Seeing greater economic opportunity farther south, Simon Wiess in 1838 converted his merchandise inventory into baled cotton, and, with his family and household. His interests branched out to hardware, timberland, sawmills, and riverboats. Wiess, a Renaissance man, was trained in law; he spoke seven languages; and he had traveled the world over. In 1826, his seafaring career brought him to America for the first time. His varied interests and entrepreneurial drive put him in contact with...

It also was the Silicon Valley of its era in the sense that the townspeople, perhaps inspired by Edison, were quick to embrace innovation and the latest technology. This was less than four years after Edison's first public exhibition of his incandescent light bulb, and competing merchants were quick to follow Davidson's lead. Edward Goodrich Acheson, whose 70-plus patents included an industrial abrasive he named carborundum, or silicon carbide. A week before Christmas in 1883, he installed...

When it pertains to timber auctions, two are central: (1) your overall bid is evaluated based on how much you offer to pay for each species of tree you cut down; however, (2) the amount you ultimately pay is based on the number of trees of each species that you actually harvest. Small logging operations are more likely to participate in sealed bid timber auctions because they have an equal chance of winning as the big guys who, with their deeper pockets, could simply out-bid them in a...

As a step in voicing its opposition to the plan, Council formally responded to the Draft Environmental Impact Report and the project as proposed, and files an appeal with the Nevada County Board of Supervisors expressing its concerns about the adequacy of the DEIR as approved by the Nevada County Planning Commission. As a step in voicing its opposition to the plan, Council formally responded to the Draft Environmental Impact Report and the project as proposed, and files an appeal with the...

Before the arrival of sawmills, dimensional lumber or planking was unavailable, so most cabin floors were dirt, sand or gravel. In today s world of unlimited choices, perhaps a look at past construction practices can help us remember some of those simple truths we seem to have forgotten. The arrival of sawmills in the valley after 1900 provided builders with dimensional lumber. While multitudes of building styles are available to prospective homeowners, building intelligently in the Methow...