World's Largest Mill

The first lumber came out of the mill on September 11, 1906, and the last on August 14, 1981, when a depressed lumber market shut it down. It was dismantled in 1983, and nothing of it is left to see. The company had built the Washington, Idaho and Montana, about fifty miles of track from Palouse to Purdue, to bring logs in and carry lumber out to the main line at Palouse; a second company mill upriver at Elk River ran about twenty years and closed in 1930. The railway's depot in Potlatch still stands.

What the plaque says

World's Largest Mill Potlatch Lumber Company's sawmill, built here in 1906, was one of the largest in the world. Expanding operations to the West, Weyerhaeuser timber barons invested in Idaho's prime white pine stands. By 1920, their mill was cutting 175 million board feet each year. Logs and lumber were moved by the Washington, Idaho and Montana Railway through stations uniquely named for eastern colleges: Yale, Princeton, Harvard, Cornell, Purdue. 504 Text prepared by the Potlatch Historical Committee and the Idaho State Historical Society. Marker made and installed by Idaho Transportation Department.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Company Town — steps away
• McCroskey State Park — 9.2 mi
• DeSmet ('l'lkhwi'lus) — 15 mi
• Dawes Act — 15 mi