West Fraser South, Inc., assumed operation of the former Plum Creek sawmills at Joyce, Louisiana and Huttig, Arkansas, on Friday, December 15. West Fraser became the sixth owner of the timber manufacturing company which began a century ago as Tremont Lumber Company in North Louisiana.

In a statement in October, the companies announced the sale would be for $60 million, plus working capital.

The new owner is a subsidiary of West Fraser Timber Co., Ltd., of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, producing lumber, specialty wood products, wood chips, fiberboard, plywood, pulp, linerboard, kraft paper, and newsprint.

Through an indirect subsidiary, the company operates Revy Home Centres, Inc., a chain of retail home improvement stores in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario, Canada.

The Plum Creek acquisition is West Fraser's first venture into the United States.

According to information available to The Piney Woods Journal, West Fraser has established offices at the West Monroe regional headquarters of Plum Creek Timber Co., from where it will coordinate operations of the two major regional sawmills. Plum Creek will continue to manage its southern region timber lands from the West Monroe office. The sale arrangement with West Fraser includes a major timber contract for furnishing logs to the sawmills.

Last year, Plum Creek acquired through merger the timberland holdings of The Timber Company, a subsidiary of Georgia Pacific, and announced its intention to shift to pure timber land ownership and management. With The Timber Company acquisition, Plum Creek becomes the second largest timber land owner in the nation, with 7.9 million acres, plus mills, in the northwest, south, and northwest regions of the U.S.

Rick Dundos has transferred from the Canadian headquarters to the West Fraser regional office in West Monroe, company sources reported. Other management personnel for West Fraser include:
Freddie Peace, formerly with Plum Creek, as procurement forester, based in West Monroe.
Kenneth Jordan, Joyce District procurement forester, the post he held with Plum Creek.
Gary Wilkerson will continue as plant manager at Joyce, the post he held for Plum Creek.

The company had previously announced that it intends to retain all the operations 430 employees, and increase overall capacity to 400 million board feet per year. Upon takeover, the company announced an across-the-board pay raise of four percent for employees, sources reported.

In October, West Fraser chairman, president and CEO Hank Ketcham said, ``This acquisition allows us to take our successful, low-cost lumber manufacturing approach closer to our traditional market area, while building an asset base with a long-term, plantation-based fiber supply.''

Sources close to the Joyce operation said the new operation is tightening quality control of logs, with every 10th load scheduled to be checked for size, sweep, and condition.

The mill at Joyce has recently completed a re-build, installing a completely automated and computerized log handling and sawing system. Prior to the sawmill re-build and expansion, Plum Creek had shut down operation of the plywood manufacturing segment of the plant.

Company information shows West Fraser has interests in 11 sawmills, producing lumber and by-product wood chips.

Alberta Plywood produces a variety of products and grades from its plant in Edmonton. The West Fraser operations produce plywood, medium density fiberboard, and mouldings.

West Fraser produces a variety of paper products, including linerboard, kraft paper, softwood and hardwood paper product, and newsprint.

Revelstoke, a subsidiary, owns and operates 14 full-service warehouse stores and 43 retail home improvement in Canada centers under the trade name Revy.

West Fraser originated in 1955 when three brothers, Henry H. Ketcham, Jr., William P. Ketcham, and Samuel K. Ketcham, acquired a small lumber planing mill at Quesnel, Canada. From 1955 to 1979 the business expanded through acquisition of a number of sawmills and related timber rights in the interior of British Columbia, and the development of a small chain of retail building supply stores.

In 1979, West Fraser formed a joint venture with a Canadian subsidiary of Daishowa Paper Manufacturing Co., Ltd., of Japan, to build and operate a paper mill at Quesnel.

In 1981, West Fraser acquired a 40 percent interest in Eurocan Pulp & Paper, which owned a linerboard and kraft paper mill, two sawmills, and part interests in two joint venture sawmills. West Fraser increased its interest to 50 percent in 1983, and acquired the remaining 50 percent in 1993.

In 1989, West Fraser, together with Whitecourt Newsprint Company and its partners, formed ANC, to build and operate a newsprint mill at Whitecourt, Alberta, Canada. In 1995, West Fraser acquired the Blue Ridge sawmill and the Ranger Board MDF plant, both at Blue Ridge, Alberta, and the Slave Lake Pulp mill at Slave Lake, Alberta.

Gross sales for all divisions in 1999 totaled $2.2 billion, up from $1.49 billion in 1995. Lumber manufacturing and retail home improvement retail sales were tow two revenue leaders, at $811.4 million, and $788.4 million, in 1999.

At December 31, 1999, West Fraser employed a total of 8,800 persons in operations, include 900 in joint venture operations. Total pay to employees in 1999 was $171 million. Approximately 36 percent of West Fraser's forest products employees are covered by collective agreements, according to company information.

Officers and directors of West Fraser are: Henry H. Ketcham III, Vancouver, B.C., chairman, president, and CEO; Clark S. Binkley, Cambridge, Mass., J. Duncan Gibson, Toronto, Ontario; Janet W. Ketcham, Seattle, Washington; William P. Ketcham, Seattle, Washington; C. Calvert Knudsen, Seattle, Washington; Harald H. Ludwig, West Vancouver, B.C.; and F. David Radler, Vancouver, B.C.