FIRST - Mill to Produce Refined Flour in the Salt Lake Valley - First of its Kind on Waymarking.com

The historical marker stands just east of a T intersection at 2700 East and Evergreen Avenue in the Millcreek area of the Salt Lake Valley. The marker reads:

N^O            64

ERECTED           JULY 4, 1936

        PIONEER FLOUR-MILL SITE
          445 FEET WEST OF THIS MONUMENT IS THE SITE OF
        THE PIONEER FLOUR MILL ERECTED IN THE SPRING OF 1848
        BY JOHN NEFF, 1847 PIONEER, THE BURRS WERE BOUGHT BY
        HIM AT WINTER QUARTERS FROM BRIGHAM YOUNG AT WHOSE
        REQUEST THEY WERE BROUGHT TO UTAH. THE GRANITE BLOCK
        IN THE MONUMENT IS PART OF ONE OF THE MILL STONES.
          THE MILL BEGAN OPERATIONS IN MARCH, 1848, AND WAS
        THE FIRST IN THE VALLEY TO PRODUCE REFINED FLOUR.
          THE BUILDER, NOTED FOR HIS HUMANITARIANISM, REFUSED
        $1.00 A POUND FOR FLOUR, FROM EMIGRANTS TO CALIFORNIA,
        SELLING IT TO THE NEEDY POOR AT 6 CENTS A POUND AND
        FREQUENTLY GIVING IT TO THOSE UNABLE TO BUY.

DESCENDANTS OF JOHN NEFF, SR., EAST MILL CREEK BETTERMENT LEAGUE
AND THE UTAH PIONEER TRAILS AND LANDMARKS ASSOCIATION

"The first flour mill in Utah was constructed in the neighborhood south of the current Evergreen Avenue near Oakwood Street on the banks of the Mill Creek. The flour mill was built by John Neff in 1848. John Neff and his family had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon Church) in Pennsylvania. They later traveled with the Mormon pioneers to Utah in 1847 bringing machinery for a grist mill with them. Early in the spring of 1848, John Neff scouted the area and settled on a wooded area near a creek in the center of the Salt Lake Valley. The creek was later named for the numerous pioneer-built mills along its banks. Neff’s flour mill was completed in the fall of 1848 and John Neff moved his family into a small house built near the mill. Neff was joined by the Russells and the Kellers. These three families were the only settlers in East Mill Creek for several years.

The Neff grist mill played an invaluable role in helping the Mormon pioneers survive the early settlement years. When an invasion of crickets began devouring the pioneers’ first substantial wheat crop, the precious wheat that was salvaged and harvested by determined pioneers (with the aid of hungry seagulls), was brought to the Neff mill for grinding. Unbolted flour was available for sale by December 1848. The first white flour in Utah was produced at the mill by February 1949. That year many California-bound gold seekers offered John Neff a dollar for a bag of flour. He refused to sell, keeping the flour to sell to other pioneers for six cents a pound. John and Mary Neff often gave the flour free to those who couldn’t afford it. Farmers from Provo to Ogden would bring their flour to the Neff mill, sometimes waiting up to a week to have it ground. For many years, the mill pond was used for baptisms.

The last quarter of the nineteenth century was a period of transition for East Mill Creek community. The Neff Mill, which had been so vital in sustaining the early settlers, became obsolete as milling moved to areas better suited for the production of grain. In 1892, William Spafford purchased the mill site and machinery from the Neff family for $4,500. Spafford, a wealthy mine owner, tore down part of the mill and remodeled into a dance hall. Edward H. Airis purchased the property and water rights for $8,000 in 1898. The mill was dismantled sometime between 1898 and 1905. Part of the mill burr was saved and is set in a monument at the corner of Evergreen Avenue and 2700 East. The mill pond was later cemented for use as a swimming pool." SOURCE

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