Archives West Finding Aid

The J. Neils Lumber Company was incorporated in 1895 at Sauk Rapids, Minnesota. After several years of successful operation and expansion on Sauk Rapids and Cass Lake, Minnesota, the company purchased timberlands in Flathead and Lincoln counties, Montana, in 1906-1907. About one million dollars was invested in timber, priced generally at $1 per thousand board feet. In 1911, J. Neils bought the Dawson Lumber Company, with mills in Libby, Montana, and about ten thousand acres of timberlands in surrounding areas. After Paul Neils, son of founder Julius Neils, became general and sales manager at Libby in 1912, earnings climbed rapidly. A division of assets in 1915 resulted in the loss of the Libby mill, 96,666 acres of Montana timberlands, and other Montana assets. J. Neils retained Montana timberlands at Columbia Falls, Fortine Creek, and east of Flathead Lake as well as notes for $550,000. Paul Niels returned to Minnesota where he stepped up those opearations and steadily increased earnings in 1917 and 1918. In 1919, the Libby mill and tributary timber lands were re-purchased from Shevlin Company.

The operations at Cass Lake and Libby prospered after World War I. By 1923, the last log had been sawn at Cass Lake. With no more timber available for purchase there, the mill there closed. Looking westward, the company purchased a mill at Klickitat, Washington, in 1922 and continued to increase its Montana timber holdings. There was a major fire loss at Columbia Falls in 1929. After difficult times in the Depression, long-range planning was again established and selective logging studies undertaken. Truck logging began at Libby in 1935.

The entire outstanding stock of the Montana Light & Power Company was acquired by J. Neils in 1944. In 1955, J. Neils built a new mill at Troy, Montana. In 1957, J. Neils Lumber Company merged with St. Regis Paper Company. A stud mill was built at Libby in 1958, and a plywood plant began operations in 1960. In 1993, the Libby assets were sold to Stimson Lumber and Plum Creek Timber Company. The Libby mill closed in 2002.