Friedrich Weyerhäuser

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Friedrich (Frederik) Weyerhäuser (November 21, 1834 in Nieder-Saulheim, Rheinhessen - April 4, 1914 in Pasadena, California) was a German-American timber mogul and founder of the Weyerhaeuser Company, which owns large forested areas as well as saw mills, paper factories, and other business enterprises. He is the eighth richest American of all time, with a net worth of $72.2 billion in 2006 dollars^[1].

At the age of 18, Weyerhäuser emigrated from Germany to the United States and began as a worker in a sawmill, which he later bought. He also began to acquire interests, some of which were majority interests, in many other timber companies. In 1872, he established the Mississippi River Boom and Logging Co., an alliance that handled all the logs that were processed on the Mississippi River. In 1900, Weyerhäuser bought 900,000 acres (3,600 km²) of timberland in the Pacific Northwest from James J. Hill and founded the Weyerhäuser Timber Company. One of the 30 factories in which he held an interest was Potlatch, later Potlatch Corporation. He also owned interests in the Boise Cascade Corporation. The Weyerhaeuser Company is still the world’s largest seller of timber.

Mr. Weyerhauser was married to Sarah Elizabeth Bloedel on October 11, 1857. The couple had seven children: John P. Weyerhauser, Elise (Weyerhauser) Bancroft Hill, Margaret (Weyerhauser) Jewett, Apollonia (Weyerhauser) Davis, Charles A. Weyerhauser, Rudolph M. Weyerhauser, and Frederick E. Weyerhauser.^[2]

In thanks to his home community of Saulheim, he established the music hall there in 1904.

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