Oregon Public Broadcasting

Dozens of sawmills are being idled around the Northwest because of plummeting demand for lumber.  No surprise that the national slump in the housing market gets the blame.

The latest casualties include Stimson Lumber Company's Coeur d'Alene mill.  On Monday, it expects to process its final log.

This mill's days were numbered anyway because of the transformation of the town it's in.  Correspondent Tom Banse reports on the end of an era in Coeur d'Alene.

Lumber mill manager Mike Telford was raised in a small panhandle town. Coeur d'Alene was the nearest city.

Stimson Lumber Mill Manager Mike Telford

Mike Telford: "Back in the years of growing up in St. Maries, Idaho, us high school chums came over to Coeur d'Alene and drove up and down Sherman Ave. on Friday nights, had a good time there."

Telford remembers at least five sawmills on the lakefront and river in the 1960's.

Mike Telford: "As far as I'm concerned that's what built the North Idaho region is logging and timber and mining."

Now the land where the local mills once stood sprouts condos, restaurants, banks, and trails.

Mike Telford: "Which is sad to say the least, but times do change."

Today, Coeur d'Alene is best known as a booming resort town.  Telford managed the last mill standing and next will oversee its dismantling. His favorite sound is going silent.

The wood crashing off a conveyor told him the mill was running steady.

Portland-based Stimson Lumber is selling its mill property to a local developer.  Stimson owns ten other sawmills around the Northwest.

The property buyer may flip the waterfront parcel to North Idaho College, which wants to expand.

69 sawmill workers got layoff notices. Dean Morfitt says he'll collect unemployment.  Then in the fall he plans to go back to school and study business.

Dean Morfitt: "I had to change fields because this is my second plant closure.  I worked for Louisiana Pacific when they went down."

Co-worker Terry Lindquist will try for a transfer to another mill in Idaho or Oregon.

Terry Lindquist: "I've done it for 36 years and so I just want to stay in the lumber business.  I'm older so I'll probably have a hard time getting a job."

All the mill's workers will gather next Friday for a farewell bar-b-que.  They're calling it the "Last Supper."