We are the manufacture and distributor of high quality, doweled Lodgepole Pine and lathed pine posts and pole products. Used for business, agriculture, industry home, farm and ranch. Our facility is located just north of Hayden Idaho on Old Highway 95. Our current location is our Rathdrum Mill (open to the public) and we service a full line stocking distributor, C&E Lumber, in Pomona, CA.
Read About Us
North Idaho Post and Pole (NIPP) a Bourbon Valley Company, has been in business in Rathdrum, Idaho since 1963. We are the innovative industry leaders in doweled Lodgepole Pine material. NIPP was started as, and continues to be, a family-owned and operated business. Original owners Jack Russi and George Callaway also started the Bourbon Valley Company (BVC™). In 1980 Jim Pokorny joined the ownership team. They designed and developed the first Lodgepole Pine tree stakes, now the standard in the landscape industry. NIPP also produces doweled lodgepole pine posts, poles, and rails and pine house logs.
“Awareness of Lodgepole Pine and its many adaptations relating to the Farm and
Agricultural market, caught our attention. A material that was set aside and burned in many Logging. Operations prior to the invention of the Tree Stake and the Doweled Rail Fence.”
We innovated and perfected the doweling and doming process that produces a product that is a consistent size from one end to the other
The Lodgepole Tree Stake was invented by the company founders, Jack Russi and George Calloway, (a forester); the visionaries who saw the value in the tall, straight and abundant Lodgepole Pine Tree.
The round post and rail fencing and tree stakes are the first of many products available from NIPP.
We now offer a broad line of products; posts, poles, rails, round doweled rail fencing, tree stakes, interior and exterior handrail. NIPP has recently added House Logs to our product line. The House Logs are manufactured at our Rathdrum Idaho Mill as well.
In the early sixty’s, almost by accident, the park superintendent for the city of Pomona, California, having seen our round rail fencing, inquired if even smaller diameter pole’s might be available to use for staking trees.
In April of 1964, C&E Lumber Co. brought a shipment of Lodgepole Pine tree stakes from NIPP in Hayden, Idaho to Pomona, California and began marketing them to cities throughout the state. They became the standard wood tree stake in the landscape industry. Unfortunately, with the ongoing drought in California, landscaping with live trees is mostly non-existent so the need for tree stakes has lessened.
WHY DOWELED LODGEPOLE PINE
There are many uses for Lodgepole Pine material. Lodgepole Pine trees were a nuisance to the loggers "back in the day” as they had no marketable value at the lumber mills. They used to be pushed into the burn pile during logging operations. Now, the trees are used for anything from a tree stake to a beautiful doweled rail fence, possibly even, an interior or exterior hand rail on a cabin or fancy home.
From the Lodgepole Pine, we also manufacture blunt fence posts and poles ranging in size from 2” to 7” in diameter and from 6’ to 20’ in length. These products can be used in many ways such as a deer fence, garden fence, dog run, property boundary, livestock containment, or horse fence.
Lodgepole Pine has been used for construction and fencing for many years. Some of its many attributes are its strength and integrity, straight, and tight grain. There is no other tree that produces logs with such tight grain and longevity as Lodgepole Pine.
Lodgepole Pine was first used by the American Indians. The Native Indians of the West used the long, straight, and strong logs from the Lodgepole Pine Tree as the main structural component of their lodges. That is how the Lodgepole Pine Tree was named. During most early logging projects, the Lodgepole Pine was set aside and burned as waste. North Idaho Post and Pole realized the value of this “secondary wood” and started producing doweled fences, posts and poles. Tree Stakes soon followed with the improvement of the Dowler which allowed our wood mill to produce symmetrical material for building and fencing projects. Our product has no bark and no taper. We do not offer “seconds.” Everything we sell is of first-rate quality.
Our existing state of the art doweling mill was built in Rathdrum, Idaho years ago. Our signature product was producing the first post and rail to be dowelled. A product such as a post, pole or rail, manufactured by the doweling process produces a symmetrical result in the product from one end to the other. Our processed posts and poles have no taper. We use material just slightly larger than the end product that we want to produce. This ensures that if chosen for treatment, there is plenty of sap wood for the treatment to penetrate into. We currently offer two types of treatment: CCA and CA.
OUR VALUE
North Idaho Post and Pole takes pride in providing customers with a symmetrical product. Our posts, poles and house logs are the same dimension from one end to the other. If you order a unit of 5” x 12’ posts, your posts will be 5” in diameter. Customer Service is our first and foremost driving force. Our team has seen almost everything that can be done with Lodgepole Pine. We are here to work for you. If you have an idea, let us know. Our team has an excellent working knowledge of what can and will work with our product and what won’t. We are a can-do company and we will produce the product you desire if it can be done. We have been in this business for over 50 years. We ARE the industry leader and innovator of doweled Lodgepole Pine product.
