These two grindstones from the Rice Flour Mill were found during flooding in October 1982, when the Fish Hook River rose 5 inches. Franklin and Gilbert Rice came to Park Rapids about 1880 and a year later established a mill on the Fish Hook River. Their water-powered sawmill produced rough lumber that helped settlers build, and their gristmill produced flour for settlers and feed for horses. Grain was ground using a bed stone and a runner stone suspended at the proper height above it. The miller adjusted the runner stone's height according to the grain being ground and the speed of the water wheel. The grinding faces of the millstones could be sharpened, or dressed, by a stone-dresser using a picklike hand tool called a mill bill to deepen the furrows or grooves in the stone.