History

           My name is Ron Tracy. My career in the timber business started in the late 1970’s. I would cut the timber, split stave bolts, and haul the staves to the mill.

           In the early 1980’s, I was still working in timber, but working with the barrel mill. My job also consisted with a lot of maintenance and sawing. We were sawing some of the first flat staves. They were sawed on a circle saw.

           In the spring of 1986, I went into the logging business on my own. The logging business has always been an extremely great business. I have met a lot of really wonderful people.

           In the early 1990’s, I put in my first sawmill and set it up. I only needed a few people to run it. Logging and running the mill worked really well at that time. We just sawed blocking and ties.

           In the middle of the 1990’s, we put in the hammer mill that grinded all the scrap wood and mixed it with the sawdust. Many people told me that I couldn’t do it that way, but I sold our entire product to local nurseries.

           My son, Gary, graduated from high school in 2002. He had been helping me while attending school. The logging and sawmill business were what he wanted to pursue as a career in his life.

           So as a result in 2002, we put in a new Cleerman sawmill. My son, Gary, did everything from the cab, but stacking the lumber. We still grind all the waste, the only difference is a large portion we now sale is used as a bio-fuel.

           Through about 2010, we continued with things the same except we started sawing grade lumber. The grade lumber was doing well, so shortly after 2010 we bought a West Plains Resaw system. The grade lumber still worked out well with this new system.

           For years, Gary and I have talked about putting in a stave mill and drying systems. Now we have a fully functional and productive stave mill going. And in the testing phase of opening our own barrel mill! This has been our dream for many years and we made it happen. We employ local people in both businesses.