Saws Give Way To Cutting Torches

A Pacific Recycling worker uses a torch to cut a steel log hopper on Wednesday at Diamond West Lumber Co. in Philomath, Ore. It’s been three years since the whine of big saw blades tearing through alder logs faded to silence at Diamond West Lumber on the outskirts of Philomath. Now it’s been replaced by the sputter of cutting torches as work crews dismantle what’s left of the sawmill and planer operation at 950 Clemens Mills Road. By (AP Photo/The Corvallis Gazette-Times, Jesse Skoubo)

Question: Did you or any of your relatives work at one of the old lumber mills on Lake Coeur d’Alene or the Spokane River? Which one? Any good stories to tell from those days?