The last unit of lumber at Pyramid Mountain Lumber enters the planer facility on Friday, Aug. 23.
The last units of lumber were processed at Pyramid Mountain Lumber on Friday. No more production will continue at the mill.
In March, Pyramid Mountain Lumber announced their closure due to workforce shortages. The high cost of living in western Montana was cited as one of the main reasons for closure. Pyramid was the largest employer in Seeley Lake and has been family-owned for the last 75 years.
Pyramid has been winding down through a five-part plan and are now in the final two stages, which include preparing equipment for auction and shipping the remaining lumber. Employees continue to clean and prepare the mill's equipment for auction, which is scheduled in November, and will ship lumber out through the end of the year.
The other stages of the wind down included cutting off log supply, running the remaining logs through the saw mill and finishing the lumber in the planer facility, which is the stage that wrapped up last week.
"I firmly believe that one of the reasons we were the last remaining sawmill in Missoula County was because of our employees," Pyramid Mountain Lumber General Manager Todd Johnson said in a press release. "We set two production records in the last week, our employees cared and went out with pride, which meant a lot to the owners."
For the last 40 years or so, Johnson said the company kept records of the amount of board feet produced. In the last week of the planer facility's operation, employees produced more board feet in a designated time frame than they ever had before.
Before the shut down was announced Pyramid employed just under 100 employees. After the announcement in March about 25 left for other jobs or were laid off and another 15 were laid off last week.
Pyramid still has about 55 employees who remain to help prepare equipment for auction and ship out the last loads.
Johnson said it could have been easy to just "lay down and ride out" the last few months of employment, but Pyramid's employees took pride in their work and were dedicated until the end. That's one of the reasons they've lasted longer than a lot of mills did, Johnson said.
"We've always had a very good workforce and a very good crew," Johnson said.
Perfectly competent at too many things
Keely's journalism career started with staff positions at the Lone Peak Lookout and The Madisonian in southwest Montana and freelancing for Dance Spirit Magazine.
In 2023, she completed a legislative reporting fellowship with KFF Health News during Montana's 68th legislative session and graduated with an MA in Environmental Journalism from the University of Montana. Keely completed a summer fire reporting internship with Montana Free Press in 2022.
Her bylines include Scientific American, Modern Farmer, U.S. News & World Report, CBS News, The New Republic, KFF Health News, Montana Free Press, Ars Technica, Mountain Journal and Outside Business Journal.
She also is a producer and editor for a Montana Public Radio podcast.
Keely received her undergraduate degrees in History and Religious Studies from Montana State University in 2017.
In her spare time, she's dancing, drinking processo and running around the mountains.
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