This Mill in Colville WA Manufactured Flour until 1960

Colville Flour Mill, Colville Washington

Date added: September 23, 2025

Categories:
Washington
Mill

Do you have an update on the current status of this structure? Please tell us about it in the comments below.

In addition to its commanding profile along the rail lines, the Colville Flour Mill retains within its walls a complete and remarkable assemblage of milling equipment and apparatus which chronicles the working life of the region's major roller mill. Central to the agricultural needs of the Colville Valley, the mill's evolution recounts the major agricultural shifts within the county and the growing diversification of grain crops. Fifty-five years of milling history literally lie in state, draped in a historic robe of fine flour dust.

The noise of the old mill has long faded, but its machinery endures; separators, grain cleaners, rollers, and grinders that once supplied essential meals for the farming community. According to a 1920 report in The Colville Examiner, the county's only flour mill kept oats, barley, corn, and wheat in stock. Farmers recall hauling in wagonloads of wheat and leaving with hundred-pound sacks of flour.

The emergence of Colville as the center of grain processing proceeded from the establishment of Fort Colville as the center of Stevens County. When established in 1858, Stevens County represented an area covering what are now thirteen counties in eastern Washington, all of northern Idaho, and much of western Montana. It was named after Isaac I. Stevens, the first territorial governor of Washington Territory, who rested at Fort Colville in 1853 before continuing on his way to Olympia to assume administration of the new territory.

Before the advent of Euro-American settlement, Kettle Falls on the Columbia River was the gathering place for fourteen tribes that fished the locale for salmon. In 1811, white explorers embarked by river to Kettle Falls and onto what would become the site of the Fort Colville trading post. Established in 1825, it was the principal outpost for Hudson's Bay Company operations stretching from the Mississippi River to the Cascade Mountains.

The early trappers were aware that gold and silver existed; however, fearing that such news would start a migratory invasion destructive to the fur trade, news of discoveries was curtailed. Thus, gold and silver were not "officially" discovered in Stevens County until 1854 and 1883, respectively. What began as placer or surface mining quickly evolved into more advanced, as well as expensive, lode or hard rock mining. Precious metals such as magnesite were also discovered, making Stevens County one of the finest mineral-producing areas in the state and the nation.

With the development of the mining industry came the advent of a rail system to ship the ores. By the turn of the century, the Spokane Falls and Northern railroads had reached the town of Colville and Marcus. It would later expand to include mining towns such as Northport in Stevens County, Nelson, and Rossland in British Columbia. On the heels of the railroad came the Colville Flour Mill in 1905, which started Colville on its way to becoming the retail, industrial, and government center of northeast Washington. The Colville Flour Mill was the only mill north of Spokane to commercially serve what eventually became Ferry, Pend Oreille, and Stevens Counties. The mill finally ceased operation in 1960 as more consolidated flour products from afar penetrated the local market. By serving the dual purposes of feed supply store and milling museum, the former flour mill remains accessible to the general public.

Related Flour Mills in Washington State

Few flour mills remain across the state. The Cedar Creek Mill in Clark County, the earliest structure in the group is situated over a creek and clad with board and batten siding. This building no longer contains the original milling equipment. The J.C. Barron Mill in Oakesdale, which retains a catalog of period milling equipment, began operation in the 1890s and was the most substantial operation in this part of the Palouse. Famed for its fine grinding of Palouse Flour, the Dybdall Mill near Cheney is a highly deteriorated, board-and-batten structure that also contains much of the original equipment. Near Ellensburg, the Thorp Mill of the 1890s contains what is believed to be the oldest collection of original mill machinery. By comparison, the Colville Flour Mill is notable for its retention of milling equipment and for its long service in the region.

Accounts from the Colville Examiner, except where otherwise noted:

• 1905--Began construction of Colville flour Mills.

• 1906--The mill was erected by Lasswell Bros. (J.L. and J.H.) for $20,000. Most of the raw grain products were shipped in and the mill was idle most of the time.

A rail car of flour was shipped from the Colville mill to aid people suffering from the San Francisco earthquake and fire.

• 1908--Feb. 10^th, Stevens County Reveille called for "wail or protest" against removal of the flour mill, as proposed by one of the Lasswells.

The mill was closed down "on account of the wheat situation, a shortage of wheat, and wheat differentials on freight between here and Big Bend country."

• 1911--July 15^th, Spokesman Review. the mill is leased by Lasswell Bros, to Isaac Zehner and F.A. Davis. It was leased for one year, with an option to buy that property during the time of the lease. Zehner, an experienced mill man, said he would overhaul the machinery.

Once railway freight robbery ceased, it was anticipated that Colville could be competitive statewide with its milled products.

By October the mill was running full capacity, with flour shipped out by the carload. Davis and Zehner were a team for 18 months.

• Oct. 14^th, Spokesman Review. The products of the Colville Flouring mill were becoming so popular throughout northeastern Washington that the mill was running full capacity, and flour was being shipped out by the carload. Grain producers had a cash market and many big loads were coming into the city daily. The proprietors were putting out three brands. The mill also turned out bran, short, farina, graham, whole wheat and cornmeal flour. Exchanges of flour and other products for wheat were made with the ranchers.

W.C. Cables, the head miller, had 35 years of experience in the milling business. He was for eight years foreman of some of the largest mills in Portland, Oregon.

• 1914--Aug. 22^nd, Colville Examiner. Dale Jones and "Zuck" leased the mill, this time for "a number of years." Capacity output was claimed to be 100 barrels a day of milled grains. They manufactured Top Notch cereals, flour and feed, the different products being Top Notch and Standard flour, graham, farina, whole-wheat, and cornmeal. The entire machinery and equipment had been overhauled and improved.

Colville Examiner advertisement: Colville Flour Mills, Manufacturers of Top Notch Flour Cereals and Feed, are in the market for grain. Come in and see us for prices. Products will be on market Sept, 1^st, carried by all grocers and dealers in Colville and adjacent towns. Jones & Zuck Millers.

• 1916--July 15^th, Colville Examiner. Jones and Zuck bought the mill from Lasswell. Capacity was up to 125 barrels a day, and 26,000 bushels of Stevens County wheat were brought to the mill that fall. The name of the mill was changed to Top Notch Flour Mills.

The local paper wrote: "Before returning home they (area grain growers) go on a purchasing expedition at the various stores, and thus the money is kept at home." Popular wheats were Blue Stem and Marguis, and wheat production increased significantly.

The Top Notch mills also manufactured another first-class brand of flour, made entirely from home-grown Blue Stem wheat. It was called Good Flour. Every sack of Good Flour carried a guarantee from the mill proprietors.

Aug. 16^th, Colville Examiner advertisement: We will pay $100 for the best 100 bushels of Marquis Wheat raised in Stevens county, de-livered to the flour mill. Samples to be submitted to the laboratory for strength and quality

• 1917--Sept. 7^th, Colville Examiner. An addition was built for the warehouse and office. Over 500 people assembled at the new warehouse Sept. 7^th, for the annual harvest dance given by the mill management.

• Sept. 28^th, Spokesman Review. The capital stock of the Top Notch flour mill Co. had been increased from $5,000 to $20,000 according to a certificate filed with the county auditor.

• 1918--Jones purchased the mill from Zuck

• 1920--Dec. 11^th, Colville Examiner. Stem wheat are used almost exclusively. The wheat when received was all placed in one big bin where it remained for thirty to sixty days or more before the grinding was started. A supply of both soft and hard wheat flours was kept at all times by the mill.

This mill was the only flour mill in Stevens county.

The Top Notch Mill appreciated the patronage of the people of the community. A symbol of their appreciation was to have on hand three beautiful art calendars for 1921 which they would give to their patrons this season.

• 1921--A Top Notch advertised read as the following: BAKE BISCUITS FOR THE BOY or girl as well as bread. They are just as nourishing and make a welcome change. But be sure the flour is Top Notch Flour. For growing children and grown ups too Top Notch flour is one of the very best food makers on earth,

• 1922--Colville Examiner advertisement. Top Notch Flour Mills advertised "Variety, Just what the interested housewife is eternally seeking. Fluffy flour muffins, delicious hot biscuits, tempting hot rolls, are only a few of the many hot breads that can be made with our flour..."

• 1923--Nov. 10^th, Colville Examiner. The mill was purchased from Dale Jones by John Bresnahan and Dan Droz for $14,000.

The name of the business was changed from the Top Notch mills to the Colville Flour mills. The building now occupied by the Colville Feed company was used as a warehouse for the mills with a capacity of 120 barrels of flour a day. The mills expanded to meet the demands of patrons. They handled about 120,000 bushels of wheat a year besides a large amount of oats, barley, and rye. The high quality of flour produced by the mills had greatly reduced the importing of outside flour.

• 1924--Jan. 5^th, Colville Examiner. "Log Cabin Flour, A Stevens County Product," was introduced by the mill.

A pancake mixer was added to operations. It mixed 100 pounds of ingredients in half an hour, and produced 3,000 pounds of pancake flour, which was packaged in five-pound bags.

• 1925--July 8^th, Colville Examiner. Just before July 4^th, the area's most severe earthquake in 51 years made its presence noticeable at the Colville Flour Mill. The early evening tremor swayed the 4.5-story building, but no damages were reported.

• Aug. 1^st, Colville Examiner. Colville Flour Mills install new Carter Disc Cleaner for cleaning of wheat to separate all weeds and foreign material. It is one of the best cleaning machines on the market according to Lester Cohrs, Miller.

• 1928--Dec. 29^th, Colville Examiner. The mill advertised "Log Cabin Egg Mash: Log Cabin mash and Log Cabin scratch, plus a clean hen house are a sure way to profits."

• 1929--Jan. 12^th, Colville Examiner Advertisement: Log Cabin Egg Mash contains Oat Flour, Bran, Middlings, Charcoal, Meat meal, Cornmeal, Salt. Colville Flour Mills, "The home of Log Cabin Flour and Cereal." Phone 1285.

• 1960--The mill ceased production early in the decade.

• 1993--Colville Statesman Examiner. The mill is open to the public during business hours. Visitors touring the old mill have come from Bellingham, British Columbia and Texas.

Property Description

The Colville Flour Mill is a four-and-a-half-story, rough-sawed wood frame building located on the corner of First Avenue and Railroad Street, in the northeast Washington farming community of Colville. The structure is situated along the railroad tracks, located in the industrial area of Colville.

The main and original portion of the mill, measuring thirty-two feet by forty-two feet, was constructed in 1905, with operation of the mill beginning in 1906. On the north side, a stacked plank, crib grain elevator was added in 1930. (Another grain elevator was built on the opposite side of the street in 1941.) The entire east end of the building is now covered by a feed mill, which was constructed in 1950. The exterior of the feed mill exhibits the same horizontal siding as the original building. The added feed mill rises higher than the rest of the structure, and features a low gabled roof on the projecting center of the structure and small windows for ventilation.

Windows throughout are six-over-six, double-hung sash. The original core building is capped by a monitor-type roof, with three windows on each side.

The mill proper rests on a foundation of wooden sills on local rock and mortar. Flooring for the mill is fir. The original cedar shingles on the roof were first replaced with composition and later with the present galvanized steel. The original white paint was repeated in 1930 and 1950, and is now deteriorating, with the old "Colville Flour Mill" lettering showing through.

To the immediate west of the mill is a spur track of the former Great Northern Railroad, now Burlington Northern. These tracks currently service the feed store, which is located on the ground floor of the mill.

Buried under the concrete walkway (poured in 1980 to provide handicap access) is a nine-foot wide raised ramp. A pit beneath the ramp and a floor designed for dumping grain allowed for the unloading of grain from farm wagons. The pit drains into a belt-and-cup elevator, which transported wheat to the top of the crib building for distribution to four flat-bottom bins, three small hopper-bottom bins, and a grain cleaner. The capacity of each flat-bottom bin is eight hundred bushels.

Although portions of the first floor level of the flour mill were remodeled in 1980, the original eleven-by-eleven-inch support posts were retained in place, as are many of the original wooden spouts which provided for gravity drainage from the overhead bins. The original four flat-bottom bins were cut into in 1980, and converted into office space for the feed store. Just above the offices are the original crib bins, which extend to the top of the mill where the distributor spouts are still poised to pour grain into the bins. The sixty-foot-high, gable-roofed head house projects above the crib bins adjoining the north end of the flour mill. The head house contains the upper portions of the belt and cup conveyor, electric motor, and distributor head. One window placed on the north allows light into the head house.

Ground floor

Originally, two large, rectangular wooden exterior sliding doors were centrally located, facing west onto the railroad siding. One of the doors has been covered with insulation and peg board, the other one is still useable. A smaller, but similar door was located at the east side of the warehouse to load local customers' wagons. These doors were placed to facilitate loading rail cars and wagons with the finished flour, which was stored in cloth sacks in the building. Access from the flour mill proper was provided by a large doorway at the east end of the flour mill, and is currently used by customers and visitors entering the current feed store/museum.

Large, double vertical plane wooden doors are located on the east facade of the feed mill addition on each of the floors. A large beam was extended several feet beyond the structure above the center of the uppermost door. By means of a pulley secured to the east end of the beam, heavy machinery could be brought into the building from the ground level.

A straight stairway leading to the second floor is located in the center of the first floor. A number of eleven-by-eleven-inch posts are spaced regularly on the floor and support the eleven-by-eleven-inch ceiling beams. Framing consists of mortises and tenons and wooden pegging.

Machinery on the first floor included two sacking machines for sacking flour, breakfast cereal, and pancake mix. The addition to the east of the flour mill, built in 1950, housed a pelleter for making dog food, a roller, mixer, molassifyer, and bagger for making livestock feed and a treater, cleaner, and bagger, for seed grain. This equipment was sold and removed from the building when Fuhrmans converted the first floor to a feed and hardware store in 1980.

Second Floor

Fourteen feet above the first floor is the second floor. The southwest corner functioned as a workshop. Various tools and benches remain in place. The southeast corner contains the stairway to the third floor. The drive shaft for the second floor machinery is near the ceiling, suspended by hangers. A five-foot by six-foot trap door allows heavy machinery to be hoisted through the floors to each level. The machine and grain spouts are still in place. The second floor of the east wing housed a seed treating plant that was removed and sold in 1980 to gain funds for the restoration of the first floor. Eleven-inch by eleven-inch, rough-cut fir posts support eleven-by-eleven-inch support beams and ceiling joists.

Machinery in original locations and working positions includes the following:

1) A row of five style A, Allis Chalmers Co. Roller Mills, patented Nov. 18^th, 1888. (Also one disassembled roller.)

2) Clipper Grain Cleaner #16, patented July 10^th, 1879.

3) Willford Percentage Measuring and Blending Machine Patent applied for.

4) Columbriam Feed Governor, patented Aug. 20^th, 1883.

5) Fifteen Horse Electric Induction Motor (M.F.G.) by General Electric, patented March 14^th, 1883.

6) Caulkin slurry seed treater and bagger.

7) 500 lb. Fairbanks portable scales.

8) 100 lb. Howe portable scale.

9) 200 Ib. Balance beam scale.

Third Floor

The third floor, thirteen-foot-high ceiling is supported by nine-and-a-half inch by nine-and-a-half inch wooden posts and ceiling beams jointed by wooden pegs. The stairway to the fourth floor is in the southeast corner. A fifty-five-gallon barrel of water, two fire pails, and a Mill Mutual Insurance sign giving directions for fire prevention are found at the head of the stairs. A five-foot-by-six-foot trap door is underfoot.

Machinery intact on the third floor include the following:

1) Clipper Bran Cleaner #16, patented July 10^th, 1879.

2) Size D pancake sifting machine (M.F.G.) by The Gedge - Gray Co.

3) 200 lb. balance beam.

4) Two of Perrigault's flour sieve Reliance Purifiers M.F.G. by Allis Chalmers Co., patented March 6^th, 1888.

5) Niagro Dust Collector M.F.G. by Richmond Co., patented Oct. 21^st, 1902.

6) Two cyclone type dust collectors.

7) Flour mixer, patented May 10^th, 1904, sits over a three foot diameter flour sieve.

Fourth Floor

Access to the tops of the elevator bins as well as the narrow stairs to the head house are located on the fourth floor. The thirteen foot ceiling is supported by nine half-inch posts and beams and features a tool bench with original tools.

The fourth floor contains the following machinery:

1) Grain separator M.F.G. by the S. Howes Co. at the turn of the century.

2) Plan sifter M.F.G. by Allis Chalmers Co., patented England, 1892, and USA, Sept. 18^th, 1894.

3) Cyclone bran collector.

4) The Forester Cyclone Grain Scourer size #15, patented Apr. 29^th, 1930.

5) Water devise for scrubber.

6) Graves Patent Flout Dresser, Allis Centrifigul Size 0 M.F.G., by A Chalmers Co., patented Feb. 6^th, 1894.

7) Wheeler self powered telephone to communicate with lower floors.

8) Coil of 6 3/4 inch leather belting.

Fifth Floor

The climb to the top floor leads to a seven-foot-high room containing the power shaft, which was powered by leather belts from the ground floor. Seven-inch steel pulleys are connected to twelve wood-encased grain legs, which brought whole wheat from the ground floor in three, half-inch steel cups attached to four-inch continuous canvas belts. The peak of the building has a fire alarm system consisting of lead wire that, when heated to the point of melting, will set off the alarm.

Building Operation

Located in the northwest corner of the mill is the fifteen-foot-high electric room, which held the fifty-horse, three-foot-high electric motor. The motor features a window for viewing the copper windings. The drive shafts and wheels currently protrude into the first floor and have become part of the decor of the feed store.

This motor was the predominant power for the milling operation. The motor turned a long, ten-inch-wide, double-ply drive belt made of leather. The main belt turned a long drive shaft which powered, via leather belts, the machines located on each floor. Additional belts served to transfer power to the long, south-north-oriented drive shafts on each of the upper floors.

The various machines and bins of the flour mill are connected by several square-shaped, clear-grained, beaded fir gravity chutes, which retain a high degree of craftsmanship. The spouts have been finished with shellac.

Alternations since 1906 have been few to the original flour mill itself. Among the changes were the addition of a warehouse and office in 1917, reroofing and repainting, the addition of a crib elevator in 1930, the addition of a seed plant and feed mill to the east side in 1950, and the conversion of the first floor into a retail feed store in 1980. Unfortunately, the sackers and original fifty-horse-powered electric motor were junked in 1980. Also, several of the original leather belts were given away, although one was found rolled up in a corner on the third floor and is now saved for viewing. All the equipment on the second, third, and fourth floors are intact and open to the public.