In his 1898 publication, Topsy Tinkle recounted a story that the Indians told about a natural spring located on the site of the Old Mill. The story told of a 16-year-old Indian named Catalina with "thick, jet-black hair" and "big, melting black eyes." Catalina lived in the time of the San Gabriel Mission and gave roses to the Virgin Mary in hopes that she could win the heart of the handsome José, even hoping that "something dreadful" would happen to another girl of whom José was fond. When José left for two years serving on a ship, Catalina turned her back on the Virgin, and Catalina began praying to the old "Mexican god", described as a "hideous clay image". Catalina died of sorrow when José did not return, and her body was buried on the spot where the mill was later built, a spot from which a natural flow of spring water "slowly oozes". According to the legend, oozing spring water is "only the tears from a loving woman's broken heart."
