CENTENNIAL Flashback
The 1980s
T
o mark this year’s 100th anniversary of The Merchant Magazine, we are looking back each month, decade by decade, at the advertisers that have long supported us and are still growing strong to this day. This month we check in on the 1980s. • We s t e r n Wo o d Preservers Institute, formed in 1947 to promote pressure treated lumber in the West, first advertised in The Merchant in January of 1980.
• RW Specialties was launched in 1965 and has steadily grown into a leading building material wholesaler in the Mountain West, with locations in Denver and Grand Junction, Co.; Casper, Wy.; and Salt Lake City, Ut. Its first Merchant ad: June 1981.
• California Timberline, Chino, Ca., was established in 1975 to wholesale industrial softwood and hardwood lumber. After starting to team with The Merchant in July 1981, Cal Timberline expanded into moulding, millwork and panels, becoming the exclusive distributor of Nusku products in 49 states.
• Gemini Forest Products announced its arrival to readers in July 1981, just after being founded in Los Alamitos, Ca., by Ted Pollard and Dale Bacon. The wholesaler specializes in industrial and treated products.
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• States Industries, Eugene, Or., originated in 1966 as a manufacturer of walls panels— showcased in their September 1981 ad— before eventually concentrating on industrial hardwood plywood. • Setzer Forest Products began in 1927 as an agricultural box manufacturing plant. Four generations of Setzers and 95 years later, the demand for housing materials now surpasses the need for vegetable crates. Consequently, the Setzer mills in Sacramento and Oroville, Ca., have become one of the West’s leading producers of MDF mouldings. The company first appeared in The Merchant in October 1981. • Siskiyou Forest Products was started by Fred Duchi in 1974 as a remanufacturer/ wholesale distributor, as showcased in the July 1982 Merchant. The company now produces finish lumber as well as Reserve brand engineered siding and trim, at its 35-acre manufacturing plant in Anderson, Ca. • Snavely Forest Products, Pittsburgh, Pa., was founded in 1902 and grew to five distribution locations by the time it was acquired in 2018 by Weekes Forest Products. Snavely first promoted its western DCs in The Merchant in December 1982. Building-Products.com
