The Mill was purchased by Don & Carolyn Riedlinger in 1997 and
meticulously moved to its present location in Gilbert, Arizona, where it was
completed in 1999. The ownership list passed from Swope through family
lines to Doug Kiser. Leroy B. Custer, great-great grandfather of Kiser,
operated the mill until his death in 1926. His mill brought customers from
far & near because of the white flour he produced.
The original mill stood 4-stories with the first floor of solid stone. In the
1920s, Leroy's sons used a roller mill that produced a finer, whiter flour
than the old stone grinders. "American (Midget) Marvel" is still legible
across the front of the roller mill, now displayed behind Shenandoah Mill in
the Enchanted Garden.
A system of wooden chutes funneled grain down to the millstones. Another
system of chutes, with cupped belts inside, lifted flour back up the higher
floors so it would fall through bolting or sifting equipment and eventually
into bags or bins. Known in recent history as the Muddy Creek Roller Mill, it
turned out "Custer's Best" flour until it was washed out in a flood in 1942.
