During the last half of the nineteenth century, the Nixon-Hagar Papermill operated on this site. Straw gathered from nearby farms was boiled and beaten into pulp, then rolled and drained to form cardboard and brown butcher paper. A dam across the river near Amphitheater Falls stored water for the mill. The river also provided convenient disposal for the wastewater squeezed from the pulp. The mill stood on artificially leveled ground held up by a massive stone wall still visible at this point, and was reached by a service road built down the cliff face. This road is now used as part of the preserve trail system. The bricks scattered across the area are from the mill's chimney which was demolished in 1942. The mill was abandoned by 1899.