Cottonwood Paper Mill

Photo of the Mill

Photo of the back of the Mill

Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Plaque, located at the base of the Mill's tower

The Cottonwood Paper Mill is an abandoned stone structure located at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. It was built in 1883 by the Deseret News under the direction of Henry Grow. Workers used paper making equipment brought in from the old Sugar House Paper Mill to grind logs from nearby canyons into pulp. Rags gathered from old clothes were also used to produce the pulp, which was then placed into molds and dried. During its operation, the mill could yield up to 5 tons of paper per day.

The mill provided jobs and paper for nearly ten years. But the completion of the railroad had made paper significantly cheaper to obtain. In 1892, the Cottonwood Paper Mill was sold to Granite Paper Mills Company. On April 1, 1893, a fire broke out inside. Between its large stockpile of paper and the fact that many who heard the alarm thought it to be an April Fool's joke, the mill was destroyed, leaving only a stone skeleton.

The structure was partially rebuilt in 1927 for use as an open-air dance hall, known as the Old Mill Club, and remained so until the 1940s. It was also used in the 1970s and 1980s as a haunted house and a craft boutique. It was declared a historic site by the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers in 1966, and was condemned by the city of Cottonwood Heights in 2005.

The Cottonwood Paper Mill is also known as Granite Paper Mill, Deseret Paper Mill, Old Mill (a title shared by several newer buildings in the vicinity) and Haunted Old Mill.

External links

• Smith, Melvin T. (December 10, 1970) (PDF). National Register of Historic Places Nomination: Granite Paper Mill. National Park Service. http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/71000848.pdf.  "Accompanying photo, from 1971" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places Inventory. http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Photos/71000848.pdf. 
• Historic American Buildings Survey, C.W. Barrow, Jr., September 1967. Includes a written description of the mill, its construction, ownership and use, and photographs from that period.
• Photograph, circa 1869 by C.R. Savage, from L. Tom Perry Special History Library
• Recent photograph by Kenneth Mays, from Online Collections at BYU
• Location of the mill in Windows Live Local
• Location of the mill in Google Maps
• 1994 Article by Brandon Gillespie recounting some local folklore about the structure.
• Scary Salt Lake Sites to Visit This Halloween by Steve Gehrke of the Daily Utah Chronicle, also mentions the fire(s) and the structures rumored hauntings.
• TheHauntedOldMill.org Collecting pictures, videos, and stories about the Haunted Old Mill.
• A Microsoft Photosynth of various photos taken of the mill.

Further reading

• The Deseret News Company's Paper Mill, Deseret News, October 15, 1884
• Burned to the Ground, Davis County Clipper, April 6, 1893
• The Paper Mill, Deseret News, April 8, 1893
• Paper=Making in Utah, Salt Lake Tribune, August 14, 1898 (Includes sketches of the mill during operation, and in ruins.)
• Making Paper Early Industry, Raise in Price of Commodity Revives Interest in a Proposition Now Dead, Deseret Evening News, February 1, 1908
• Old Mill Will Become Resort, The Ogden Standard Examiner, May 12, 1927
• The Daughters of Utah Pioneers Meet at Historic Old Paper Mill, by Sarah Brockbank, Murray Eagle, June 30, 1932
• Cottonwood Stake Gold-Green Ball at Old Mill Club, The Murray Eagle, January 10, 1935
• The Old Mill Club, The Finest in Entertainment Dancing, The Murray Eagle, June 27, 1935
• Firemen Busy this Week, Murray Eagle, July 11, 1935 - Mention of a fire at the Old Mill Club
• Old Mill Has Weathered Many Hardships Since 1881, Jack Goodman, Salt Lake Tribune, February 23, 1992 (requires logon)
• The Back Pages - Snapshots of Utah History..., Karen Dunlap, Salt Lake Tribune, September 9, 2001
• Old Mill Lives On, by Judy Fahys, Salt Lake Tribune, June 29, 2006 (requires logon)
• Cottonwood Heights History from the city's official website, recounts the history of the mill.
• Deseret News Timeline, mentions the construction and destruction of the mill
• Rag Mission article by Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, regarding paper production in Utah.
• Old Clothes turned into paper, article by the Deseret News, discussing the use of the mill
• Utah History to Go article
• Thieves make away with $20,000 of copper wiring from Old Mill, Alex Cabrero, KSL.com, November 17th 2011

Coordinates: 40°37′37″N 111°47′59″W / 40.6269°N 111.7998°W / 40.6269; -111.7998