By 1989, many mills had already closed; logging companies were moving to other regions.4 The eastern Cascades, once a hub of timber wealth, were now cutover forests and former mill towns overgrown by brush. This is a story we need to know. Industrial transformation turned out to be a bubble of promise followed by lost livelihoods and damaged landscapes. And yet: such documents are not enough. If we end the story with decay, we abandon all hope—or turn our attention to other sites of promise and ruin, promise and ruin.
