Today's Old Mill District

Today's Old Mill District. Was Yesterday's Lumber Mills. , The mills may be gone, but their legacy is apparent all around us. The lumber companies spurred Bend's growth and they helped a lot of folks raise their families in this area. Today we see evidence of Mill B every time we look at the three iconic smoke stacks towering above that have defined Bend's skyline since the 1920s. That brick building was originally the powerhouse, where huge boilers were housed. The boilers were fed sawdust to create steam power that fueled the mill. Excess electricity produced was sold to Pacific Power and Light for use in other areas of Bend. , As you shop and walk around this beautiful area, imagine what a different scene you would have witnessed back when the mills were working around the clock. Can you see the black soot on the buildings in town from the ash of the powerhouse? Can you smell the sawdust? Can you hear the piercing whistle signaling each shift change? In fact, it was so loud inside the mill that they created an intricate sign language to communicate with one another. , The journey of the log-to-lumber that took place is a mighty story about strong men and women, visionaries who saw the potential in our woods and this town. Let us take a journey back in time to see how this old mill processed giant pine trees into the lumber that was used to build communities across the country. We'll follow the journey of the log-to-lumber where the mill once stood, right here along the Deschutes River, or along the pond, as it was once called by the lumbermen. , Times and technology changed over the lifetime of the mills. Horses were replaced by motorized vehicles and many mill techniques were modernized, however, the processes remained the same. Huge trees were felled in the woods, hauled to town, floated downriver to the mill, processed and shipped across the country. Lumber was even reportedly exported as far away as Cuba, China and the Middle East!