Mormon Mill - Texas Ghost Town

MORMON MILL

NAME: Mormon Mill
COUNTY: Burnet
ROADS: 2WD
GRID: 1
CLIMATE: Warm winter, hot summer
BEST TIME TO VISIT:Winter, spring, fall

COMMENTS: On Private Property.
REMAINS: Cemetery and foundations and an historical marker.

That all was not peace and quiet within the Mormon Church is evidenced by the story of Mormon Mill. Upon the death of Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Brigham Young assumed the leadership role. Lyman Wight, himself a member of the Quorum of Twelve, refused to acknowledge the leadership of Young and broke from the church to form his own Mormon colony. This he did by moving to Texas in 1845 after the death of Joseph Smith. Wight and his followers, who numbered about 250, moved their settlements a number of times before arriving at a beautiful site on Hamilton Creek about ten miles downstream from the town of Burnett. There they built a gristmill and a sawmill for cutting timber into lumber and constructed many small homes in the area. The colony remained there until 1853. Beset by debt, they again moved, this time to Bandera County where they stayed until 1858 when Lyman Wight died and the colony disbanded. . SUBMITTED BY: Henry Chenoweth

That all was not peace and quiet within the Mormon Church is evidenced by the story of Mormon Mill. Upon the death of Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Brigham Young assumed the leadership role. Lyman Wight, himself a member of the Quorum of Twelve, refused to acknowledge the leadership of Young and broke from the church to form his own Mormon colony. This he did by moving to Texas in 1845 after the death of Joseph Smith. Wight and his followers, who numbered about 250, moved their settlements a number of times before arriving at a beautiful site on Hamilton Creek about ten miles downstream from the town of Burnett. There they built a gristmill and a sawmill for cutting timber into lumber and constructed many small homes in the area. The colony remained there until 1853. Beset by debt, they again moved, this time to Bandera County where they stayed until 1858 when Lyman Wight died and the colony disbanded. . SUBMITTED BY: Henry Chenoweth

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