Prehistoric and Euroamerican Archaeology of Elk River, Minnesota: Current Knowlege and Probability Modeling

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Gazetteer of Historic Sites These sites are indicated on the Milling District Historic Sites map (Maps 11 and 12). FLOUR MILLS (I)First Flour Mill and (2)FirstSawmill (See Figure 1). The first flour mill was built by Ard Godfrey and John G. Jameson along the Elk River shortly after they built the dam. In a September 1851 letter to his wife Nancy, who was also Godfrey's sister, Jameson says that they had started work on the dam and the gristmill and would be starting the sawmill either that winter or by the following spring.50 Godfrey and Jameson ran the mill together until 1855 when they divided their property. Jameson took the farm land east of the Elk River while Godfrey kept the mills and the land west of the river.51 In 1858 Godfrey sold the mill property to Richard Martin, who then sold the property to Edward Martin in 1863. The mills were purchased by James B. Mills in 1863 and by George Albee, Mill's brother-in-law, in 1865.52 There is sketchy evidence that Albee rebuilt the grist mill in 1864. Why the mill needed to be rebuilt is unknown. It is unclear if the mill was just upgraded or completely rebuilt. Albee died in 1865.53 An 1865 Minnesota business directory listed no flour mill in Elk River or Orono so it was likely not operating at the time.54 James Mills purchased the property at a public auction in 1868.55 The flour mill was leveled by fire in 1868.56 (3)Mi11s and Houlton Flour Mill A new flour mill was built in the same spot soon after the first mill was destroyed by fire. Even though the flour mill was being operated by Mills and Gardiner in 1870, it was still referred to as the Albee mill in a newspaper article so it is possible he rebuilt the mill.57 In 1869, Edward P. Mills had purchased his brother James's share of the mills.58 Susan Albee sold her remaining mill property to William H. Houlton in 1873.59 The mills were then known as the Mills and Houlton Flouring and Sawing Mills. The flour mill was built mostly of oak and was seventy feet square and sixty feet high.60 By 1880 the flour mill was running full-time nine months out of the year and part-time the other three months. They employed an average of ten men throughout the year and had 27