Charles O. Brown who was a timber cruiser, scaler, buyer and seller of timberland saw the potential for the timber industry in north central Idaho, but did not have the resources to take advantage of the situation. He worked to get midwest 'timber barons' from like Fredrick Weyerhauser and Edward Scofield out to Idaho. Shortly after Weyerhaeuser sent out his colleague John Glover and his cruiser James Johnson to look things over, Brown was hired at $150 per month as Weyerhauser's local agent to scout available timberland.

The Clearwater Timber Company was organized at the Pioneer Hotel in Pierce in November of 1900 by Frederick Weyerhaeuser, his son Charles and John Humbird. They had come out to Idaho to inspect their newly purchased timberland.

According to a Potlatch Forest, Inc. newsletter in the University of Idaho's collection, Weyerhaeuser and Brown also formed the Potlatch Lumber Company. Another associate of the Weyerhaeusers, Edward Rutledge formed the Edward Rutledge Timber Company in 1902. A year later Frederick Weyerhaeuser and his partners decided to merge all three into one company which they named the Potlatch Lumber Company. Charles Weyerhaeuser was made president.

Scofield also sent out men to work in his behalf.

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