Old Mill: the most haunted site in Utah?
Tucked between the 215 beltway and the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon is a structure is hidden from casual view. The aging stone and adobe mill sits near the intersection of Wasatch and Fort Union Boulevards. The Old Mill has an interesting past which makes it – some argue – the most haunted site in all of Utah.
Old Mill was first built in 1883 by the Deseret News. Paper was in short supply in the valley so the mill was established to make paper out of logs from the nearby canyon, old paper, and even rags that were collected from residents. The completion of the transcontinental railroad made paper cheap as it increased the paper supply in Utah. No longer needing the mill, Deseret News sold it to Granite Paper Mills Company in 1892. One year later, on April 1, a fire broke out. The employees thought the alarms were part of a bad April Fool’s joke, allowing the fire to spread quickly. The structure was badly burned, especially in the southeast end where only the lower level stone walls were left. Read more
Steven Symes
