The Experiment that Built Potlatch

According to Allison Laird, Potlatch was an experiment, not just in town building, but also as an experiment in constructing a certain kind of social order. Potlatch started as a company town, meaning most of its stores and housing were owned by the Potlatch Lumber Company where Laird served as the assistant manager. He and several other influential men had a vision to create a thriving community centered around the sawmill. 

A main part of the motivation behind establishing a company town was the desire to limit alcohol intake. The Potlatch directors were concerned that the use of alcohol would become detrimental to their success as a sawmill. They were adamant that the Latah County commissioners deny liquor permits along the railways and discouraged the construction of saloons in the area. In 1906, the directors settled on a dry company town. They wanted to create a town that attracted the best kind of people and workers. 

Clarence Ferris White was hired to design the town. He arrived in January of 1906, and by that time there were already 28 worker houses built. The town would be divided into two halves, one on the north hill where the workers lived and one to the south. This was where the management houses were constructed, known as Nob Hill. Within a month of White’s arrival, he and his crew had built forty more houses, and by the spring that number was up to one hundred. Still, their work was not done, and they continued to build until the town was big enough to house 1500 people. Meanwhile, William Wilkerson oversaw the construction of the saw mill and power plants. 

The working-class houses all looked alike inside, although the placement of the porch, doors, and windows were moved about in order to appear unique from one another. The houses had at least three rooms, while some had up to seven. The houses on Nob Hill were a bit more decorative. While the simpler houses cost less than $450 to build, the nicer homes on Nob Hill might be over $2000 in construction costs. 

In addition to the family homes, boarding houses were constructed for the single men and women in the community. Although the Potlatch directors wanted stable workers with families to support, the mill simply couldn’t be run without the manpower of the bachelors. So boarding houses were built to accommodate these workers. 

Potlatch also heavily emphasized their children’s education, so they provided additional housing for the single women teachers. The teachers played a significant role in the Potlatch community. A school was built in 1907 due to the fact that many applicants at the mill inquired about the education available for their children. Potlatch brought in the best teachers they could, paying over the state average. Often Potlatch teachers earned wages

similar to those in Spokane, despite being a much smaller community. Potlatch was home to some of the best students in all of Latah County. They often scored higher on standardized tests than any other students in the area. Since the school was also owned by the lumber company, it functioned differently than other schools. While academic excellence was expected of the students, so was well behaved manners. Students weren’t sent to a principal when they got in trouble - instead they were sent to the mill manager. Student misbehavior could lead to a parent losing his mill job and housing. Again, the experiment in Potlatch was not only in designing a town, but maintaining a certain kind of social order, whether in the saloons or in the schools. 

In addition to the school, the first church was also built in 1907. For the past year, many ministers traveled through the area, meeting wherever there was room. At last, the Potlatch directors had two churches built at the company’s expense. The first was a Catholic church called St. Mary’s Catholic. Shortly after, a Protestant church was built as well. 

Housing, schools, and churches weren’t the only buildings erected. The lumber company also provided a hospital, bank, post office, hotel, jail, and mercantile. For many decades, Potlatch thrived as a company town. However, the mill stopped production in 1981 and was dismantled two years later. While the company town experiment did not stand the test of time, it proved to be successful for many years. Although Potlatch now has half the population it once did, there are still several buildings that remain from its days of glory as the town with the largest white pine sawmill in the world.
- KAYTE CASEBOLT

The photo credit is as follows according to the image website: "Potlatch, Idaho Circa 1915." Potlatch Historical Society Collection, Lee Gale Scrapbooks: Town, Potlatch Historical Society.