In 1857 , Emigdio Ortega built the adobe . The biggest obstacle was the lack of lumber in the Ventura area . Ortega acquired the beams and rafters for his adobe from an abandoned adobe , possibly the Carrillo Sespe Adobe , near what is now the City of Fillmore . According to Emigdio 's son , Emilio C. Ortega , the older adobe was abandoned after " a band of Mojave Indians swooped upon the ranch , murdered the people and drove away the stock . " Emigdio hauled the lumber 40 miles using oxcarts in a four-day journey from the abandoned adobe . The main roof beam at the Ortega Adobe had reportedly been used for the same purpose at the older adobe for approximately 70 years . According to archeologist Robert Browne , who worked on the adobe 's restoration in 1970 , the beams were exposed and analyzed during the renovation . Of the massive ridge pole , Browne said : " That beam was hewn from Jeffrey pine in Sespe Canyon and was once a part of a much earlier adobe where Fillmore now stands . It may have been built about the time of Father Serra 's mission . " Ortega purchased roof tiles and bricks from the Mission fathers at the nearby Mission San Buenaventura . In January 1857 , the Mission was damaged in the Fort Tejon earthquake ; the roof tiles were shaken loose , and the fathers opted to replace the tiles with cedar shingles
Fort Tejon earthquake
1857 Fort Tejon earthquake
Ortega Adobe