Treasured Timber

“This is Montana history.”

Bill Coats, Forester for Northwest Management

Flathead Lake, Montana

A logging company near Somer’s Bay, Montana (population 648) has figured out a way to do their job and keep the environmentalists happy. Northwest Management is harvesting high-end, historic lumber without clear cutting old-growth forests, eroding the soil, or even ruffling the feathers of the infamous spotted owl. That’s because the logs they’re after are resting at the bottom of Flathead Lake. They’ve been there for decades: some are from the Somers Saw Mill that burned in 1957, some sank while being transported downriver, and some had been stored along the shores of Somer’s Bay and eventually drifted to the bottom of the lake. The logs are ripe for picking . Divers go down and attach eyebolts to the aged logs, which are then wenched up to the surface. Northwest Management estimates there are 40 million board feet of logs in Flathead Lake. The wood has been well preserved in the chilly waters—it’s being marketed for high-end uses: tongue-and-groove flooring, table tops, and even a bartop in a Missoula saloon. In the end, logs that were once abandoned as lost have now become sunken treasure.

Read the Article ® Sunken treasure: Looking for logs in Flathead Lake
Want to get your hands on some of this timber? Go to Northwestern Management’s website ® Flathead Lake Historic Timber