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• was finally abandoned there was still a large pile of kindling <br /> wood there and for many years local people could go there and <br /> dig up slabs."61 This mill burned in 1887,part of the fire that <br /> spread to the chair factory and various sheds and elevators <br /> • The Houlton Sawmill on the Mississippi.Photo: MHS <br /> Flour Mill <br /> The flour mill is one of the institutions Elk River is proud of and it is <br /> gratifying to know that it is doing a profitable business. <br /> Sherburne County Star,December 16,1897. <br /> Godfrey's flour mill in Uppertown burned in 1868,and Mills <br /> and Houlton rebuilt it as a three-story frame flour mill with a <br /> two hundred barrel per-day capacity.The Elk River Milling <br /> Company,with W.H.Houlton,Henry Castle,and W.G. <br /> Babcock as officers,produced a high grade of flour sold to <br /> Eastern and European markets.62 The mill burned in 1902.The <br /> property was sold,and in 1907,a new four story,300-barrell <br /> per day mill was erected by John Hill and Charles Hartwell of <br /> Massachusetts.A cooper shop manufactured barrels for the <br /> flour mill. <br /> During the May 1912 flood,the new flour mill was <br /> undermined,along with the dam and bridge. Concurrently, <br /> the Massachusetts buyers had failed to pay the mortgage and <br /> were foreclosed in the same month that the dam broke, <br /> returning ownership to Elk River interests.63 <br /> • <br /> Elk River Historic Contexts Study Draft 5/2002 <br /> 29 <br />