[2] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Marine Mill Site in 1970 for having state-level significance in the themes of exploration/settlement, industry, and transportation.

[5] Lewis Judd and David Hone identified the site, with a swift-flowing stream for power and a bank suitable for steamboats, as ideal for a sawmill during an 1838 scouting expedition.

However a widespread economic depression triggered by the Panic of 1873, delays caused by a series of log jams on the river, and the valley's dwindling lumber supply soon changed that, and the mill went bankrupt in 1885.

No action was taken until a local committee formed in 1970 to advocate for preservation, and the following year the Minnesota Legislature appropriated funds to buy the site.

In addition to the sawmill there was a planing mill, storage sheds, the steamboat levee, and piles of cut lumber, shingles, and laths.

[4] Today a historical marker stands by the entrance to the property, and an open lawn leads to an overlook of the sawmill ruins.