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1851 — 1864: Ard Godfrey and John Jameson flour mill <br />1864 — 1868: George Albee flour mill (questionable) <br />1868 —1887: Mills and Houlton flour mill <br />1887 —1902: Mills and Sons flour mill <br />1907 — 1912: Elk River Milling Company flour mill <br />1919 — 1932: Leslie Hill flour mill <br />SAW AND PLANING MILLS <br />(2)First Sawmill <br />The first sawmill in Elk River was built in 1852 by Ard Godfrey and John G. Jameson <br />after they had built the dam and grist mill.85 The mill was powered by the Elk River and was <br />located about 300 feet east of the Main Street bridge." It had one sash saw with a capacity <br />of sawing 3,000 feet per day.87 As stated in the flour mills section, Godfrey and Jameson ran <br />the mills together until 1855 when they divided their property. Jameson took the farm land <br />east of the Elk River while Godfrey kept the mills and the land west of the river." <br />In 1858 Godfrey sold the mill property to Richard Martin, who then sold the property to <br />Edward Martin in 1863. The mills were purchased by James B. Mills in 1863 and by George <br />Albee, Mill's brother-in-law, in 1865.89 When Albee died in 1866, his wife Susan became the <br />owner of both the flour mill and the sawmill. James Mills purchased the flour mill property <br />at a public auction in 1868.90 In 1869, Edward P. Mills purchased his brother James's share <br />of the mills and Susan Albee sold her remaining mill property to William H. Houlton in <br />1873.91 <br />Edward Mills and William Houlton went into business together and operated the Mills <br />and Houlton Flouring and Saw Mills. In 1875 they updated their sawmill to include a double <br />circular saw, an edger, a trimmer, and a lath and shingle machine, which increased the mills <br />capacity to 20,000 feet per day.92 By 1880 the Mills and Houlton sawmill had two circular <br />saws, employed an average of eight men, and operated fulltime four months out of the year <br />while being idle the other eight months.93 The sawmill was destroyed by the May 1887 fire <br />that also destroyed the planing and flour mills at Upper Town. <br />(8) Villiam Houlton Sawmills (See Figures 2, 3 and 4) <br />31 <br />