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The first lumber mill in the North American West was started by Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver, operated by Hawaiian labor.
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Hudson Bay's company establishes post at Fort Nisqually, near present-day Olympia, and they expanded their business as it grew.
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Gold discovered near Sacramento, California; subsequent boom in San Francisco and Sacramento increases demand for Northwest timber.
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Washington Territory established; first game protection laws passed. Pope and Talbot build first major sawmill on Puget Sound at Port Gamble. Henry Yesler builds a steam-powered lumber mill just south of Seattle.
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First transcontinental railroad completed to San Francisco Bay area. This allowed for the transportation of lumber across America.
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Donkey engine invented, transforms Northwest logging. This made logging more efficient.
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Frederick Weyerhaeuser moves lumbering operations to the Pacific Northwest, opening his "Sawdust Empire."
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The creation of the United States Forest Service helped to protect forests and preserve trees, slowing down the timber industry.
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"Big Blowup" fire burns nearly 3 million acres in northern Idaho and western Montana, helps to set federal forest fire policy for the next seventy-five years. This took away lots of the materials needed for logging, such as trees.
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U.S. enters World War I. Shipbuilding in Portland and Seattle booms, while logging halts.
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Bad fire year in Washington; 131,745 acres burned, many areas of forests were destroyed.
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“Tillamook Burn” forest fire in Oregon destroys 240,000 acres of forested land.
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The Olympic National Park established, taking away logging areas for timber companies.
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Congress passes the Wilderness Act, slowing down logging once more while protecting forests.
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Congress establishes Environmental Protection Agency.
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First Earth Day launched by Senator Gaylord Nelson and Dennis Hayes to raise awareness about environmental issues.
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State legislature passes Natural Area Preserves Bill.
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Severe epidemic of spruce budworm along east slope of the Cascades.
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Eruption of Mt. St. Helens in southern Washington results in ash clouds and severe flooding, halting logging.
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Reports of Northwest Douglas fir trees infected with sudden oak death, a destructive invasive fungus. U.S. Forest Service officials declare summer of 2002 one of the worst fires seasons on record for the Pacific Northwest.
