It takes hard work to make a living in the Pend Oreille region. Working in the woods is one of the hardest — and most dangerous — of all jobs.
The timber industry has been the mainstay of the northern Idaho economy for close to a century. When large lumber companies moved into the area in the early 1900s, they saw a vast expanse of virgin woods they believed would last them for at least fifty years. Those fifty years are long gone now, and the past half century has been one of adaptation and change for the sawmills and for those who work in the woods.
