Art & Words by
HOWARD B. TAYLOR

As Hudson Bay Company Factor and as the White Eagle of the Indians, this far-sighted man foresaw the destiny of the northwest and launched it upon its role as the world’s lumbering center long before it was secured as a United States territory. He built the first sawmill west of the Rockies. He sent to the Hawaiian Islands, then known as the Sandwich Islands, for laborers. These islanders built his sash saw-equipped mill, did his logging, and sawed his lumber. Their fellow islanders bought the lumber, paying $400 per thousand board feet.

This was not an easy task for Mclaughlin; however, as he also had to build sailing ships to deliver the lumber and also built sternwheeler steamboats for river transport.He claimed land at Oregon Falls for himself, built a mill there and became a U. S. citizen.

Now it is questioned if the lumbering industry is a boon or a bust to mankind.