ONLY -- Grist Mill in Oregon Still Grinding Flour - Butte Creek Mill (destroyed) - Eagle Point, OR - Superlatives on Waymarking.com

***UPDATE 1/6/2016*** Sadly, the Butte Creek Mill was destroyed in a Christmas morning fire, 12/25/15. The owners have stated they will try to rebuild the mill. The foundation and basement level were salvaged, everything else was destroyed. The original millstones also survived. They hope to get grant money from the state and are looking for donations and volunteer help. The National Register of Historic Places have said if they can retain at least 30% of the original mill, they can stay listed in the NRHP. It looks like they face a long journey ahead but I hope they can do it, a great piece of Oregon history has been severely affected.

Located in front of the historic Butte Creek Mill, formerly known as Snowy Butte Mill, is a historical marker that reads:

SNOWY BUTTE MILL
Est. 1872
A History of the Mill

On the National Register of Historic Places, the world famous Butte Creek
Mill is the only grist mill in Oregon still grinding flour.

Built on the banks of Little Butte Creek in 1872, under the name Snowy
Butte Mill, local farmers would bring their wheat to the mill, their
wagons lining the road for miles.

The road in front of the mill is the old military road to Fort Klamath.
Klamath Indians trekked 90 miles from Fort Klamath to trade
berries and leather goods for flour.

The mill still uses the original French buhr stones that were quarried in
France, near Paris, assembled into four-foot diameter stones in Moline, Illinois,
shipped around the Horn to Crescent City, California, carried over the mountains
by wagon and put into service here more than 130 years ago.

Dedicated June 6, 2006
By
UMPQUA JOE 1859 FLEDGLING OUTPOST OF
HUMBUG CHAPTER #73
of
E CLAMPUS VITUS

The mill website posted its nomination form text from its listing in the National Register of Historic Places and excerpts of it pertaining to this superlative read:

Statement of Significance:
Butte Creek Mill is one of two remaining water-powered mills in Oregon, and is the only mill that grinds flour (Thompson’s Mill in Shedd is water-powered, but only grinds animal feeds). The water rights for the mill and the French burr grinding stones date back to 1872. The operation of the mill, the machinery and equipment are essentially the same as in the late 1800s.

In 1872, Adronirum John Daley chose a site on the west bank of Little Butte Creek, approximately 20 miles northeast of Jacksonville and 11 miles northeast of Medford. His father, John W. Daley, Sr. and Eber Emery began construction in July, 1872. The French burr stones and milling equipment were shipped around the horn to Crescent City, California, and brought overland to Little Butte Creek, (An interesting story, that has never been substantiated, surrounds the shipment of the burr stones. Daley supposedly sent his two sons to bring the stones to Eagle Point from Crescent City by wagon. On the return trip, one of the sons was killed in an Indian attack.)

The lumber for the mill was milled from a pine stand located at Butte Falls. The first flour was ground in August, 1873. In the latter part of the 1880s, the mill stones were replaced with roller machinery. A.J. Daley was miller until 1893, when he sold the mill to the Holmes Brothers of Eagle Point.

The Holmes Brothers sold out to the Brandon Brothers in 1916, who operated it until 1920 when they went out of business and Henry Campbell (an Eagle Point banker) acquired the mill. The mill stood idle until 1932, when George Putman purchased the mill and water rights from Campbell’s widow. George and his son, Ed, built a smaller addition to the north end and opened a feed store and cold storage plant in the building. Later, George found and repaired the old grinding stones and put them back into operation. George and Ed passed away and George’s other son, Frank, took over the mill. Frank operated the mill with great success selling flour to many bakeries in the Willamette Valley. In 1973, Frank sold the mill to Peter Crandell and in 2005, Peter Crandell sold the mill to Bob & Debbie Russell, who presently own and operate the mill.

Type of documentation of superlative status: Plaque; website Location of coordinates: Front entrance to building Web Site: [Web Link]

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