For those of you who find town of National, and the mill that used operate there, fascinating, then you’re in for a treat. This image comes from David Gestrid. He says, “My dad was born in National. My grandparents owned a service station there for quite a while.”
He adds that his dad had a hand drawn map of town that he donated to a museum in the area, or something similar. So, if anyone has any information on that, please let me know.
In the meantime, this picture hangs on David’s wall and is a panorama of the mill at National. The other shots are are closer looks are various sections of the photo.
The note at the top is more than a caption. It reads:
This panorama is just the mill yard, it does not include the sawmill building, lath mill, shingle mill, or the huge dry sheds used to store the finished lumber.
After forty years of operating, Mr. Demerest said when the army took his Japanese away who worked there, he would sell the mill for scrap. They came and loaded up my school friends, their parents and we never saw them again, in February 1942.
This was the Pacific National Lumber Co., seven mile east of Elbe, Washington, all that is left of the mill and town is one house and a little church. The mill was a half mile long and a quarter mile wide, not including the town which was on the sound side of the hi-way, mill in flat south of the town.
It cut 280,000 to 300,000 board feet of lumber and timbers a day. Big timbers were its specialty. In 1943 they cut keels for mine sweeper 128 feet long.”
Photos courtesy of David Gestrid.
Click on images to enlarge.
Eatonville To Rainier 
8 responses to “National Mill, ca. 1940s”
I am very interested in your photographs of the Mill at National…
Thank you for posting them. Have you seen the pictures I posted of the fire of 1913?
Keep in touch,
Pat
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Did you post the fire images on this site?
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Good morning Diane,
Remember me from 4-H? I am looking for some information on the Eatonville Smelter. Is it possible for you to tell me where I can find it! seems I have health problems and would like to know what heavy metals were found when they cleaned up the site years ago.
Regards
Kim
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Hi, YES I remember you. An I’m SO SO sorry it’s taken me to long to get back. I took a hiatus from the page. I’m MORE sorry you’re having health problems. Let me check around and see who might know something about that.
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Hi, I did post the images. Check out https://eatonvilletorainier.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=6417&action=edit 🙂
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To David Gestrid,
I love your pictures of The Pacific National Lumber Mill. Thank-you, very much for posting them.
What is the length and width of the panoramic picture ?
Thank-you,
Kim Hetzel
Yelm, WA
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I’m not sure of the width on that. I can try to find out.
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David Gestrid,
Would you be so kind enough to contact me through my personal email address (krhetzel@hotmail.com) please ? I would like to ask you some specific questions about your panoramic photograph of the Pacific National Lumber Mill. I would appreciate it very much.
Thank-you,
Kim Hetzel
Yelm, WA
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