The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1923-07-06
A. ". LAIRD TELLS
LOPMENTSTORY
WORK OF POTLATCH COMPANY In
NORTH LATAH INTERESTS
FOURTH JULY CROWD

celebration held IN the PalOuSe
country was the two days celebra-
ton at Kennedy Ford, which was at
tended by thousands of people from
all parts of Latah and Whitman
counties.
On the opening day of the cele-
bration, o. S. Fletcher, Latah county
agricultural agent, and G. D. Kincaid
of Palouse, were the speakers. In
the afternoon a ball game between
Kennedy Ford and the Cove, together
with a number of athletic contests,
entertained the crowd.
J On the fourth, the forenoon was
given over to program of speaking
and music. The speakers were E. G..
Gaines of Washington State college,
]. F. LaFollette of Pullman, and A.
w Laird, general manager of the
Potlatch Lumber company.
Mr.. Laird took for his subject
"What the Potlatch Lumber Com
pany Has Done for the Up-River
Country" He said in part:
cit would seem that some one out
side our own organization should tell
the story of the development of the
up-river country. Twenty and more
wears ago the older of my associates
began to acquire their first holdings
of timber on the Palouse and on the
Potlatch rivers. Timber had only
small value then. Why? Because it
was inaccessible, impossible of use
and, as is always the case, such re-
sources must lie dormant until some
railroad development opens up. MY
people tried to get the Northern Pa
cific to build, but they turned it down
and we were forced to proceed with
the construction of the W. I. & M. on
our own account and for the saliva
tion of the Potlatch Lumber company
timber.
Almost IS years ago I first came to
the Palouse country, arriving in Pa
1ouse August 80, 1905. The next day
accompanied William Deary on a
drive to the proposed site of Potlatch
and on to Princeton. The summer OF
1905 had been dry and hot, but there
was a bountiful crop The country
looked beautiful, but, oh, such dust!
Pot1atch teams were toting some lum-
her and supplies from Palouse to Pot
latch and the roads we're so rutty and
dustv I ate my peck of dust in one
day
"Construction work on the railroad
had begun and in a month the first
engine pulled into the meadows near
Pot1atch on a roughly constructed
roadbed. Then there came the rush
of building more railroad, big mill,
= goodlv sized town. From 500 to
1000 men were steadily employed in
for about two years. In
1906, the big sawmill first
turned it's wheels and manufactured
lumber. At the time it was said this
was the largest sawmill in the world
and If still hugs close to that suprem-
acy
;.The railroad was pushed through
to Bovill, the heart of the timber dis
trict Potlatch was built, Princeton
grew. Harvard Deary and Bovill
were put on the map
Eyes. the coming of the Potlatch
Lumber company and the W. l. IL M.
we're transforming things.
sThose of you who were here 1S
wears ago, have you seen the change?
At that time there was almost an un-
broken stretch of forest between Pot
latch and Bovill Now there are many
farms which have been literally
hewed out of the forests almost con-
tinuously along the railroad.
"The lumber company has sold
over $4,000 acres Of cut-over land
and much of this is today under Gull
tivation. In SO years, perhaps less
the country between Palouse and Bo-
will. will look like the country be-
tween Palouse and Spokane. It is
too valuable for agriculture to be re
forested.
"The lumber company and the rail-
road company have paid out in wages
in local operations between two and
three million dollars a year, some
times in excess of that from 100000
to S50O,0O0, for supplies used in its
operation. Much of these have been
sold by the farmers. The annual
purchases of timothy hay are from
100 to 1900 tons and thousands OF
bushels Of oats are bought
eve contribute good share to the
state and county in the support OF
schools, roads and administrative
Last year the taxes of
the two companies were approx
mately s175,000.
s'Does all this help you? Yes, there
Is an interdependence between us we
cannot escape. What helps me
spreads over to you. Your activities
and productions are a counterpart Of
the companies and together with a
right spirit of fair plav much has
been accomplished in the past and
will be in the future"