The town of Seeley Lake in Western Montana is losing its largest employer, with the company citing a lack of housing and an unprecedented rise in costs making it too difficult to operate.
Pyramid Mountain Lumber, which has been in Seeley Lake for 75 years, announced in a press release on Thursday it was shutting down its operations and closing its lumber mill.
“As everyone at Pyramid knows, the Company has been hit very hard by a variety of circumstances that are outside of its control,” the statement said. “Among other problems, labor shortages, lack of housing, unprecedented rising costs, plummeting lumber prices, and the cost of living in Western Montana have crippled Pyramid’s ability to operate.”
Montana is among a number of Western states dealing with rising costs and a shortage of housing, driven in part by the rise in remote work, which has contributed to an influx of people moving from cities to smaller towns. Montana and Idaho were among the fastest-growing states from 2020 to 2022, with home prices increasing by 60% throughout Montana from 2020 to 2023.
“In the last 100 years, only one other mill in Montana hasn’t shut its doors or changed ownership,” Pyramid said in the statement.
Pyramid Mountain Lumber did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte and Sens. Steve Daines and Jon Tester lamented the closure in statements provided to local outlet KPAX. “This is devastating news for the Seeley Lake community and all of Montana,” Daines said.
Communities across the West are feeling the pinch of rising costs in different ways. The city manager of Steamboat Springs, a Colorado ski town, recently told NBC the local government has been unable to fill a role with a $167,000 salary because the potential candidates could not find housing.
In Driggs, Idaho, another mountain town dealing with an influx of outsiders, many residents have “picked up and left because they could no longer afford to live here,” Cindy Riegel, the chair of the board of county commissioners in Teton County, where Driggs is located, previously told The Wall Street Journal.
“Many have gone from living comfortably to survival mode,” she said.
Are you a Montana resident dealing with rising costs or a lack of affordable housing? Do you want to share your thoughts on how transplants are reshaping Montana? Contact this reporter at kvlamis@insider.com.
