Boise Cascade - Boise Cascade Corporation

Boise Cascade Corporation, was established in 1957 as the result of the merger between Boise-Payette Lumber Company of Boise and the Cascade Lumber Company of Yakima, Washington.

Boise-Payette was established in 1913 from a merger of the Payette Lumber & Manufacturing Company and Barber Lumber, a Wisconsin company with operations in the Boise Basin. Payette Lumber, a Minnesota firm, acquired 33,000 acres (130 km²) of state timber in Idaho's Long Valley near present-day Cascade in 1902. To control the passage of logs downstream, the company built a large splash dam below Smith's Ferry on the North Fork of the Payette River. Logs were sent downstream to sawmills in the town of Payette.

In the 1960s, Boise Cascade acquired a majority interest in the Cuban Electric Co., the primary electric utility in pre-Castro Cuba. The Boise Cascade logo, also designed in the 1960s, depicts a pine tree inside the containing circle.

In November 2004, the corporation completed its sale of its paper, building products, and timberland assets to Madison Dearborn, a private equity investment firm. Boise Cascade Corporation then renamed itself OfficeMax, which it had acquired in 2003. In February 2008, the company spun off its paper and packaging operations to a new company, Boise Inc., with Boise Cascade resuming use of its old name.