In 1925, J.P. Weyerhaeuser, Jr., then serving as manager of the Clearwater Timber Company, came to Lewiston, Idaho and opened an office taking with him G. F. Jewett and C. L. Billings. Construction of the plant, which stands on the site of the former Lewiston fair grounds, was started in February of 1926 and the first sawlog went through the mill on August 8, 1927. In 1930 Robert T. Bowling, still employed as an engineer with Potlatch Forest Industries developed Pres-to-Logs and Pres-to-Log stoker fuel at the Clearwater unit - the first major step in more complete utilization of the harvested tree through use of waste material. The fuel is manufactured from dry shavings from the planer mill by subjecting them to compression and intense heat. From this development came Wood Briquettes, Inc., organized in 1933 for the purpose of leasing machines for manufacture of the fuel. Today, the product from these same machines are known as Energy Logs. The trade name Pres-to-Logs was bought by a company making a different type of log with different type of machinery.
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