The Lumber Monopoly’s Messy Breakup
A multi-million dollar lumber corporation face an attachment suit after failing to pay for timber contracts in Walla Walla.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
About a year ago, a corporation with a large capital stock and the ostentatious title of 'The Montana Improvement Company' was organized under the laws of Montana for the purpose, among others, of controlling the lumber market of Eastern Washington, North Idaho and Montana. It was understood that parties connected with the Northern Pacific were in the 'new company.' Agents and officers of the company visited Walla Walla and were reported to have purchased the flumes at Dayton and Milton, and secured all the sawmills and timber in this region, save those owned by the Mill Creek Flume and Manufacturing Company. The lumber in the yards and at the mills in the Pend d’Oreille timber regions, owned by D. W. Small, of Walla Walla, was purchased and a contract made with Small to cut 20,000,000 feet more of assorted lumber. An extensive lumber yard was opened at Spokane Falls and preparations made to carry out the promises of the company. Mr. Small was paid $10,000 on his contract to bind the bargain and things went on swimmingly for a while. The second payment not being made on time, Mr. Small began pressing the company for payment. His last pressure was the suing out of an attachment and levying on all the property of the Montana Improvement Company found at Spokane Falls, including its books and papers, and the commencement of a suit for $50,000 damages for breach of contract.
“The lumber in the yards and at the mills in the Pend d’Oreille timber regions was purchased and a contract made with Small to cut 20,000,000 feet more of assorted lumber.”
This 1884 battle over market dominance and broken contracts mirrors the aggressive consolidation seen in the Pacific Northwest timber industry for over a century. The tension between local owners like D.W. Small and massive, railroad-backed corporations remains a recurring theme in the region's economic history.
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