End,"f a,n Era

ests. Wilsey, however, stuck to his conviction, and with $400 set out to find a start toward a sawmill. A{ter searching the surrounding territory, Wilsey and Bill Witter, then the bookkeeper at Dorris, located a small circular saw which they set up in an existing shed at the Dorris site.

Wilsey's determination impressed Webster and he was swayed to furnish the necessary capital to finish

Story dI q Glonce

The relentless pressure of ece nomics severs another link to the older, wilder times of the lumber business and does anybody out there remember how great that fresh venison tasted?

the mill. Known as the Associated Lumber and Box Co., the mill cut 10 million feet of lumber its first year, and maintained outstanding production for the next five years. Then, in 1936, it burned to the ground; but the success of its short-lived operation had established the validity of running a company sawmill, and a new "modern" mill was immediately reconstructed.

1940 marked a significant change for the mill. George Doran, who had been contracting the company's log' ging and managing the woods operations, was selected to be manager. He proved to be an extremely capable manager and his mechanical knowledge of heavy equipment resulted in many useful inventions and improvements throughout the 25 years that he managed the operation.

Many of the old timers in the company share fond remembrances of the years of operation at Dorris. Some recall the wild horses that roamed the surrounding plains when the mill was first built; and no one who ever sat down to a meal at the woods operation's cookhouse at Camp Doran will ever forget Ada Cooper's fresh trout, duck or venison dishes.

To many, those were the good old days an earthy era when Monday morning meant a trip to the local callaboose to bail out the missing half of the truck crew. But it was only a matter of time before progress claimed the Dorris operation ... and AFP's first sawmill became obsolete.