Plum Creek sawmill begins shutdown

Plum Creek Timber Co. has begun shutting down the last major sawmill in the Tobacco Valley, a swath of northwestern Montana that was dotted with mills during much of the 20th century. The Seattle-based company said the sawmill at Fortine, about 20 miles from the Montana-British Columbia border, was cutting its final log on Thursday, planing will end later this month and the mill will be disassembled in April, ending 72 jobs and 53 years of operation. Fortine is in Lincoln County, where the January unemployment rate - the latest available - was 15.6 percent, compared to a state rate of 6.7 percent. Plum Creek said earlier this winter that the poor housing market and the related decline in demand for wood products required trimming operations at several plants in Montana...Billings Gazette