Pauline Bunyans and WWII Victory Lumber

World War II created a shortage of workers along with a national need to produce lumber for military efforts. During the war, Weyerhaeuser News, the lumber company’s magazine, ran features highlighting the work done by the women who took …

Life and Lunch: Alfred Eisenstaedt’s Weyerhaeuser Timber Crew Photographs

In December 1954, Life magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt journeyed into the woods near Snoqualmie Falls, Washington, for an unusual assignment. His subjects were a Weyerhaeuser Timber Company logging crew. But instead of photographing them felling trees, the men would appear …

Wood in the Space Age: Forest Products at the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair

On April 21, 1962, the Century 21 Exposition (better known as the Seattle World’s Fair) opened to the public. From a vacation home in Florida, President Kennedy pressed a telegraph key to officially start the fair. The Seattle World’s Fair …

From the First Tree Farm to the President’s Front Lawn: Remembering the 1961 National Christmas Tree

The chosen 75-foot Douglas fir on the Clemons Tree Farm.

Sixty years ago this month the National Christmas Tree was erected in Washington, DC, on the Ellipse between the White House and the Washington Monument. The annual tradition of a …

The Wood Prince of Bel Air: Building the ‘Strangers When We Meet’ House

In the summer of 1960, Columbia Pictures released the film Strangers When We Meet. Adapted by Evan Hunter from his novel by the same name, the film’s plot centers around Larry Coe, an architect (played by Kirk Douglas) who …

Explosive Truths: A Review of the book Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens

The vial measures about 1.75″ in length but contains a great deal of information and memory.

This is an expanded version of the review of Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens, by Steve Olson, which first …

May 18, 1980: Mount St. Helens erupts, leaves a mess of documents

On this day in 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted in Washington on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and left an altered landscape as well as a mess of historical documents in its wake. The deadliest volcanic event in U.S. history …