Two brothers, Nate and Chad Silvernail, recently completed an independent digital conservation project to preserve the Cottonwood Paper Mill in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. Using drones and photogrammetry, they generated a highly detailed 3D model of the structure after learning of its potential demolition. Originally constructed between 1880 and 1883 from local granite, the mill served as the first large-scale paper production facility for the local newspaper called the Deseret News. Although a fire gutted the interior in 1893, the massive stone walls remained a landmark for over a century, transitioning from an industrial hub to a 1920s dance hall and eventually a seasonal haunted house before its condemnation in 2005.
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