When Brigham Young declared, “This is the right place” 175 years ago, his proclamation extended beyond the valley immediately before him. The first settlers arrived in Bountiful just two months after the first wagon company emerged from Emigration Canyon.

Vermont native Heber C. Kimball was 46 years old when he traveled as a member of the Vanguard Company.  One of his many business interests included the development of grist mills.  Kimball selected Bountiful as the site of one of these mills in 1852.  The project was undertaken by Daniel Davis and Isaac Hunter.  When Kimball died in 1868, his estate sold the mill to the Bountiful Cooperative Mercantile for $8,000. The mill operated for four decades until the roller mills were introduced, making this burr type of mill obsolete.  

In 1937, a replica of the grist mill was built by Daughters of Utah Pioneer and is located 30 yards east of the original mill.  The replica is located just south of Bountiful High School on Orchard Drive and is adorned with an historical marker placed by the Davis Heritage Company of Daughters of Utah Pioneers.

In 1984, as Davis County crews were constructing a debris catch site for Mill Creek, workers struggled to remove a tree during excavation.  The roots of the tree had grown and become entangled around two millstones over the course of the preceding century.  The stones are now displayed next to the replica with a marker placed by the Sons of Utah Pioneers. 

Local legend includes the story of George Quinn McNeil, a local trapper who was enlisted by Daniel Davis and Jerry Ellis to capture black bears in the Wasatch Mountains.  These bears were reportedly transported to the mill where they were trained to work. After the closure of the mill, the McNeils attempted to use the bears in a traveling show, but the venture failed due to the misbehavior of the bears.  l