History of King County, Washington
By Clarence B. Bagley in 1929. Now in Public Domain
From Chapter 47: Issaquah, Pages 770-771
Issaquah: Lumbering
Lumbering for many years was an important industry in the region tributary to Issaquah and many are still employed in logging and milling at Monohon, Preston, High Point and to a minor extent just outside the town. One of the early sawmills after the incorporation of the Town of Issaquah was the establishment of three brothers, Joseph, John and E. P. Neukirchen.
The Issaquah Mill Company was incorporated on January 15, 1903 and for a period carried on a general lumber and milling business. The incorporators were as follows: William R. Bush, Chris J. Trandum, Axel Forsberg, and Olof N. Kinde. In 1909 there were three lumber mills and six shingle mills within a four mile radius of Issaquah.
The lumbering and milling operations at Monohon, on the east shore of Lake Sammamish, have also contributed to the prosperity of Issaquah. The name of this town, founded by Martin Monohon, who took up a homestead there in 1877, appears erroneously on most maps as Monohan. Lee Monohon of Renton, a son, is authority for the correct spelling of the family name. The Allen and Nelson Mill Company was established at Monohon in 1889 by Watson Allen, James D. Houghton, and James H. Watson, with a capitalization of $50,000. In 1906 the holdings of this concern passed into the hands of C. P. Bratnober, John E. Bratnober, and C.S. LaForge. The mills had a cutting capacity of 120,000 feet daily. The plant included fifty homes for employees and a twenty room hotel. For some years, also, the Lake Sammamish Lumber and Shingle Company, incorporated on December 17, 1892, by Frank G. Winquist, A. C. Hilan, Sam J. Yates, and Denis H. Stake, was in business. The Lake Sammamish Shingle Company, incorporated on September 10, 1901, by J.F. Weber, Henry F. McClure, and R. M. Castle, is still doing a good business. About 1909 the Empire Lumber Company was operating a lumber and sawmill about one mile east of town, while Shelton and Jones had a shingle mill three miles to the northeast. One mile to the south, also, was the R. and A. shingle mill, while three miles to the southwest were the shingle and sawmills of the Tiger Mountain Mill Company. About this time Brace and Heath established a shingle mill near town. Several small sawmills are still operated in the town and Issaquah also benefits from the lumber industry as a shipping point, about two train loads of logs leaving there daily.
Many Issaquah men are employed in the lumber industry at High Point, a little less than three miles east, and at Preston, three miles farther along the highway toward Fall City. High Point, named thus because it is at the top of a steep grade of the Northern Pacific's Snoqualmie branch, was founded by John Lovegren, who settled there with Charles Edeen in 1905 and erected the first shingle mill there. An abundance of cedar in this vicinity has made the manufacture of shingles an important industry. The High Point Mill Company has a good-sized mill there today.
Preston was named in honor of William Preston, an associate of D. H. Gilman and others in the building of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railway, and was used as a supply post when the Seattle Coal and Iron Company had prospecting camps in that region. August and Emil Lovegren early in the present century established the Preston Mill Company, which is still operating, although August Lovegren is dead and Emil Lovegren is no longer actively connected with the mill. C J. Erickson is now president of the company which is capitalized at $300,000. The concern runs a lumber, shingle, and planing mill, employing about 200 men. The daily output is approximately 75,000 feet. The population of Preston is mostly of Swedish descent, and a great many of the mill hands came direct from the old country. Often a husband and father has come alone to this town, worked hard for a year or two with but one objective-the sight of his wife and children in a comfortable little cottage to greet him -at the end of a day's toil, to have his dream fully realized in the course of time.
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History of King County, Washington
By Clarence B. Bagley in 1929. Now in Public Domain