As a personal interest I wanted my first piece of writing to
be about the Cottonwood Paper Mill. My parents and I have always been very
interested in the Old Mill and have talked about the possibility of purchasing
the building.
The 2 acre private property is located at 6900 Big
Cottonwood Canyon Rd. When driving up the street the sight of the Mill will
send shivers down your spine. It’s almost as if the walls are trying to tell
you its story. The windows are all boarded up with corroded wooden boards; the
stone structure is failing, the intimidating fence lines the property with
multiple “No Trespassing” signs and over grown weeds have taken over what is
left of the building.
The Cottonwood Paper Mill also known as the Granite Paper Mill
was built in 1883 by the Deseret News. When the mill was running it could create
up to 5 tons of paper per day keeping many Utah residents employed for up to ten
years. In 1892 the mill was sold to Granite Paper Mills Company due to the
completion of the railroad for which paper was a lot cheaper creating issues
for the mill. On April 1st 1893 a fire broke out on the third floor
which destroyed the mill leaving only a stone skeleton. Official historic
entries state that the fire was caused by a lantern and oily rags. It has been
said that two of the groundskeepers were on the 3rd floor when there
was a dispute, one man struck the other knocking him over, the lantern fell and
the fire spread. Cries were heard but they were quickly ignored as people assumed
it was an April fool’s joke. One of the men escaped and the remains of the
other man and his dog were later found inside the fireplace, presumably to
escape the flames. There are still reports to this day of hearing a dog barking
and whimpering from within the building. In 1927 the mill was partially rebuilt
to be used as a dance hall known as the Old Mill Club. In the 1940’s it was shut
down after the start of WWII where it then burnt down a second time. Official
historic entries state it was burned down by two transients trying to stay out
of the cold. One statement taken from the surviving transient states that they had
started a fire in the fireplace to keep warm. He had woken up to see the fire spreading
across the floor. He escaped and the remains of the other were later found.
There were also remains of a dog found in the fireplace although neither
transient had a dog with them. The mill was later, again, partially rebuilt to
be used for a haunted house and craft boutique during the 1970’s and 80’s. When
the mill was being used as a haunted house it has been said that the groundskeeper
lived in the northwest corner of the building with his wife. He had been upset and
worried for months about the production of the haunted house knowing the
structure of the site was unsafe. One night he had come into the apartment went
straight to his gun cabinet, took out a revolver, filled the chambers and put
the gun to his head. He told his wife, “Let’s play Russian roulette” and shot himself.
In 1966 it was declared a historic site
by Daughters of the Utah Pioneers where a plaque sat at the entrance of the
building, it was removed in September of 2009 and the location of the plaque is
unknown. The mill was condemned by the city of Cottonwood Heights in 2005.
The now condemned mill sits with its boarded up windows,
crumbling stone walls and overgrown weeds giving off the most eerie feeling of
what was. The current groundskeeper does not give permission to enter the
property. The structure is too weak and delicate in its current state and could
fail. Although many people have tried to reach the groundskeeper for access to
the building there has been little success. The closed access of the mill has
been intriguing Salt Lake residents for many, many years. The site is a poplar
place to visit especially among thrill seeking teens. Although the current groundskeeper
lives close by and has taken many precautionary measures to keep people off of
the property for obvious safety reasons. The thrill seeking teens still press
their luck to try and witness some kind of paranormal activity from its disturbing
past.
I can’t help but
wonder, what will come of the Old Mill? After being condemned its future is
questionable.
Resources- Wikipedia, Utahadvertures.wordpress.com, ufofreeparanormal
.com
I am happy to see that I am not the only one who would like to buy the place. My dream would be to fully restore the place, I dont even know if that is possible. But original pictures of the place are really amazing. And it would also be amazing if possible to see it brought back to its glory. Maybe even producing old style paper on a limited bases, but mostly as a museum of sorts, and offer tours. Not to mention paranormal research, though what I thought was a lot of research I did myself, I could find no documentation of anyone but the caretaker dying there. I knew him, he was not so strange as people say. Interesting that on the day he committed suicide, he had plans to knock down part of the wall in the courtyard. The story I was told first hand from the owner at the time, the caretaker had just driven a backhoe to that side of the building. His wife said she heard him start the tractor, and drive around the building, then nothing. When she came out of the backroom of the caretakers apartment, IN the old mill, he was there sitting in his chair. His quote was, honey look at this! And he shot himself. I never heard anything about his wife later committing suicide too. But it was said his blood supposedly was never totally cleaned up. And is still viable I guess to this day. And always thought it was gossip. But I did have the opportunity to bring a medium to the place, working there when it was a haunted house attraction for the tri city charity organization, I was given a key. She told me about a small girl near the back of the mill. She supposedly died in route with her family to California, being late in the season, they decided to bury her there, an come back in the spring to reclaim her body, but there was some sort of landslide or something and they couldn't find her, so she's still there. There was also the architect who was so attached to the place ,his spirit is still there. I can personally relate because I feel a great attachment to the place, as I think a number of other people who have anything to do with the place seem to develope. Anyway, is there a blog anywhere people are discussing any possibility of doing anything to save the old mill? I really worry that some politician will some day have the place torn down, if not just allowed to rot. And eventually cave in on it's own. Hopefully kids will stop destroying it, and no one will be hurt or worse by breaking in. I was just there an saw a number of places where the fence has been breached, and I'm sure they are still breaking in.
ReplyDeletePity, seems like only the author and myself have ever been here. Was really hoping for other peoples input.
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