Postcard from the Past: Timber Industry is Big Business in 1955
By: Dick Perue
With good news of the lumber and timber industry in Wyoming making a comeback, I’d like to share a story from the April 19, 1956 issue of The Saratoga Sun.
It is likely few local people realize the magnitude of the timber operations being carried on in this valley – the Upper North Platte River Valley – by R.R. Crow and Company and the amount of money being placed in circulation locally by this firm. It is by far the most extensive industry in this region and means a great deal to every business house in the valley.
In a July 1934 issue of The Saratoga Sun, it is noted, Mr. Crow’s installation of a lumber mill in Saratoga, in preparation for establishing a lumbering operation here, “the plant, if working at full capacity, will be capable of producing 20,000 feet of timber products per day.”
The industry has grown considerably since this time, indicated by figures released by the firm for the year 1955. During last year, the firm shipped out 1,815 railroad carloads of timber products – an average of seven carloads for every working day of the year.
The Cow Creek Mill is now producing about 200,000 feet per day. The finishing mill at Saratoga turns out about 90,000 feet per day, besides small operations at Hanna, Elk Mountain, Ryan Park, Encampment and, occasionally, other locations.
One saw mill operator had grown from about 25 men with a payroll of several thousand dollars in 1934 to “more than 400 men steadily employed by the firm, and the payroll for the year of about $2 million” in 1955.
It has been the continued policy of the firm to “plow back” the bulk of its earnings into new and more modern equipment, and plans for the present year – 1956 – indicate the output of the mills and the accompanying payroll will total considerably above that of 1955.
It is not pleasant to contemplate what our economic situation would be in case anything should happen to put a stop to this industry which has distributed several millions of dollars to its small army of employees in this valley, most of which has found its way into local business channels.
At the same time, it would be interesting to know how many of these employees have been able to buy or build permanent homes in the valley towns, drive the best cars and keep their families on a high plane of comfort and convenience.
