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Bob's Red Mill donates $100,000 to Butte Creek Mill restoration Wednesday Jan 17, 2018 at 7:23 PM Jan 17, 2018 at 7:23 PM Buffy Pollock for the Mail Tribune Bob's Red Mill Products near Portland has donated $100,000 toward the restoration of the historic Butte Creek Mill, which burned Christmas morning in 2015. Eagle Point Mayor Bob Russell, former owner and now president of the nonprofit foundation raising money to restore the mill, recalled a friendly chat he initiated with Bob’s Red Mill owner Bob Moore when Russell took over the Butte Creek Mill in 2005. Russell said he was grateful and humbled by the donation on Wednesday. “I called Bob, literally on the day I bought the Butte Creek Mill. I called and said, ‘I want to introduce myself. I just bought Peter Crandall’s mill.’ I said, ‘I just want to ask for some advice.’ And he said, ‘Well, you’re my competition. But I’ll give you some advice. I think you should get some fire insurance,’” Russell said. “The reason, he said, was that ironically his first mill in the Portland area had burned to the ground.” Unfortunately, Russell said, the only company that would insure the mill, Lloyd’s of London, offered an expensive policy with limited coverage that merely helped with cleanup efforts after the fire. Russell said the mill foundation was well on its way to raising funds to allow the project to continue. On Thursday, efforts will commence to disassemble the burned mill, which will then be cleaned and processed for reusable parts. The money from Bob's Red Mill follows a recent donation from what would have been a past competitor of Butte Creek, the historic State Line Milling Company Grist Mill, circa 1871. Languishing on private property and out of commission for decades, the mill was donated by the family of owner Whit Simpson and his mother Margaret Simpson to help revive the one in Eagle Point. Russell said work crews on Thursday would utilize specialized equipment donated by Steve Wilson of Wilson Equipment in Central Point to carefully remove charred but usable remains of the 150-year-old structure. In a press release issued Wednesday, Moore said, “I’ve had a mill of my own for 45 years and I’m certainly pleased to help with the restoration of the Butte Creek Mill.” Moore also donated 50 soon-to-be published nutrition books to be sold for additional fundraising for the Butte Creek rebuild. Russell said the Butte Creek Mill foundation has raised $800,000 toward a total fundraising goal of $2.5 million. Thursday’s work will mark the official beginning of the rebuild effort. Said Russell, “It’s been two years so people tend to wonder, ‘What have you been doing for two years?’ Well, we’ve been working our butts off. We definitely can’t rest on our laurels just yet, but we are pretty proud of what’s been accomplished since the fire.” For more information, visit www.buttecreekmillfoundation.com or call 541-690-5356. — Reach Medford freelance writer Buffy Pollock at [email protected].