Joseph Mitchell (1803 – 26 November 1883) was a Scottish civil engineer. Life Joseph Mitchell was born on 3 November 1803 in Forres, the son of John Mitchell, a civil engineer. The family moved to Inverness in 1810 where Mitchell attended Inverness Royal Academy. He continued his studies in Aberdeen. In 1820 he went to work on the construction of the Caledonian Canal under an apprenticeship to Thomas Telford. From 1824 until his retirement in 1867 Mitchell held the post of Inspector of Highland Roads and Bridges. From 1828 he also acted as engineer for the Scottish Fisheries Board. He carried out surveys for the railways and was involved in the construction of much of the rail network in the Highlands, including the Inverness and Perth Junction Railway. In 1843 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, his proposer being Thomas Charles Hope. From 1862 to 1867 he went into partnership with the engineers, William & Murdoch Paterson. Ross write the following description of Mitchell's early life: Land routes from north, south, east and west converged on Inverness, and its harbour provided for coastal and foreign trade. This small metropolis harboured both civic pride and entrepreneurial spirit. Its sense of isolation had been somewhat lessened by the work of the Commissioners for Highland Roads and Bridges during the earlier decades of the nineteenth century. They had built the Caledonian Canal, linking the three lochs of the Great Glen with the sea at each end. Old Highland footpaths, and the narrow military roads built by General Wade after 1715, had been replaced by wider roads and more substantial bridges. Around 875 miles of road were constructed, and over 1,300 bridges, mostly small but including many which spanned the larger rivers. As a result of this activity, the people of Inverness and its environs were well used to the presence of engineers, and a new career was opened to young men who previously might have passed their lives as labourers, or joined the army, or emigrated. One such was John Mitchell, born in Forres, and trained as a stonemason, whose diligence attracted the favourable notice of Thomas Telford, supremo of all the works. Mitchell was appointed as chief superintendent of all the Highland Roads in 1806. His eldest son, Joseph, was also born in Forres, in 1803. He attended Inverness Academy, which had been founded in 1791 and