5.6. SR 06-07-2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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extended over the Elk River to serve Houlton's sawmill located on the Mississippi River but this apparendy never happened.l26 Following the burning of the flour mill in 1903, the spur track was removed back to the elevator. In 1906 Houlton made an agreement with Great Northern that if another mill was built the spur track would again be extended to the mill.127 This agreement was fulfilled the following year when the Elk River Milling Company built another flour mill where the previous mill had stood and the spur track was again extended to the new mill,l2B The track was eventually removed after the flour mill was undermined during a flood in 1912. The track was removed when there was no mill that needed access to the railroad so the railroad company would not have to pay property taxes on the unused line. OTHER HISTORIC SITES (14)First Cabin at Upper To1P1J In 1848, French trader Pierre Bottineau built a trading post on what was likely lot 5 or 6 of Block 2 of the Auditor's Addition of Elk River.129 Another account says that David Faribault established a post on the Elk River in 1846. H,M. Rice and S,P. Folsom than purchased this post and built a cabin in 1848, which Bottineau then purchased later that year.130 (15)First Cabin at uwer To1P1J (see Figure 7) In 1849, Pierre Bottineau built the first building at Lower Town Elk R~ver. It was a log cabin situated on lot 1, block 5 of the original Elk River plat, what is now the southeast comer of King Avenue and Main Street. The cabin was called the Elk River House and served as a tavern. In 1850 the main part of a new hotel was built by John Q.A. Nickerson adjacent to the log cabin and was also called the Elk River House, and later the Riverside Hotel. The cabin was tom down in 1894 after serving as a storage shed for many years.131 (16) Ani Godfrey Store In the early 1850s, after he had completed the dam, the flour mill, and the sawmill, Ard Godfrey built a general store about 165 feet east of where the flour mill stood,132 It is uncertain how long the store was open or how long the building stood. Ard Godfrey had left Elk River by 1862 and went to Montana, where he built the first sawmill in that state.133 35