Timber Town Says Farewell To Old Sawmill

Hundreds of people in the timber town of Salmon have turned out to watch the sawmill auctioned away, while some of the machinery heads out of state or overseas.

The Salmon Intermountain Sawmill, a fixture for the past 50 years, was sold a piece at a time Thursday.

After a six-month shutdown, Salmon Intermountain president Dallas Olson in August announced the mill would be sold. Timber, tied up in the red tape of the Endangered Species Act and environmental appeals, has been scarce and high-priced.

The mill closure was costing its owners $40,000 per month, Olson said. It employed about 40 people.

The closure is just another in a long string to go out of business in the Northwest, said Joe Hinson of the Intermountain Forest Industry Association. Because the cost of building a sawmill is so great now, it is unlikely many will ever be replaced. The industry, he said, is battling to save the remaining ones.

Those looking for bargains on Thursday found them. On the block were motors, forklifts, conveyors and even buildings.

St. Louis mill owner Floyd Gibson rode to Salmon with friends and drove home in a logging truck he bought.

Brokers who scour the country for specialties such as electrical equipment are regulars at auctions. Lately they’ve been spending more time at sawmills.

Seattle machinery broker Harry McVeehy said Salmon’s loss is probably another country’s gain.

“This infrastructure here is going for pennies on the dollar,” he said. “It’s being dismantled here and it’s being rebuilt in places where there are no environmental restraints.”