A number of farms and ranches were homesteaded in the area during the 1870s and had ready markets in the towns of Elko, Tuscarora, and Eureka. The town did not form until March of 1881 when the Eureka Flour Mill Company was organized. The mill cost $19,000 to construct and began operation in November and produced eighty barrels of flour a day. The small town of Lee soon had a population of fifty. The mill caught fire in 1910 and burned to the ground. The mill was rebuilt and functioned until 1917 when rationing during World War I rendered the mill useless. It was used as a recreation hall until it burned in the 1930s. The population began to shrink over the years even though improvements arrived in the form of telephone lines in 1911 and electricity in 1963. The school district, however, was abolished in 1957. Today, Lee is a quiet town with a population of about fifty. A number of old buildings, including the school, still stand.

Submitted by: HBC