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Cedar Creek Grist Mill kicks off season with event, treats

By Tom Vogt, Columbian Science, Military & History Reporter
Published: May 28, 2017, 6:05am
4 Photos
Kurt Friedmann, left, offers his fry bread to visitors as the Cedar Creek Grist Mill, built in 1876, opens its season Saturday northeast of Woodland.
Kurt Friedmann, left, offers his fry bread to visitors as the Cedar Creek Grist Mill, built in 1876, opens its season Saturday northeast of Woodland. Photo Gallery

WOODLAND — Three paper bags filled with three possible outcomes.

Fried clams.

Pizza crust.

Orange muffins.

They all are menu options after the Cedar Creek Grist Mill opened its 2017 season Saturday.

The kickoff event, Bread and Butter Day, combined a peek into regional history with stone-ground makings for a tasty treat in the future.

Dating back to 1876, the mill northeast of Woodland is described as the oldest structure in the state of Washington that is still doing the job that it was built to do.

Volunteers operate it as a working museum where visitors learn how water from Cedar Creek was harnessed to grind wheat flower and cornmeal.

As volunteer Greg Kehn explained the process, the opening-day crowd watched the season’s first production run trickle from between the massive French-quarried millstones. Then Kehn invited people to help themselves to a lunch-bag-sized helping of bread flour, all-purpose flour or cornmeal.

There also were plenty of recipes for home-baked treats such as banana loaf and blueberry bread.

Charles Walsh of Vancouver already knew what was in his flour’s future, however.

“I’ll make orange muffins. They’re really good,” Walsh said.

It’s obvious that he’s done this sort of thing before.

“I make almost everything from scratch,” Walsh said. “I don’t like sugar or salt.”

Sticking to the day’s theme, Joan Hammel will turn her flour into home-baked bread.

It gives her sense of accomplishment, the Vancouver woman said. She enjoys kneading bread dough: “I beat on it.”

And, she added, “My husband likes to eat.”

Neal Hammel nodded his head in affirmation.

Stefanie Brown of Kelso has something else in mind for her flour.

“We just started baking pizza crusts,” Brown said. “I’ll see if this will make pizza dough.”

Lisa Jones of La Center said she has used the cornmeal for breading fried clams.

In addition to the take-home ingredients, visitors had a chance to sample a variety of cakes and other baked goods.

There also was fry bread fresh from the hot-oil cooker.

The grist mill is open on weekends during the season — Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m. and Sundays from 2 to 4 p.m.

While the mill is on the National Registry of Historic Places, it isn’t the only picturesque structure at 43907 N.E. Grist Mill Road.

A covered bridge spanning Cedar Creek was completed in 1994 and is a popular attraction.

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Columbian Science, Military & History Reporter