Montana Mill Optimizes Small Log Line – F. H. Stoltze Land & Lumber Company of Columbia Falls

The longest straight root of F.H. Stoltze Land & Lumber Company extends to 1918. That is when F.H. Stoltze started building a plant to support his future mill.

“We still have the original boiler plant,” said Ron Buentemeier, vice president and general manager of F. H. Stoltze Land & Lumber Company. By 1923, the first lumber was being produced from the mill.

(Ron has been working on a history of F.H. Stoltze Land & Lumber Company, and information about the roots of the business that appears in this article was taken from a written account that he shared with TimberLine.)

Today, privately held F.H. Stoltze produces random length softwood dimension lumber for myriad customers. In addition to a sawmill, the company owns 36,000 acres of timberland in northwest Montana. It also manages forests for other companies and buys logs delivered to the gate.

A company logging crew cuts about 15% of the logs the mill requires. The logging crew is a fully mechanized operation, depending on two Timbco feller-bunchers. F.H. Stoltze had the third feller-buncher that was put in service west of the Mississippi River in 1969, according to Ron.

The company’s various forestry operations — logging, forest management and sawmill — employ 120 people. “Last year we put about $24 million into the local economy,” said Ron.

By Diane M. Calabrese

Full Story: http://www.timberlinemag.com/articledatabase/view.asp?ArticleID=1457

(Many thanks to the Montana Chamber of Commerce for passing this along. – Russ)