Old Missoula

Below are links to a couple of articles about Van Evan Plywood that appeared in The Northwest magazine [Northern Pacific Railway Publication] for March/April of 1960 and May/June of 1963. (See page 6 of 1960)

http://www.nprha.org/Publications/The_NORTHWEST/1960s/1960_02_MAR-APR_The_NORTHWEST_M.pdf

http://www.nprha.org/Publications/The_NORTHWEST/1960s/1963_03_MAY-JUN_The_NORTHWEST_M.pdf

http://morphotoarchive.org/rvndb/rvnjpeg_img_rec.php?objno=RVN24839

I spent a couple of months there – probably in 1968. One of my brothers and many of my friends worked at this plant. It was one of 3 mills I had the pleasure of working for, one of them twice (Bonner). It was quite easy to get hired at these mills. A summer there seemed to be a common thing for many young Missoula people. It was work at a mill for a while, go to school until the money ran out. Sawdust scholarships. It could be dangerous work. Women were just starting to work in these mills about this time. I even spent a few weeks at Horner-Waldorf one winter. Not a fun job – unloading frozen chips from railroad box cars and cleaning Lime kilns. It paid pretty well though. Members of my immediate and extended family probably worked at nearly every mill in Missoula at one time or another, and Missoula had several of them. Apparently, Evans Products closed in 1980.