Even with the limitations of only using hand-operated tools and horse-drawn machinery, the construction of the Potlatch Lumber Company sawmill in Potlatch, Idaho, lasted less than a full year from the razing of the Pioneer's Cabin to being fully operational. Its shutdown in the spring of 1983 was even more sudden.

 

The timeline below visualizes the rise and fall of mills on the Palouse River that were directly affected by the activity of the Potlatch Lumber Company, from the founding of the first sawmill in Colfax, Washington, to the final closure of the last sawmill of its kind in Potlatch, Idaho. The efficiency of the Potlatch mill construction was a testament not only to the work ethic of the people who became the first settlers of the town of Potlatch, Idaho, but also to the determination and enterprising prowess of the company's founders, primarily William Deary.