EAGLE POINT, Ore. — The non-profit the Butte Creek Mill Foundation is continuing it’s fight to raise money to rebuild the mill nearly 3 years after it burned to the ground.
But some residents are caught in a fight of their own… as the transfer of the mill to the foundation is leading them to worry that a different part of their town’s history is at stake.
The Butte Creek Mill has been a part of Eagle Point since 1872. And it’s not just the mill, but Little Butte Creek behind it, which has been providing water for some residents in the community for generations.
Bob Russell, the Mayor of Eagle Point, owned the Butte Creek Mill for 12 years.
He remembers waking up on Christmas morning nearly three years ago, to see the mill up in flames.
“After the fire there wasn’t too much left, so we’ve tried to keep as much as the original as we possibly can…,” said Russell.
But Russell wasn’t the mill’s only owner; it’s been a historic landmark of Eagle Point since 1872.
About a hundred years ago, Russell says the mill’s owners and some residents living on Royal Avenue made a verbal agreement…one that Russell and the mill’s previous owners have always honored.
“As that water comes to the mill, they just siphon off a little bit of it for their irrigation. It’s been really easy,” said Russell.
The agreement was some residents could get water from Little Butte Creek from an electrical meter that also powers the mill.
“This is the pump. It pumps water out of this mill race underneath the street to irrigate residential property…,” said Russell.
However, since Russell sold the mill to a non-profit – the Butte Creek Mill Foundation – they want to move the electrical meter that currently powers both the mill and pump.
“The mill pays one electrical bill and the friar ditch should be paying another electrical bill,” said Susan Kupillas, President of the Butte Creek Mill Foundation.
Kupillas says she and others were unaware of any arrangement residents in the community had with the mill about the water.
“We’re feeling badly about that…that things need to change but they did change… the day the mill burned down things changed drastically.”
Residents have until the 15th of September to find a solution whether it means getting water from the city or to buy their own electrical meter.
That’s not sitting well with residents like Randy Sell, who says he owns the second oldest property in Eagle Point.
“When we have an entity that’s trying to preserve history and yet they’re causing other parts of history to be dissolved as an entity because of a burden that they’re creating…it doesn’t seem right,” said Sell.
He says they’ve hired a water surveyor who’s currently looking into their water rights… but it’s not just about the water.
“The situation that we’re dealing with now is a board that doesn’t understand that you have to co-exist when you have water going through your property.”
According to the Butte Creek Mill Foundation’s website, it’s raised more than $1.4 million dollars to support the “Rebuild the Mill” campaign. That’s over halfway to it’s 2.5 million dollar fundraising goal.
The foundation hopes it will re-open the mill early next year.
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