



THE SECOnDPRY 















LUOOD inDUSTRIES 





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Figure 25. — Spokane, Wash., is the center oj the remanujacturing indus- 

 tries of this region and haf drawn heavily on the forests of northern 

 Idaho for raw material. 



Lumber Industry by Districts 



The racking effect of the lumber decline has not been 

 evenly distributed among the timber-producing centers 

 of northern Idaho. This can best be shown in a com- 

 parison by industrial-economic districts as in table 5 and 

 figure 23. These are the districts shown in figure 1, 

 except that Clearwater and Winchester are combined, 

 since the large mill at Lewiston in the midst of a farming 

 district obtains its logs from the forests of the Clearwater 

 district. 



In the Sandpoint district (Bonner and Boundary Coun- 

 ties), the first large lumber mill was constructed in 1900, 

 and by 1911 the industry reached a peak of 10 medium- to 

 large-size plants. The maximum lumber cut in 1925 was 

 in a sense an anticlimax, since four of these sawmills had 

 already been abandoned. Since then, the decline has been 

 sharp. In 1939 four mills of 5 million or more board feet 

 capacity were operating, but three of these were con- 



structed since 1926. Their total annual capacity is 65 

 million board feet compared with an aggregate capacity of 

 290 million board feet in more palmy days. Lumber pro- 

 duction in the Sandpoint district during recent years 

 (table 6) is actually less than the timber cut from the 

 forest, since a sizable volume of logs is now shipped from 

 this district to mills in eastern Washington and Coeur 

 d'Alene. 



In the Coeur d'Alene-St. Joe district (Kootenai, Bene- 

 wah, and Shoshone Counties), several large sawmills were 

 operating before 1900 to supply the Coeur d'Alene mine 

 field. The general influx of eastern lumbermen began 

 about the same time as in the Sandpoint district, but the 

 expansion continued longer and reached greater heights. 

 Although a few of the earlier mills ceased operating from 

 time to time, the loss of these was offset by the construction 

 of new and larger ones. The expansion culminated in 1925 

 when 17 medium to large mills sawed 469 million board 

 feet of lumber. The decline after 1925 was steady but 

 somewhat less severe than it was for the Sandpoint district. 

 By 1936 and 1937, a recovery had reached 50 percent of the 

 1925 maximum. In 1938, 11 mills were still operating and 

 the total cut ot the district was about one-third of the 

 maximum. Since 1938 the large mill at Spirit Lake has 

 ceased operating, leaving a stranded community. A 

 waning supply of timber within the district has forced the 

 remaining mills to reach far out for their logs, and the 

 abandonment of other sawmills in the Coeur d'Alene 

 district is in prospect. 



In the Clearwater-Winchester districts (Latah, Clear- 

 water, Lewis, and Nez Perce Counties), the first of the 

 larger sawmills began operating at Potlatch in 1906, but 

 not until 1927 was the industry completely expanded. 

 During this year the Lewiston sawmill (fig. 24), the largest 

 in the region, was constructed to handle the vast reservoir 



Table 5. — Lumber production in northern Idaho by districts, in millimi 

 hoard feet, lumber tall\\ 1925-38 



Year 



1925. 

 1926 

 1927 

 1928 

 1929 

 1930 

 1931- 

 1932 

 1933 

 1934- 

 1935- 

 1936. 

 1937- 

 1938 - 



Sandpoint 



236 



209 



175 



156 



137 



9fi 



71 



11 



29 



26 



28 



52 



59 



4fi 



Coeur 



d'Alene-St. 



Joe 



390 

 377 



347 

 329 

 281 

 180 

 104 

 144 

 149 

 181 

 235 

 233 

 150 



Clearwater- 

 Winchester 1 



Idaho 

 County 



247 



3 



177 



2 



236 



1 



325 



'2. 



408 



'} 



344 



1 



164 



2 



93 



■-' 



. 92 



2 



189 



2 



280 



:i 



293 



3 



331 



f, 



207 



3 



1 CombimHl. since the large mill at Lewiston draws heavily on the forests 

 of the Clearwater district. 



26 



