A Tribute to Peach, Washington III
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(micro)
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A Micro up a short steep bank overlooking the site of the Lincoln Saw Mill. This is snake country so be careful. Use a stick.
The History of the Lincoln Mill
NOTE: There is a key hint within the text of this history.
The G.W. Emerson Lumber Company originally owned a sawmill near Deer Park in Spokane County. In 1908, it was moved to Gerome in Stevens County, and in 1918 it was moved again, this time to Old Lincoln, located at the mouth of the Spokane River, where it employed 30 to 40 men. In the late 1930's, during the construction of Grand Coulee Dam, the family company sold the mill to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
Lester Farrish, with Hal Dixon as his partner, bought the mill from the bureau and moved it to a new site at what is called Lincoln. With the mill in its new location, they began to operate the Lincoln Lumber Company, sawing logs that were being cut from the clearing for the Coulee Dam reservoir. As the water started flooding the reservoir, rattlesnakes were regular visitors to the camp area, and some would even ride the logs right into the mill.
While the reservoir filled up and the logs were sawed, World War II began. With their lumber business doing so well, the owners decided to extend it. The lumbering prospects on the Colville Indian Reservation looked good, and in the spring of 1942 a contract was negotiated with the Colville Indians for timber.
In 1941, laborers of the sawmill organized a union shop, forming Local 2935 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, with Orin Little as the first president.
It wasn't long until a mill town began to grow around the sawmill. During the early years, a bunkhouse and cookhouse were maintained for many of the workers. About 40 homes were soon established in the area, and in 1940 Areta and Ella Davis built a store and post office. Students from Lincoln attended school at Creston, and the two communities became closely related.
The company struggled through the war years, going without repair parts for equipment, but it continued to cut lumber, which was shipped by barge up the river to Kettle Falls, then by rail to the Western Pine Company in Spokane for final processing.
After the war, the Lincoln Lumber Company continued to grow. It had big plans that were quickly changed when on a January evening in 1946 a fire, started by an arc welder, leveled the sawmill to the ground. First of many changes was the reorganization of the company, with new partners -- Dr. Ed Abrams, Grant Dixon Sr, Grant Dixon Jr, Harold Carmen and Gayle Beals. With reorganization, plans were rapidly made to rebuild the mill on the same site. Three portable circle mills were moved in to keep up production during construction of the new mill. Enough lumber was produced to build the new mill and continue to sell on the market.
At this time, new equipment was difficult to obtain, and as plans began to develop, Beals and Lester Farrish, one of the original owners, spent many hours traveling to assemble parts needed for a sawmill. The micro is attached to a 2x10 product of the mill at the top of the bank under a tree. In May1948, the new mill went into operation, a dream come true for Farrish. The new mill was the most modern of its time.
Disaster again struck the company in July 1948. Farrish was killed at Grand Forks, B.C., when the plane he was flying failed to clear some trees on takeoff and crashed. Between July 1948 and January 1953, the plant was operated under the guidance of Beals and Carmen.
On 1 January 1953, the Lincoln Lumber Company merged with the Valsetz Lumber Company of Portland, and shortly after, Beals became general manager of the sawmill and the woods, and Leonard Johnson became the plant manager. In 1955, Beals moved to LaGrande, Oregon, to manage the Valsetz Company, and Royce Saterlee became manager of the woods. The mill was now operated under the name of Templeton Lumber Company.
In July 1959 the Valsetz Lumber Company merged with Boise Cascade Corporation, and in March 1960 the mill began operating under the Boise Cascade name. While with Boise Cascade, the mill had three managers - Leonard Johnson, Robert Beckley and Larry Miller. The Planer mill was moved from Spokane to Lincoln in September 1967, and the Boise Cascade Trucking Division was relocated to Creston shortly afterward. A lumber storage yard was laid our in Creston and the finished lumber was shipped by rail.
Congrats of lilman98 for FTF
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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