Cedar Creek Grist Mill: Inside the Mill (photo diary)

by Ojibwa for Museums

Community

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Wednesday, Dec. 03, 2025 Wednesday, Dec. 03, 2025 at 11:15:08am PST

The Cedar Creek Grist Mill is a working museum, showing visitors the inside workings of a grist mill of late nineteenth century. The power to run the mill comes from Cedar Creek To get water into the mill there is a flume which extends 730 feet up the creek to a point where the water from the creek flows directly into the intake.

P1560992 — Shown above is the flume which brings water to the mill. When this photograph was taken, the water level in the creek was too low to provide water for the mill.

The Mill rests on a steep and rocky slope at the bottom of the narrow gorge of Cedar Creek. It is the only grist mill in Washington that has maintained its original structural integrity, mills with stones, and is water powered.

According to the Museum:

“In the late 1800’s, a migrant miller named George Woodham settled in the area north of Fort Vancouver. In 1876 along with his sons, Woodham built the grist mill, originally called the Red Bird Mill. Cedar Creek had sufficient water flow that could keep the water-powered mill in business year round. Farmers throughout north Clark County brought their grain to the mill to be ground into flour, cornmeal or livestock feed. A wagonload of grain from Brush Prairie would be a two-day trip. The family would camp on the flat area across from the mill and start home the next day.

A dam was built to form the millpond that fed water to the flume to supply the mill. According to an old newspaper article, debris in the swiftly flowing creek damaged the dam that first winter. Unable to keep the dam repaired, and with meager profits, George Woodham moved to Centralia in 1879, taking his equipment with him.

Mike Lynch bought the mill but it sat unused for seven years until Gustave Utter leased it in 1888. At that time a log dam was constructed about eighty feet upstream. Utter built a flume and installed the Leffel turbine, which is still in use today. The mill quickly became the center of activity where dances and musical entertainment were frequently held. Milling fees were often shares of grain, so Utter raised hogs, which could be sold for badly needed cash. But by 1901, Utter couldn’t keep the mill operating profitably, so he sold it and moved away.

Gorund Roslund purchased the mill in 1905 but wasn’t able to get the mill in operation until 1909. He added a shingle mill to the rear of the original structure. By 1912 logging was booming and a machine shop was desperately needed. Victor, one of Roslund’s sons, was a mechanic and turned the entire lower floor into a machine shop. Victor made parts for the Merwin Dam on the Lewis River that are still in use today. Soon the shed on the front of the mill was added as a blacksmith shop. Elmer, another of Roslund’s sons, operated it. Victor remained a bachelor and turned the upper floor into an apartment. Once again musical entertainment was common in the building.”

P1560986 — Shown above is a milling stone.

The millstones arrived at the mill either as rough quarry-dressed buhrs or as backed, banded, faced, and furrowed millstones. According to the Museum:

“They placed the stones in stable bases with shafting, covers and hoppers. The stones were then ‘dressed’ or sharpened with a pattern determined best for particular milling needs and installed as a competed mill for the miller. These millwrights travelled the countrysides of Europe and America sharpening and repairing mills to keep them grinding good quality flour.”