10 yards to the north of the gristmill replica created about half a century previously by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers. Mill history After arriving in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, Heber C. Kimball, then 1st Counselor to Brigham Young in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, decided to grist grains. He had family in the area and Bountiful (then known as the North Cañon Ward) was heavily engaged in grain production. The site in the North Mill Cañon was chosen and he received land rights in 1851. Kimball selected Daniel Davis, an early Mormon convert adopted into the Kimball family, and Davis began clearing ground on July 18, 1852. Nine months later, on April 20, 1853, Isaac Hunter and Daniel Davis laid the northwestern and southeastern cornerstones respectively. The following day, Heber C. Kimball dedicated the building. The mill was finished shortly thereafter and Davis managed the site while living in an adobe house southeast of the mill. George Quinn McNeil, a local trapper, assisted Davis. McNeil, with the help of Jerry Ellis, trapped and trained black bears from the nearby Wasatch Mountain range to work in the mills. Later, McNeil would attempt to travel the United States and show his trained black bears, but the trip was cut short as the bears "misbehaved" not far out of Bountiful. After the death of Heber C. Kimball in 1868, his estate sold the grist mills to Bountiful Cooperative Mercantile for $8,000. By 1892, the mill had stopped all operations. The building was used into the early 20th century for entertainment. References External links Buildings and structures in Bountiful, Utah Grinding mills in Utah Agricultural buildings and structures in Utah Industrial buildings completed in 1853