Nebraska is a farming state with most of the land sown with grains – corn, wheat, oats, and barley. All of these can be ground into flour so mills were an important addition to a town. 550 were built by the 1890s and almost every town had a mill but the numbers dropped as larger mills with modern equipment and power sources were built. Today only 45 mill buildings are still standing. Most are ruins but a few are still used to grind flour. Champion Mill is a complete mill although it is no longer in use.
The mill park is owned by the county and may be opened for tours on weekends in the summer. We lucked out and a volunteer who was mowing the grass opened the mill and gave us a tour. The mill is used to store milling equipment and it’s kind of a jumble of machinery but it’s still possible to see how it all worked.
The interior of the mill has steps and uneven flooring so it’s not accessible.
The parking lot is small but RVs can be parked on the street.
A campground is located just a short walk away along the mill pond however there isn’t a road so you have to work your way around on the town roads if you want to camp there. The campground has primitive sites and electric hookup sites. Tent camping is free, RV camping is $7.00 and $12.00. We didn’t stay there and didn’t check it out very well. Mill 40.47037, -101.75123
I love a working mill. Too bad that one had fallen into disuse, and it's a shame grinding grains locally is gone almost entirely from the scene.
ReplyDeleteI think it could be put back in working order easily but that doesn't seem to be in the plans. The mill was part of the state park system but a few years ago it, along with some other small parks, was turned over to the county due to a lack of funding.
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