By Dan Bammes
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kuer/local-kuer-924588.mp3
Huntington, UT – Utah has more than 16-thousand sites on the National Register of Historic Places. Some have been lovingly preserved at great expense. Many others sit empty, waiting for the resources to reverse years of neglect and damage that would put them in the context of the communities where they stand. The town of Huntington in eastern Utah is facing a decision on the future of its 19th Century flour mill. As it stands today, it's become a nuisance. But preserving it may be a bigger job than the community can handle.
At the Emery County Fair in Castle Dale, folks line up for the annual lamb fry. The eight dollars they pay for a plate of lamb chops, chicken and corn on the cob supports a different cause each year. This year, it raised 16-thousand dollars toward the restoration of the Huntington flour mill. That was enough to start a non-profit foundation and begin work toward buying and restoring the property.
"You have to have vision. You have to see the vision," says Huntington City Council member Julie Jones. She is heading up the restoration effort. As she shows a visitor through the old building, she doesn't seem to notice the sunshine coming through big holes in the roof, the spray-painted graffiti on the walls or the ceiling hanging in tatters above the old milling machinery.
"All these were put in originally in the late 1800's. And in 1978, 80, they were still running. So, I mean, to me it's an amazing building," she says.
Another volunteer eager to restore the building is Ed Geary. He came back to live in his hometown when he retired from the faculty at BYU. He stands near a corner of the loading dock that was recently smashed by a collision with a truck as he points out the mill's historic significance. "At the time it was built," Geary says, "every community of any size had a mill because people lived on bread. That was a much larger part of the diet, the breads and cereals, as well as having a market for the farmers. At one time there were either 7 or 8 mills in Emery County. This continued in operation longer than any of the others and it's the only building that survives. So it's a relic of a way of life."
Backers of saving the building suggest it could become a museum or a business, though they don't yet have a specific plan. Their first priority is buying the mill from its current owner, who once offered to donate the property to Huntington City. But Mayor Hilary Gordon says the city doesn't want it. A poll showed citizens five-to-one against spending any public money to restore the building. Mayor Gordon says, among other things, the mill has become a home for stray animals. "It's an eyesore, and then the other thing that I was concerned about is the fact that children going in there may be smoking, maybe just having a lighter, I don't know, but it's definitely a fire hazard. And as you can see from your experience visiting it, it's close proximity to a lot of fairly nice homes right there."
The cost of a complete restoration has been estimated as high as 500-thousand dollars, a big number for a town with an annual budget of less than a million. But Wilson Martin, the state's historic preservation officer, says projects like this don't have to be done all at once. He points to the Ephraim Co-Op in Sanpete County as a model for success.
"The roof was just a shambles and the windows were all out and rainwater was literally pouring through the building," says Wilson. "And a little local citizens' group came to us. They found themselves able to acquire the building, a little non-profit group, and they raised enough money to put a roof on it and to board up the windows. That's all they did. They weren't able to do anything else. It sat there for probably six or seven years with boarded-up windows. It was not being vandalized. It was a beautiful building. Then over the years they've been able to find more money and now the building has been in full use as a handicraft shop successful for the last ten years, with the upper floor being kind of a community space."
The Flour Mill Preservation Foundation led by Julie Jones is hoping to raise 25-thousand dollars to buy the building and put on a roof. She hopes future visitors will be able to climb the well-worn stairway and see where the mill operators kept track of their equipment repairs by writing on the walls. "See, this is what I love. Change something, May 22nd 1930. And then it was changed again May 16th, 1931. And you find little things like that throughout the building. And see the cloth chutes that Ed was talking about, how it just comes from the top, will shoot down. The cloth, it's still original. I love the building."
The alternative might be tearing the flour mill down for the salvage value of its lumber. The old beams and boards would likely sell for more than the owner is asking. Whether a piece of southern Utah history will be preserved, both sides agree there's not much time to left to decide.