Portland-based Hampton Lumber may be the only manufacturer in the world better known for an emoji than a product. The emoji in this case is a 300-foot-wide patch of larch trees planted in 2011 by company co-owner David Hampton and then-timberland manager Dennis Creel. When the larch leaves turn yellow in the fall, the patch becomes an enormous smiley face set in a green canopy.
Yes, that smiley face.
The tree-moji occupies a small piece of Hampton-owned land near its Willamina mill, which company founder Bud Hampton bought in 1942 to supply his Tacoma, Wash., lumber business. The mill, currently undergoing a $150 million retooling, is one of nine the company operates in the Pacific Northwest. Three are in Oregon, including mills in Warrenton and Tillamook.
In the 82 years since Budd Hampton bought the Willamina mill, Hampton Lumber has become a vertically integrated company that owns timberland (100,000 acres in Oregon, including a notable larch grove), manufactures wood products and markets them throughout the world. Hampton’s wholesale division, Hampton Lumber Sales, also markets wood products manufactured by other companies.
Hampton’s three Oregon mills produce a mix of structural lumber, including studs and dimensional lumber, from Douglas fir, hemlock and other soft woods. Logs produced in the Pacific Northwest are comparatively expensive, and the facilities maximize efficiency. All parts of processed logs are used, and whatever doesn’t become lumber is either burned to produce steam for drying lumber or other renewable energy or sold for pulp, particleboard and agricultural products, says Kristin Rasmussen, Hampton’s director of public affairs and communications.
Through a pair of recent acquisitions, Hampton Lumber has increased its portfolio of value-added products and services. In 2022, the company bought Boise-based Idaho Timber, which offers rapid mill-direct delivery through a network of manufacturing, distribution and sales facilities in seven states.
And earlier this year, Hampton bought another Boise-based company, RedBuilt, which manufactures wood-based structural products for low-rise commercial buildings. RedBuilt’s products include joists, trusses and glulam beam, and its customers include Chik-fil-A.
The company, now in its fourth generation of family ownership, has branched out in Oregon as well. Hampton planted its first vineyard in 2016 near Monmouth. It bought nearby Fennwood Vineyard two years later. And in 2021, it went to the winemaking business with the purchase of the Carlton Winemakers Studio in Carlton.
Still, manufacturing and selling timber products remains the heart of Hampton Lumber’s business. The company’s forestland, mill and sales operations employ about 1,700 people, around 800 in Oregon, according to Rasmussen. In 2023, Hampton Lumber was the seventh largest softwood lumber producer in the United States, with about 1.7 billion board feet of production capacity.
Like many employers, Hampton Lumber has made significant contributions to the communities in which it operates.
Some of these contributions are large, including a May 2024 pledge of $250,000 to expand Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria and a March 2024 donation of $1 million to the Sheridan School District to expand career and technical education.
Other contributions are more personally focused, including Hampton Lumber’s sponsorship of popular Girls Build summer camps, which are designed to empower and inspire girls aged 8 to 14 by introducing them to various construction and building trades.
And then there are the kinds of whimsical contributions you might expect from the sort of timber company that would plant a smiley face in the forest. Each of Hampton’s Oregon mills has a unique lumber wrap designed by local high school students. The company donated $15,000 to each winning school to support arts education.
Though Hampton Lumber is in the wood products business, it has no plans to harvest its smiley face until the trees are mature, which will happen in about 30 years, says Rasmussen. At that point, she says, it may plant a different emoji.
Hampton Lumber employs about 800 people in Oregon, where it operates three mills.
Lois Perdue manages Hampton Lumber’s Warrenton mill, which turns Douglas fir and other soft woods into kiln-dried framing lumber.
Logs produced in the Pacific Northwest are comparatively expensive, and Hampton Lumber’s facilities maximize efficiency. All parts of processed logs are used.
In 2023, Hampton Lumber was the seventh largest softwood lumber producer in the United States, with about 1.7 billion board feet of production capacity.