Posted by David Sherman on Monday, January 16, 2006 at 12:31PM :
In Reply to: Re: The end of an era posted by Russ/Wyo on Monday, January 16, 2006 at 10:04AM :
There are lots of sawmills doing very well these days, especially new ones with automated equipment and thin-kerf saws and ways to utilize all the byproducts. The end of the era that the Atlas Mill represents is the end of sawmilling in Coeur D'Alene, a city that was built on sawmilling because it's the place where the railroad meets a lake that used to provide access to the great White Pine timber of North Idaho. It's also the end of the era of big old-fashioned mills that could chew up a lot of big logs in a day, but didn't necessarily make the most lumber out of them. There are many smaller mills that are doing well, and some of the really big ones have retooled for modern (small and expensive) logs.