Horse races, hard cider, and dynamite are some of the raucous elements peppering the history of the last water-powered mill in Oregon. Thompson’s Flouring Mills, once known as Boston Mill, has perched over the Calapooia River since it was built in 1858, before Oregon was even a state. So it’s no wonder that a little drama has popped up from time to time. But much of that history is not obvious to visitors today—at least not at first. Since 2004, the serene mill and its surrounding bucolic homestead have been…
