LACLEDE — Walking up to the podium, Idaho Forest Group founder Mark Brinkmeyer picked up a plaque shaped like the state of Idaho.

Created from the first 2x12 milled at the Laclede mill on Sept. 30, 1976, Brinkmeyer said it represents all that the mill and Idaho Forest Group have accomplished in the 50 years since that first plant made its way through the mill.

Looking out at the employees, some with the company for 50 days, others for almost its entire 50-year history, IFG's founder said it was a treat to celebrate all that the Laclede mill has accomplished and all that the company has become.

"I'm an enabler. You can say, 'You're a founder, you can do all these things.' But that's not what this place is all about. This place is all about the people that are here, the community of Laclede and the people that care."

Friday's celebration marked the mill's 50th birthday and the company's 45th anniversary. However, Brinkmeyer said it is also a celebration of the people who have worked there and of the future.

"People ask me what's next for me," the IFG founder said. "That answer is easy. Nothing's changed. I still dream. I'm focused on building this company and finding ways for us to make a difference in the industry."

The company's future, Brinkmeyer said, is rooted in lessons learned throughout its history.

The mill's start dates back to its founding by the Brand-S Corporation in September 1976, which would own the facility until its purchase by Brinkmeyer in 1981.

Those early days weren't easy for the newly named Riley Creek Lumber Company or for the timber industry as a whole.

"It didn't have optimization. It didn't have air conditioning to cool the computers. It didn't have any of those modern things, but what it did have was an idea," company President Jesse Short told the hundreds of employees gathered for the celebration. "It had people with a lot of grit, a handful of people willing to bet on something bigger than themselves."

The mill would file for Chapter 11 protection in the fall of 1985, emerging two years later, stronger and tougher, able to handle the challenges of a changing industry.

The recovery helped position Riley Creek for decades of growth.

In 2000, the Laclede sawmill was updated. In 2003, Riley Creek acquired Louisiana-Pacific's Moyie Springs, Sandpoint and Chilco operations. In 2008, it purchased the JD Lumber facility and merged with Bennett Forest Industries and officially became Idaho Forest Group. In 2012, the company purchased the Lewiston facility; a stud mill in St. Regis, Mont., in 2017; and in 2018, a finger-joint plant in Athol. In 2022, the company built a new mill facility in Lumberton, Miss.

The growth was made possible by generations of employees, including Steve Spletstoser, who recently retired after 45 years at the mill. Spletstoser told those gathered that living and working in Laclede for the past 45 years has been a blessing and a privilege.

The community's connection to the timber industry dates back to well before the mill, back to the early 1900s with the launch of the Laclede Lumber Company in 1905. While that mill would be purchased by A.C. White and, after a fire in August 1922, much of what remained was barged upriver to Dover, more than a century of timber production is deep in Laclede's roots.

Renamed Idaho Forest Group in 2008, the Laclede facility is the longest-running sawmill in the community's history. In its 50 years of operation, Spletstoser estimated that more than 1,000 people have worked at the site and hundreds more in the woods, providing support to the mill.

"Now consider the families of all these folks, the number of people and lives that were affected by this facility, this small town, is mind-boggling," Spletstoser said. "Like the branches stemming from a tree — from the roots, expanding to the limbs and on out to the needles, continuing to grow and expand. All connected to the same point on the globe."

Since Idaho Forest Group's purchase of the Laclede mill, there have been nine U.S. presidents, wars, a pandemic, changing timber policies and technological revolutions. Milling equipment has changed, going from completely manual operations to fully automated scanning, solution generations and grading.

"Through all of those changes, the people of this mill have adapted and kept moving forward," Spletstoser said.

When storms left 4 feet of snow on the ground and a subsequent chinook wind and rainstorm resulted in the collapse of the planner building, crews worked around the clock, clearing hundreds of yards of snow and building debris, restoring power and getting the planner back in operation.

It took a week.

By 2000, the mill went from a day and swing shift to three shifts running around the clock. Automation was added and new product lines developed.

"There's a sign that hangs in the middle building that went up 20 years ago," Spletstoser said. "It has the words, 'One Team.' I believe it sums up the character of the crews here. Every person has a role. Each job is critical to the success of the whole and the goal of providing our customers with the products that they need."

Friday's event celebrates both the mill and the Brinkmeyer family, said Tommy Groff, IFG's director of mill operations.

"It's about the hard work and the whole history made right here in this community that we're all proud of," Groff said. "Today, we're not just celebrating a company's birthday; we're celebrating a family that's been steering this ship through many challenges and changes."

In his 10,361 days with Idaho Forest Group, Groff said the company's achievements are the result of the Brinkmeyer family's leadership.

"There's never been a day that I didn't have the opportunity to learn, to grow, or to chase an opportunity to improve myself or our special business. That's not luck. That's leadership. That's what Mark and our team have built."

Those lessons were also passed on to the next generation of company leadership.

Todd Brinkmeyer, now the company's CEO, recalled starting off sweeping sawdust piles and driving parts to the mill shortly after getting his driver's license.

As a teen, he spent weekends sorting scrap metal, painting equipment and doing assorted chores. Following his college graduation, he worked in various aspects of the company, learning the value of every job and the importance of safety.

He recalled a former company official telling him that he expected him to own his process and do his part of the work.

"I didn't like it at the time but I'm super grateful for it now," Brinkmeyer said. "That was just how the old guard was, and how formative it was for me. Times were tough. Budgets were tight. We had to make do with what we had."

He learned to be a leader, not because of the equipment, but because of the people — and they have made him a better person.

"I learned the difference through the hard work, listening, wanting to talk, make a million mistakes and owning those mistakes, not repeating them and trying to make things better, safely," Brinkmeyer said.

For founder Mark Brinkmeyer, the celebration links the company's past with its present and its future.

"That's what got us to where we are today, and that's what's going to lead us into the future," he said.