200 feet (61.0 m), replaced the water wheels with turbine wheels, upgraded machinery, and constructed reservoirs for year-round production of a profitable 100 barrels of flour a day.
In 1887 it became a power plant for the Los Gatos Ice and Power Company, a brewing and bottling company, the Los Gatos Gas Company, and finally the PG&E substation. The original "Santa Rosa" Flour Mill building was torn down in 1916. The mill remained a storehouse for PG&E until after World War II. It was abandoned and finally in 1971 revived as a youth center with live rock music weekends. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbes_Mill
nps.gov/nr/travel/santaclara/for.htm

Biber-Radler

November 18, 2023

Forbes Mill is a now-defunct grist mill originally built in Los Gatos in 1854 and served as the Los Gatos History Museum after it was saved from destruction in 1982. The museum closed in 2014 and its collections are now part of the New Los Gatos Museum. The building is currently owned by the city.

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Elevation 80 m

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Location: Los Gatos, Santa Clara County, California, United States

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Forbes Mill 🍞 Los Gatos

1. Lexington Reservoir Overlook – Saint Josephs Hill summit loop from Los Gatos

2. Los Gatos 🐈 Main St 🐈 – Forbes Mill 🍞 Los Gatos loop from Los Gatos

3. Vasona Lake – Forbes Mill 🍞 Los Gatos loop from Vasona Junction

Other Popular Places to Check Out

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