Most of us who
live in the Salt Lake Valley are aware of Gardner’s Historic
Village, the classic old mill established by Archibald Gardner in
1853. But, how many of
us know that his now famous mill in West Jordan was preceded by a
mill that he and his brother built in the Millcreek area?
Gardner built a saw mill in the Millcreek area in 1848, five years before he built
his West Jordan mill.
As explained by Becky Bartholomew in the November 1995, History
Blazer:
Archie had built his first flour
mill at age 17 plus two other mills in Canada before joining the
Mormons. Arriving in Utah in 1847, he quickly obtained rights to
Warm Springs and attempted to install a mill there. The water
volume proved insufficient, so he moved his machinery to Mill Creek
and later claimed to have sawed the first lumber in the new Mormon
community.
A plaque, mounted in a rather
unusually constructed monument, now stands on the site of his Mill
Creek Mill.
The cache is a 35mm film
canister. You will need
your own writing instrument. The hint will tell you EXACTLY where
the cache is located, so only use it as a last resort. The fates
must not like this cache. It has been in three different locations
since we placed it. At one time, we dug a hole and installed a fake
drain clean out to hold the container. Someone dug it up. We have
returned to a much simpler setup. The cache is now in a film
cannister which can be found on the back (west)side of the
monument. THERE IS NO NEED TO CLIMB ON THE MONUMENT.
