[Music] I've never drawn a paycheck from any other business in my whole life I started here in sixth grade this is all I've ever known it's beautiful out here we're driving through the mountains to cely Lake in Missoula County it's a small town about 1,600 people and we're going to Pyramid Mountain Lumber that is the biggest employer in this town and it's been a familyowned and operated Timber business for 75 years four generations my grandfather who started the mill here in 1948 my father is in the middle and he's still currently active in the business
and then my oldest brother uh Steve who's our sales manager so it's the three generations of the Johnson family in that photo and different Crews you know the office crew the loading crew Sawmill planer yeah it's emotional you know it'll be you know to make the announcement to the crew was probably the toughest thing I got friends family you know Generations good friends that work here and have to tell them we're going to shut the doors yeah there used to be uh seven or eight Mills right in moula county and after you guys close there
will be there'll be no more no more Sawmills than in Missoula County we're random width random length Sawmill so we cut all width all length got 2x4 2x4 through 2x2 1x4 through 1X 12 and from anywhere from 6 to 16 ft let's take a look where we going going over here we're heading yeah we're heading in The Sawmill [Music] so so every piece of lumber out there a scan if this computer can find a better solution based upon the characteristics of that board that'll yield a higher value product it'll send it back into the [Music]
mill now the one thing about our Mill through 75 years of operation we've grown from this to this the more real estate you're covering the more people I take this is all finished product it's all finished it's dried it's everything it's ready to yeah everything we're looking at here is all finished product ready to be loaded on trucks main reason you're shutting down that cost structure the main reason is labor yeah in order for to be a commodity you know we can't command more for our price you got to produce more lumber than you were
before to help drive that cost down and for us to be able to produce more we need more bodies why can't you find people who want to work here well our cost for an average house in this town is higher than it is in Missoula which is the second largest city which is 50 Mi [Music] away I also see all over the store this time hiring yeah yeah we got them all over I'm uh I'm the lowest staff that I've ever been in the store in the almost 22 years that I've been here we're running
on a skeleton crew right now coming into the busiest season of the year what's going on why uh lack of housing no affordable housing here anyway rentals have diminished since Co hit and everybody came up here bought every uh rental darn here that was available and turned them into vacation rentals or moved up here themselves the locals are being priced out of buying a house starting a family working here or some of the other places around town because they can't afford to live in this place anymore exactly I tell people we're centered on Montana arts
and crafts the biggest challenge for us and you'll probably hear this wherever you go is uh uh there's no labor force here there could be a low-income housing built but uh the people in the town cannot come to an agreement with uh uh missula County and this has been going on for years and years contra to what some folks might think in terms of why a mill would be closing in the Western United States it really has nothing to do with the environmental Wars of years gone by in the past and everything to do with
lack of infrastructure that is the groundwork for housing so for instance in cely Lake what they really need is a centralized sewer system Wastewater facilities that would allow for new housing to be constructed there hasn't been a apartment duplex or fourplex built in this town in over 30 years so there's no when you're talking about entry level housing for more blueco collar workers there's just not it's not [Music] available we are kind of uh seen the the fruits of uh decisions in the past uh come to come to Bear today come to fruition because it
feels like the people don't want to vote for a sewer system because it would be very expensive the concern was in the past both because of the cost but also the concern would this infrastructure change the character of the community but there in lies the irony is that the lack of the infrastructure is the big reason why pyramid Mount Lumber cannot find the housing for their employees and the employees to keep it going enhance change is upon us no sewer system no available affordable housing for working people that's that's exactly right so this town needs
a sewer system Town needs a sewer system or needs uh some lightening up of regulations from Missoula County but hasn't the town voted against the sewer system in the past they did when they had things set up they did vote against it cuz you got to pay more for a se you got to pay more the hook up those expens expensive the monthly cost was expensive and the immediate people it was going to affect was going to be the lowest income people that's where it was going to start it was going to start with the
most highly uh populated portion of the town if you're uh you know a school teacher and and a sheriff they can't afford this town so the guy moving in to work an entry-level job and ours you know he can't afford it either so so it's a town that's really going to belong to wealthier people what's it going to mean for the community for see oh it'll impact you know our our average payroll and our our payroll just here to our employees is over $6 million a year so you know you take that out of this
economy it'll change the fabric of the town There's No Doubt [Music]
