Last logs leave Pablo mill

The Daily Inter Lake

All that remains now is an empty dirt lot.

The last logs were removed from the Plum Creek Timber Co.'s now-defunct Pablo sawmill Wednesday by Rick Kitch of Silver City Lumber.

"We bought the remaining lumber - about 400,000 board feet," Kitch said. "We just loaded it with Donnie Stevens Trucking of Kalispell, and it's the last load out of the Pablo Plum Creek mill."

Plum Creek closed the facility June 26 and put 87 people out of work. On the same date it also shuttered the Evergreen mill and manufacturing plant indefinitely.

The Pablo mill shutdown was one of at least 23 mill closures in Montana since 1990.

Kitch hopes to see the mill open again one day.

"It's strange to see the last log go," Kitch said. "I'm looking at an empty yard now. We see this a lot. It's not good. Sad thing to see."