PreviousWeyerhaeuser Company
In 1900, Frederick Weyerhaeuser took a step that stirred the imagination and signaled a new era in the history of the lumber industry. In the largest private land transaction in American history to that time, 900,000 acres of Washington state timberland were purchased from the Northern Pacific Railway. They had acquired one of the richest timber areas on Earth. “This is not for us, nor for our children—but for our grandchildren.”
The Weyerhaeuser Company began with three employees and a small office in Tacoma, Washington. Now, Weyerhaeuser employs approximately 7,400 people in a variety of businesses and manages approximately 1.1 million acres of timberland in Washington State alone. Worldwide the company owns or manages 21.5 million acres of timberland. With global headquarters in Federal Way, WA, Weyerhaeuser has offices or operations in 18 countries.
When the company started, it was named Weyerhaeuser Timber Company and they concentrated their efforts on acquiring new land. In the summer of 1902, an historic devastating fire, the Yacolt Burn, pushed the company into the logging business. The fire also inspired the company to become a leader in public and private forest fire protection, helping to found the Washington Forest Fire Association.
Today, their diverse businesses touch nearly every aspect of the forest products industry, from growing and harvesting trees to producing pulp, paper, packaging and building products. Weyerhaeuser also dedicates a lot of effort to developing the science of forestry. In 2006, Weyerhaeuser spent $19.1 million on forestry research.
George Weyerhaeuser Sr. is the great grandson of founder Frederick Weyerhaeuser. He was the CEO of Weyerhaeuser for 25 years until 1991.