RY Timber Closes Townsend Office for Last Time
 | Author:
Nancy Marks
Nancy Marks: MT43 News Secretary and News Editor |
RY Timber Closes Townsend Office for Last Time Nancy Marks Bill Fredericks was manning the office at the RY Timber mill northeast of Townsend when I caught him Friday afternoon, Feb. 17. He was working at a computer and taking lots of phone calls, letting people who want firewood know that the gates would be closing shortly for the last time. Bill leaned back in his chair, and ran his fingers through his white hair, his voice wistful. “Thirty-one years and ten months I’ve worked here. I had so hoped we could at least sell firewood for a while longer,” he sighed.
“The gates will close at 4:30 p.m., and no, we won’t be open again,” he told yet another caller.
Did I detect a tear?
Just several days earlier, management reported that RY Timber had decided to permanently close its timber mill in Livingston as the result of the latest fire at that mill. The Livingston plant had been the source of firewood sold by RY’s Townsend plant which closed its milling operations back in 2020, at the cost of about 70 jobs.
And now, Bill Fredericks was left to turn out the lights.
Dan Richards, RY’s general manager in Livingston, said Friday in a telephone interview with MT43 News, “Management only learned about the Livingston closure on Tuesday. I have no idea what comes next for the mills. He would not speculate on what might happen to the 124-acre Townsend site and the equipment still there.
The Townsend mill was closed on January 6, 2020, after a fire destroyed much of the equipment. R-Y management also cited the loss of timber supply from the U. S. Forest Service logging projects due to ongoing litigation as another reason for the permanent closure. The Townsend RY workers, who lost their jobs, were given the choice of moving to Livingston to work at the RY mill there or finding another job.
The Townsend office continued selling firewood after the mill closure. On Friday, as Bill Fredericks prepared to shut the office down for the last time, several pickup trucks full of firewood were moving through the gate. “People cut their own firewood from our pulp wood and log end piles. I don’t know what will become of all the firewood left on the premises,” he said.
The Livingston mill suffered two fires, one on Sept. 12, 2022, when the planer burned and then one in the early morning of Feb. 07, taking out the plant roof, according to Richards.
At the end of his Friday shift, Bill said he would head home to White Sulphur Springs.
Will he look for another job? “I’m 63 years old. I’m going to retire. And besides, my wife will be happy about me not putting all these miles on our truck,” he laughed.
Bill said he was a stacker operator when the mill was working. He also put in military service totaling 30 years in the Army and Army National Guard.
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PhotoCredit: Nancy Marks
Image 1 Caption: After 31 years, Bill Fredericks was left to turn out the lights.
Image 2 Caption: RY Timber Offices
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