Archives West Finding Aid

The St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company was incorporated on June 4, 1888. Its purchase of 80,000 acres of timberland from the Northern Pacific Railroad Company was the largest purchase of timberland in the nineteenth century. Eight men were initially assigned duties within St. Paul & Tacoma; however, it was four of these men—Colonel Chauncey Griggs (president), Addison Foster (vice president), Henry Hewitt, Jr. (treasurer), and Charles Hebard Jones (lumber and mining operations)—who eventually dominated the formation of the company and were most responsible for its success.

The company’s founding was prompted by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, which wanted a mill that would cut lumber to be shipped east by the railroad, not one that provided for the local market or for trade by sea. To encourage the construction of this mill, the Northern Pacific offered timberlands from its land grant at a favorable rate. After much consideration of the land, costs, and returns, Griggs, Foster, Hewitt, and Jones agreed to purchase this land and build their mill in Tacoma on an island off the city’s main tide flat, known as “The Boot.”

As part of the sale, St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company agreed to build two mills in two years, as well as a standard-gauge railroad that ran southeast from the Cascade Division tracks into the forest. The first of the two mills, Mill A, went into production on April 22, 1889. Construction of the second mill, however, was delayed by the Panic of 1893. The company’s superior equipment and strong management, combined with the fact that it owned its own forest and logging railroad, allowed St. Paul & Tacoma to survive the Panic; however, it was still forced to lay off half of its workers, both in the mill and in logging camps, and to cut all remaining wages by fifteen percent. The company continued to saw lumber during this time, although much of it had to be either sold at cost or stockpiled.

A high demand for lumber abroad was crucial to St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company’s recovery from the Panic of 1893. Although rail trade was growing rapidly—in fact, by the start of the twentieth century, more than half of St. Paul & Tacoma’s output was sent by railroad beyond the Rockies—sea trade remained vital throughout this time. Events including the War of the Pacific and the Philippine-American War resulted in business for lumber companies, and St. Paul & Tacoma shipped large cargoes to United States government forces in Manila. This renewed business and prosperity allowed St. Paul & Tacoma to build its second mill, Mill B, which should have been constructed eleven years earlier. Upon its completion in December 1900, the combined capacity of the company’s two mills was 400,000 feet of lumber and 400,000 shingles in one ten-hour shift. Between five hundred and six hundred men were employed at St. Paul & Tacoma, making it one of the city’s largest employers.

Lumber orders declined in 1914 and 1915, when neither railroad construction nor rates allowed for much lumber to be transported to the east coast. The company’s mills ran at half capacity during this time, until it joined the Douglas Fir Exploration and Export Company, which promoted sales of Douglas firs abroad. Export trade began to increase once again, until orders from abroad dropped dramatically after the United States joined World War I in 1917.

Yet although foreign trade stalled during the war years, the federal government became St. Paul & Tacoma’s largest customer. Lumber was needed to construct barracks, warehouses, hospitals, and more, and shipyards were established in both Seattle and Tacoma to build wooden freighters and other transports. Furthermore, St. Paul & Tacoma worked with other Tacoma companies to create the Tacoma Shipbuilding Company, which received so many government contracts that the demand for lumber surpassed the mill’s output.

World War II resulted in less of a lumber demand than World War I, although the need for ships and barracks nevertheless meant that the mill ran double shift during the war. Despite this surge in business, however, the end of the war was marked by conflict and disagreements within the St. Paul & Tacoma board. Tensions and other issues continued to rise within the company until 1957, when St. Paul & Tacoma was absorbed by St. Regis Paper Company. This resulted in the loss of the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company name, which had been a constant presence in Tacoma for nearly seventy years. A connection to the original company and its founders, however, lasted for another twenty-two years, as Henry Hewitt IV (also known as Henry Hewitt, Jr.) remained with St. Regis until his retirement in 1979.

St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company and its officers were involved with many other companies throughout its existence. Its predecessor companies were Griggs & Johnson and Griggs & Foster, both of St. Paul, Minnesota. The company's subsidiaries include Cascade Timber Company, Chehalis & Pacific Land Company, Consolidated Lumber Company, Los Angeles; Griggs and Company, grocers, St. Paul Minnesota; Griggs and Foster investment firm, St. Paul; Griggs and Johnson, real estate and loans, St. Paul; Interlaken Water Company, Natches Pass Railway Company, Tacoma; Pacific Meat Company, Tacoma; Puget Sound Dry dock and machinery Company, Riverside Land company, Tacoma; Tacoma Bitouminous Paving Company, Tacoma Land and Improvement Company, Union Stockyards Company, Tacoma; and Wilkerson Coal and Coke company, Pierce County, Washington.

(Source information: Morgan, Murray. The Mill on the Boot: The Story of the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1982.)