SEELEY LAKE — Seeley Lake's largest employer, Pyramid Mountain Lumber, announced on Thursday, March 14, 2024, that it's shutting down — listing of number of factors from rising costs to workforce shortages as the reason.
The mill has been no stranger to hard times, they faced near closures in 2000, 2007 and 2015, but this time is different.
The mill has been in operation since 1949 and has been owned by the same family throughout its time. Four generations have been a part of the mill’s story, with third-generation Todd Johnson acting as the current president.
Throughout its history, the mill has bought, sorted, processed and shipped all of its own logs, while providing some of the highest-paying jobs with benefits to the surrounding community.
The 75 years of operation are coming to an end however as they struggled to keep up with the rising costs of labor, insurance and property taxes.
The seeming solution was to produce more lumber in order to counter-act the rising costs, but this proved to be out of the hands of the company. To produce more lumber, more people were needed, and they needed a place to live.
"I think Seeley Lake is an example of what's happening in Western Montana with rising costs, and we have a higher median house cost in Seeley Lake than they do in Missoula," Johnson said.
Currently, the mill’s workforce consists of 100 part-time and full-time employees. Ten years ago, that number was 150.
For the town of Seeley Lake, the news was hard to process considering how important the mill is for not only the economic viability of the town but also for the sense of community it brings.
“Pyramid is the employer” Seeley Lake Community Foundation President Tom Beers noted speaking as an individual.
"Without Pyramid, which is foundational, let me put it that way," Beers added "It impacts the grocery store, it impacts Ravarro's, it impacts Polaris, it impacts everybody."
That is not something Pyramid Mountain Lumber is taking lightly either. Johnson gave great appreciation to the community for all the support that has given the mill of the 75 years of operation.
“I want to thank, first of all, our employees and the community, and surrounding communities, for all their years of support.”
The mill will now finish processing all of the logs it currently has with production expected to last into August of this year.
Pyramid Mountain Lumber has been reached out to by both local and state governments, offering support for a potential solution to keep the mill open.
The labor shortage is a hard issue to get over Todd Johnson noted. And in order to keep the mill open there would need to be a way to produce more with fewer people, something that has eluded the company.
As the community processes this news, Beers stated that this is a time for the community to come together and figure out the next steps that need to be taken.
“We can put our heads in the sand, but that’s not what this community does.”
