By REBEKAH DENN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Natural resources drew the first non-Native American settlers to Granite Falls in the 1880s. Its first timber mill was open by 1891, producing railroad ties to build a railroad to the mines of nearby Monte Cristo, now a ghost town.

At least a dozen mills operated in Granite Falls by 1906, one history says, and the town was booming. The lumber business dominated for decades, with trees so enormous that one could fill an entire logging truck.

"They used to have huge logs," says Martha Mackie, wife of a retired logger and a historical society member.

"Now they have little thin ones I'm embarrassed to see them take out of the woods. You couldn't get one two-by-four out of some of those."

Though most of the major mills have since closed, the Miller Shingle company, founded in 1946, is still one of the largest employers in Granite Falls. It's run by the same family, using the same methods to make shingles and shakes from the same native cedars, says employee Rebecca Seavy.

"We're still going strong," she says.

Except for the mill, some quarries, and the fast-growing school district, most Granite Falls businesses are now small retail shops.