1. SeruiGG, $aerifice
ills aid war effort
Photo courtesy Klamath County Museur
workers from Lamm Lumber Co. stack boards at the company's lumber yard in Klamath Falls during the 1930s'
umber mAnufacturing leaves its legacy
BRETT FISHER
Staff Writer
ffnot for historical refer-
landmarks and recol-
ions from longtime resr-
visitors to the
ath Basin might not
just how important
products used to be
- especially during
War II.
Ihe days ofbox factories
but their legacy remains.
Mills were scattered
throughout the Basin during
the frrst half of the 20th cen-
tury. Among them was the
Euwana Box Co. in Klamath
Falls, at one time the largest
box factory west of the
Mississippi and one of the
largest in the world. The
operation employed about
500 people in Klamath Falls.
Other large mills included
Weyerhaeuser, Lamm, Shaw
and Algoma lumber compa-
nies. Many, though, were
small operations dependent
upon government timber
sales to survive. Few ofthem
had access to private timber
stands which the larger mills
had.
To make up for sagging
lumber demand during the
Great Depression, most
sawmills in the Klamath
Basin relied on the produc-
tion of wooden boxes and the
material used to make them:
a low-grade wood product
called shook. (Prior to the
development of cardboard,
shook-made crates and boxes
were used for shipping.) Box
factories in the Basin
responded to a healthy
California produce market
and kept mill operations rurr
ning.
See MILLS, Page 11lumber mills are gone,
Klamath Life 2003 - Page