History
It was almost destined from the beginning that Dean and Rod Swanson would end up in the sawmill business. Their father Helga and their Uncle Walt were already in the business operating a sawmill in Noti, Oregon, fittingly enough called Swanson Brothers. The two brothers worked briefly at the sawmill themselves before going off to serve the country in World War II. Upon their return from the war the two brothers tried their hand at a number of jobs, but ultimately decided to follow their fathers lead and began to look for an area to start their own sawmill.
The area of Oregon from around Eugene in the north, to Grants Pass in the south, running east of the I-5 corridor toward Bend, and west to the Pacific Ocean is arguably one of the most prolific tree growing regions in the world. With this abundance and availability of Douglas Fir trees surrounding them, the brothers soon found a site along the railroad in Glendale, Oregon. It was here that they started their first sawmill along with another brother Harry and a fourth partner Ed Combs. They called their mill Superior Lumber Company. Little did they know that this mill would one day become the hub of one of the most successful privately held family forest products company’s in Oregon.
By the late 60’s the Government was beginning to restrict the sale and logging of the large old growth stands of Doug Fir and encouraging owners to retool their sawmills to accommodate the smaller second growth trees that were starting to become harvestable size. In addition, the Government promised that they would make more second growth lands available; a promise they later reneged on but at the time made good sense. The Swansons made the costly conversion to make Superior Lumber a small log mill in 1968 and was among the first owners in the state to do so.
With the success of this conversion and correctly seeing the shift from old growth timber to second growth, the brothers started to look for a site to build another sawmill. This time they recruited their older brother Ray, who was running the original Swanson Bros. mill. Along with Ray and a few other investors, the Swansons soon opened Swanson-Superior Forest Products in Noti across the street from their Father and Uncle’s mill.
Eventually, Dean and Rod would involve their own children in the business; most notably Steve Swanson, Dean’s son who serves today as the President and CEO. It was under Steve’s direction that the company experienced it’s most aggressive expansion period.
In the 90’s the company made its first purchase of timberlands and started a division to manage those lands that eventually would number over 160,000 acres. At about the same time the company began Superior Helicopter, a move that allowed them to aggressively bid on timber sales that required aerial logging. Superior Lumber then purchased Gregory Forest Products, a neighbor mill in Glendale that provided the Swansons entry into the plywood and veneer business.
In 2001, with the start of the new century, Superior Lumber purchased Sun Studs in Roseburg, Oregon. As the company was growing and expanding it became evident that a move to consolidate administrative functions would become necessary. In January 2002 the family formed Swanson Group Incorporated, a holding company that would oversee all of the operations and is the name the company goes by today.
In 2005 another stud mill, Glide Lumber in Glide, Oregon was purchased, as was Burns Lumber a wholesale company in Medford, Oregon. The Burns acquisition was the first attempt by the company to vertically integrate within the supply chain. The company’s latest purchase was McKenzie Forest Products, a plywood and veneer mill located in Springfield, Oregon in 2007.