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Eagle Point residents celebrate Butte Creek Mill’s grand reopening By Nick Morgan Updated: Oct 22, 2022 04:43 PM A A 7 View all photos Mike Pierson loads up with mixes made at the Butte Creek Mill at the Country Store’s grand reopening and 150th anniversary celebration Saturday in Eagle Point. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune] Butte Creek Mill Foundation board chair Jay O'Neil helps Country Store shopper Marsha Brotzman choose mill products during the Country Store’s grand reopening and 150th anniversary celebration Saturday in Eagle Point. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune] Pat Sutton prepare waffle samples made from Butte Creek Mill mixes during the Butte Creek Mill's 150th anniversary celebration, which also served as a grand reopening of the mill’s Country Store. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune] An overflow crowd lines up to enter the Butte Creek Mill Saturday for the mill’s 150th anniversary celebration, which also served as the Country Store’s grand reopening. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune] A family takes a picture in front of the Butte Creek Mill Saturday during the mill’s 150th anniversary celebration in Eagle Point Saturday. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune] Visitors check out an original stone mill during the Butte Creek Mill's 150th anniversary celebration in Eagle Point Saturday. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune] Butte Creek Mill Foundation board chair Jay O'Neil shows the waterway that powers the mill Saturday during the mill’s 150th anniversary celebration in Eagle Point. The mill is the last surviving water-powered grist mill west of the Mississippi. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune] Gray skies and some of the Rogue Valley’s first downpours of the season was not enough to stop overflow crowds estimated in the thousands Saturday from celebrating an Eagle Point landmark's sesquicentennial, as well as its return after seven years. For Lynn Leissler of Eagle Point, the grand reopening of the Butte Creek Mill’s lobby and Country Store was an opportunity for her to stock up on the 10-grain cereal, confetti soup mix and local jams that she’d been without for nearly seven years. “It feels so good to be back inside,” Leissler said. “We’ve waited so long for this.” Leissler was estimated to be among thousands of customers who flocked to the Butte Creek Mill Country Store to celebrate the mill’s 150th anniversary and grand reopening. According to Butte Creek Mill Foundation board member Mike Butterfield and his wife, Sandy, volunteers were greeted to a waiting crowd when the store’s doors opened at 10 a.m., and lines were still out the shop door as of shortly after noon. “We had people crying thinking they’d never see this again,” Sandy Butterfield said. “Actually bawling.” Board member John Parsons beamed with joy as he took in the outpouring of community support. He remembers being out at 6 a.m. Christmas Day in 2015 and witnessing the fire that destroyed the historic structure. “It was heartbreaking,” Parsons remembered. “It’s always been an anchor for the community.” The property was deeded to the all-volunteer nonprofit Butte Creek Mill Foundation in 2017 to oversee its reconstruction and restoration. “It’s the community’s mill now,” Butte Creek Mill Foundation chair Jay O’Neil said. Although the rebuild is still in progress, needing about $700,000 in donations before it can be completed, O’Neil said he hopes the exacting layout of the store showcases how the last water-powered grist mill west of the Mississippi is coming back together. “It’s supposed to look just like it did before the fire — that’s the objective,” O’Neil said. O’Neil pointed to circa-1872 construction techniques in the lobby such as hand-hewn beams, while Parsons touted historic finishers soon to be added to the Country Store, such as a refurbished pot belly stove that was originally used at Camp White during World War II. Volunteer Therese Hoehne helped one Country Store customer after another at the checkout counter Saturday afternoon. When asked about top-sellers, she said, “Everything.” “We’re going to sell out of a lot of products today,” Hoehne said, estimating the pancake mixes to be among the first to go. Hoehne has volunteered 30-hour weeks coordinating a team of roughly a dozen volunteers to help mix and package the mill’s flour into prepared baking and pancake mixes, according to O’Neil. Another 10 volunteers have helped with non-code work in the mill’s reconstruction. O’Neil praised all the volunteers whose efforts brought the mill back to life. “We got a lot done with a lot of people,” O’Neil said. The store will reopen with limited but more regular hours starting Oct. 29. Afterwards, O’Neil said he hopes to open the mill roughly 3 to 4 hours a day Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. For updates on store schedules, see buttecreekmill.com or Facebook.com/ButteCreekMill . Reach web editor Nick Morgan at 541-776-4471 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @MTwebeditor.