In 1850, L.D.S. Church Apostle Ezra Taft Benson was authorized by President Brigham Young to develop a mill site at Twin Springs Creek to serve Mormon communities in Tooele County. A sawmill began operating in 1851, and in 1854 the Lee brothers, skilled pioneer artisans, were hired to build the mill, using large mortised timbers hauled by team and wagon from the nearby Oquirrh Mountains. In 1855 the millsite community became known as Richville and served as the county seat until 1861, when Tooele City was designated. In 1860 the E.T. Benson Flour Mill had one male employee and one run of millstones and produced 1,200 barrels of flour, 72,000 pounds of bran, and 56,000 pounds of corn meal, together valued at $17,000. That same year Brigham Young acquired the mill when E.T. Benson moved to Cache Valley. By 1862 the mill was called Young and Rowberry's, with Bishop John Rowberry noted as an early resident of the Milltown, or Richville, area, and the mill reportedly processed 200 bushels of wheat per day under a 250 horsepower capacity. In 1922 J. Reuben Clark, Jr., a U.S. ambassador to Mexico and later an apostle in the Mormon church, purchased the mill. Before then, its original wooden waterwheel and millstones had been replaced by a metal turbine and imported free-standing grain breakers. After flour-milling operations ended in 1938, the mill was used for several years to grind animal feed. In 1983 a volunteer committee was organized to acquire and restore the historic mill after Terracor Corp. donated it to Tooele County, and it was listed on the National Register in 1972.