Auction signals the endof Eureka lumber mill

Wednesday's auction at the Owens & Hurst lumber mill in Eureka was brisk and businesslike.

Sentiments for the mill, once Eureka's largest private employer, were not on display, even for co-owner Jim Hurst, who watched the auction with interest alongside his dad, Jim Hurst Sr.

"I guess the positive part of this is that parts of Owens & Hurst will live on a lot of years in other places," Hurst said.

The auction attracted a large crowd, by Hurst's standards, from all over the country. Roughly 250 bidders showed up Wednesday, an increase over Tuesday's turnout.

They came from Texas, North Carolina, Tennessee, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California and, of course, Montana.

"You'll notice, a lot of these areas are places where they don't have to rely on federal timber," Hurst said. While virtually surrounded by the Kootenai National Forest, the Owens & Hurst mill struggled for years in obtaining a reliable, adequate supply of timber.

For the last few years, it managed to remain competitive while relying mostly on timber salvaged and hauled hundreds of miles from fires in Canada. But the lack of a predictable supply on the Kootenai Forest is "the ultimate reason" for the January decision to close the mill, Hurst said.

The mill's last log was processed in early June and preparations got under way for this week's auction, conducted by James G. Murphy Auctioneers out of Kenmore, Wash.

The closure put 90 people out of work directly and put other jobs at risk indirectly.

Wednesday's auction involved about 2,000 items, all neatly stacked, labeled and lined up. Everything from come-alongs to video monitors to huge saws and heavy loaders were on the block.

Many of the items were being bought for other manufacturing uses, Hurst said, noting, for instance, that the mill had 186 spare electric motors for sale.

"We've got so many spare parts," he said. "Being in Eureka, Montana, we can't just go downtown and get a part. We had to have it on our shelf."

Hurst said the strong turnout from across the country was largely due to Owens & Hurst's reputation for an efficient, well-run mill where equipment was maintained.

Roy, Ben and Malcolm Thompson of the family-owned RBM Lumber in Columbia Falls vouched for that assessment.

"They had a hell of a good crew for keeping things up," Roy Thompson said.

The Thompsons bought several items at the auction, even though it was a time-consuming process.

"There's not going to be many more sawmill auctions this close to us," Thompson said.

The Owens & Hurst closure left just one significant wood processing plant in Lincoln County, once considered Montana's timber basket with multiple mills in operation.

Plum Creek Timber Co. owns the county's last milling operation, the Ksanka Mill south of Eureka, which was started in 1955 and later sold by Jim Hurst Sr.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com