For the Homestake Mining Company (HMC), timber production was a vital component of the success of the mine as well as the lasting endurance of the National Forest in the area. In 1897, a plan for timber harvest was created and presented to the HMC by Gifford Pinchot, an agent of the Department of the Interior. The plan was approved in 1899, creating Timber Case No. 1, which constituted the first regulated timber harvest and sale from Federal Forest Reserves.
The original building and site of the first sawmill of the Homestake Timber Division where logs were processed from the first harvest of U.S. Forest Service Case #1.
Available Resource(s):
- Nuggets to Neutrinos by Steven T. Mitchell.
- Deadwood History, Inc.*: Deadwood History, Inc. has publications and maps related to the U.S. Forest Service and photographs relating to the timber operations of the Homestake Mining Company.
- Homestake Timber Contracts Paperwork, 1899-1999*
- Camille Yuill and Jessie Sundstrom family papers*
- Past Perfect Online Materials*
- Contact Deadwood History, Inc. for access to these and more archival materials.