Old Has Gone

"Coeur d’Alene’s last sawmill will process its final log in May, a casualty of the nation’s mortgage lending crisis and rising values for waterfront property. Stimson Lumber Co. gave its 60 hourly employees at the DeArmond mill a two-month notice on Tuesday. Workers weren't surprised." Spokesman Review

Just a few days ago, I was downtown Coeur d'Alene and looked at the sawmill and wondered how long it would be until it too turned into more Riverstone like property. Riverstone property once used to be the source of income for this area with a large lumber mill, as well. The headlines yesterday answered my question about the old mill, and the old way of life here in this area. I've known many people who have worked in these mills over the years, and now they have had to find a different way to make a living. Personally, I would rather have the mills than the hundreds of condos and all the pavement/concrete that line the riverfront now, making it so you can't even see the waterway. But, I've lived in this area for 32 years so lumber is what I grew up with as the main industry of this area. To me, it's sad to lose this industry in the area. It's also sad that more and more condos and pavement will go up in this area, making it a place where only the elite are allowed. It's happening all over this area, and the large sprawling fields are rapidly disappearing to housing developments. As I drive the prairie, I wonder where all the geese, hawks, deer, moose, and elk will go once those houses are there and I think how these housing developments keep encroaching on all this wildlife habitat, putting a stress on the wildlife that have lived in these areas for years. Of course, once people move into these areas and then have the wildlife show up in their yards, they complain that the wildlife should not be there, but it was their land before it was a housing development. To quote a couple of songs "don't know what you got, till it's gone" and "pave paradise, put up a parking lot" or in these cases, a housing development.