Unveiling WWI-era signatures of Bonner millworkers
Published: 22 February 2026
By Kevin Maki
via the NBC Montana television web site
Bonner steel mill
t the old Bonner mill site, on the top floor of the Stone Warehouse, scrawled across large wooden beams, is a written history of the mill. There are hundreds of signatures and messages written by millworkers from just about every generation. Some of the names and messages are well over a century old. (Photo: NBC Montana)
BONNER, Mont. — So much of our life is defined by the work we do.
We take pride in successfully completing a project or product.
We sign our name to a job well done.
NBC Montana begins this story at the Bonner Mill Industrial Park, where more than a dozen diversified businesses employ several hundred people.
The area has been industrial for well over a century.
From 1886 to 2008, it was home to one of the region’s largest, most productive, and essential lumber mills.
Most of the community lived a common routine.
“It revolved around the whistle at the mill,” said journalist and Bonner native Kim Briggeman.
Kim works with the Bonner Milltown History Center.
The group is dedicated to preserving Bonner’s unique history and its ties to the timber industry.
NBC Montana spent a Tuesday morning at the Bonner museum next to the post office.
It’s where a number of people, most of them local, meet for coffee.
Many here are retired Bonner millworkers.
“The mill,” said Fred Beyer, “was one of the higher paying jobs in the Missoula area.”
It’s had several owners since 1886, when brothers A.B. and Henry Hammond opened the first mill.
Marcus Daly’s Anaconda Company would follow, which operated for more than 70 years.
Then came U.S. Plywood, a division of Champion International, and finally its last owner, Stimson Lumber, which closed the mill in 2008.
Go inside the gates at Bonner Mill Industrial Park and you’ll find what they call the Stone Warehouse.
It’s the oldest building here.
“It was the originally the factory,” said Kim “The sawmill was towards the river. And the factory is where they put the wood together.”
On the top floor of the warehouse, in a darkened corner, scrawled across large wooden beams, is a written history of the mill.
Read the entire article on the NBC Montana website.
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