The Potlatch Lumber Company was founded in 1903. In 1900, Frederick Weyerhaeuser and other investors bought white pine forestland in North Central Idaho. In 1906, the company created its first sawmill along the Potlatch River. The area around the mill became a company town. The mill grew to become the largest white pine mill in the world. It would hold this title for 20 years.
In 1926, the Clearwater Timber Company, which was also founded by Weyerhaeuser, would create the Clearwater Mill in Lewiston, ID. It would take over the title of the world’s largest white pine mill from Potlatch.
Historical Marker Inscription
Potlatch Lumber Company’s Sawmill Built Here in 1906, Was One of the Largest in the World.
Expanding operations to the West, Weyerhaeuser timber barons invested in Idaho’s prime white pine stands. By 1920, their mill was cutting 175 million board feet each year. Logs and lumber were moved by the Washington, Idaho and Montana Railway through stations uniquely named for eastern colleges: Yale, Princeton, Harvard, Cornell, Purdue.
Text prepared by the Potlatch Historical Committee and the Idaho State Historical Society
Marker Made and Installed by Idaho Transportation Department
Historical Markers of the World 