Frederick Weyerhaeuser, born in 1834 Niedersaulheim, Rhein-Hesse, came to America in 1852 as a penniless youth and went on to become known as the Timber King — a title he didn’t like. He remained a simple man who shied away from publicity throughout his life. Who’s Who in America only discovered him in 1911, three years before his 
death. He enjoyed his anonymity, as did his descendents.
After coming to America, he worked as a day laborer in the vicinity of Erie, Pennsylvania, where he married Elisabeth Bladel. He then moved to Rock Island, Illinois, where he worked on a railroad.
He advanced quickly wherever he worked. In one of the few interviews he ever gave, he answered a question about the reasons for his tremendous success by saying “The secret lay simply in my will to work. I never watched the clock and never stopped before I had finished what I was working on.”
In Rock Island, he was put in charge of a sawmill and then a timber yard. After the panic of 1857, he was able to buy both with money he had saved. Soon afterwards, he bought logs from the shores of the Mississippi and acquired additional sawmills.
In the year 1864, Weyerhaeuser began to buy up pine tracts in Wisconsin, giving him control of all
stages of the lumber business. He acquired still more land in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. In 1891, he moved to St. Paul where he became friends and neighbors with James J. Hill, the operator of the Northern Pacific Railroad.
Hill had acquired millions of acres of the best timber forests cheaply form the government for his railroad. He knew nothing about the lumber business, and sold more than three million acres of forests to Weyerhaeuser at bargain rates, which contributed to the wealth of Weyerhaeuser’s company.
At the turn of the century, he owned more timberland than any other American. He showed greater concern for his workers than any other industrial magnate of the time. He also impressed upon them the necessity of protecting even the smallest trees.
Upon his death in 1914, Hill commented, “His place can never be filled…He was one of those national forces that helped build our country…” At the time of his death, his estate was valued at $200 million.
Today the Seattle, Washington-based Weyerhaeuser Corporation is a multi-million dollar company with offices in Europe and Canada. There is also a Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation, founded in 1948, that has directed over $100 million to worthy causes.
Phil Robertson, Editor
