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AMERICAN FORK — Preserving Utah's pioneer history is the goal of the American Fork chapter of the Sons of the Utah Pioneers.
In keeping with that spirit, Daniel Adams couldn't be happier with the newly completed replica of a pioneer-era grist mill from a cabin that has its roots in the early history of American Fork.
"This was built originally by my great-grandfather Arza Madsen Adams back in the winter of 1850-1851 when they first moved here to American Fork," Adams said.
The cabin hadn't been used in decades. A few years ago Adams, with the help of several volunteers in the community, had an idea to help preserve it.
"We took this cabin apart, log by log back in 2012, and were searching for a place to rebuild it," Adams said.
City leaders decided that Centennial Park would be a perfect spot for the cabin, not far from where Arza Adams had the first grist mill and ground wheat into flour for the city's first residents.
Adams and the volunteers got to work, and with some donations for materials, rebuilt the cabin into a replica grist mill, including a working water wheel.
"It is 8 feet tall, and it would have had a lot of torque to turn the millstones that were inside," Adams said.
Those original millstones are in the city cemetery at the grave of Arza Adams. His great-grandson hopes this replica will give those who see it more appreciation for those early settlers.
"I have a greater respect for the skill of my great-grandfather to be able to have the (wherewithal) to build a water wheel in those early years when they didn't have the equipment that we had," Adams said. "They had to do it all by hand."
The project helps to pay tribute to those pioneers and preserve the city's history for generations to come.
