Brent’s Mill first industrial enterprise in Okanagan
Built in 1871, Brent’s Grist Mill was the first industrial enterprise in the Okanagan Valley, and is the oldest surviving grist mill building in British Columbia.
Frederick Brent was one of the earliest European settlers in what is now the Central Okanagan.
He was born Frederick Whendt in Germany in 1827, and immigrated to the United States as a young man, where his surname was changed to Brent by a customs official.
He joined the US Army in 1857, later acting as a scout and escort for miners heading into British Columbia.
In 1865, Brent settled on a farm at the south end of Duck Lake, north of present-day Kelowna, near upper Pion (Mill) Creek.
Brent purchased this property from the Parsons brothers. This site was previously the location of Father Pandosy, Father Richard and Brother Surel’s first Oblate Mission in the Okanagan in the winter of 1859-1860.
It was at this farm that Brent built one of the first irrigation systems in the Okanagan Valley.
In the early 1870s, Brent purchased a 160-acre farm from early French settlers, August Calmels and his partner Chapuis, so his growing family could attend Father Pandosy’s school.
Brent proceeded to build a two-storey hand-hewn log house constructed from thirty foot long ponderosa pine logs, and a grist mill also of hand-hewn pine logs.
Brent imported the best mill stones of the day, quarried in the Marne Valley, near Chalons in the north of France.
He traveled to San Francisco to buy the necessary machinery which arrived by sailing ship in Victoria, then was transported to Yale.
It then traveled by freight wagon over the Cariboo Trail, and by lake and river steamer to Fortune’s Landing (Enderby) on the Spallumcheen River.
There Brent loaded the machinery onto a homemade wagon and transported it to the head of Okanagan Lake, where it was carefully placed into a row boat.
When Brent and his machinery arrived in Okanagan Mission, it was placed onto a horse-drawn sledge to travel the last four miles overland to his property, and was installed in the building already constructed on his farm at the base of Dilworth Mountain, in what is now Kelowna.
The grist mill was immediately successful. Local natives and settlers from up and down the Valley, brought their grain to be ground into flour.
Many camps were often seen set up along Pion Creek, with customers waiting their turn at the mill.
Often the men and boys would hold pony races and contests in the near-by fields to keep themselves amused.
It could take 24 hours to grind half a ton of wheat, with Brent’s fee being one-third.
The mill operated from spring break-up until early winter each year.
In 1883, Brent won a diploma at the World’s Fair in Antwerp, Belgium for the spring wheat flour he had ground at his mill.
Frederick Brent was known far and wide for his hospitality and the annual Bachelor Ball that was held at his house.
In addition to being a miller, Brent was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1872.
He raised a family of six children, with many of his descendants still residing in Kelowna and throughout the Okanagan.
The house at the site, which was damaged by fire in early July, was also built by Frederick Brent and pre-dates the grist mill.
This house is constructed from 30 foot long squared ponderosa pine logs and was the home of Frederick Brent and his family from 1871 to 1893.
In 1893, Brent sold the house and entire property to Englishman J. T. Davis, who used the house as a hunting lodge and papered the walls of the log house with British newspaper sheets.
Davis in turn sold the property to John Dilworth in 1900.
Between 1900 and 1908 Dilworth undertook a major remodeling of the log house.
He installed milled siding on the house and added plaster walls on the inside, indicating the pattern of improvements made to pioneer houses as the settlers prospered and started using more refined materials and techniques.
He added the rear shed roofed storage area, the porch and veranda and two corbelled chimneys.
In 1908, soon after these alterations were completed, Dilworth sectioned the Brent Farm and an 87 acre lot that included the house and mill which was purchased by William Fleming.
Fleming farmed the property until 1925 and then sold the property to John Gervers who lived on the farm for the next 34 years.
The grist mill and house are rare surviving structures from the 1870s, when there was a recession throughout the province and little construction occurred.
As such, they are a valuable representation of the building practices of pioneer times.
There is hope that part of the house, listed on the Canadian Register of Historic Places as Fleming House, can be saved.
Although the house itself has endured significant damage from the recent fire, its basic square timber structure is still intact.
The original mill stones from the grist mill are in the collection of the Okanagan Heritage Museum (Kelowna).
The grist mill can be viewed from the Okanagan Rail Trail cycling/walking path along the base of Dilworth Mountain.
The park also includes the Pollinator Project’s gardens.
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