RAINIER – From the outside looking in, Teevin Brothers might seem like any other Oregon log yard. 

But the company is involved in considerably more than transporting logs from point A to point B.

The Rainier-based firm began in 1977 as a logging company owned by brothers Shawn and Jeff Teevin.

In 2001, Shawn Teevin bought part of the Dike Road property, where the company is located, from the Menasha Corp., a log sorting and re-loading facility.

Teevin acquired the rest of the property in 2005 and turned it into the thriving log yard it is today.

Aside from sorting and transporting logs, Teevin Brothers also moves cargo – typically timber products or construction materials – to Hawaii, Alaska, California, Mexico and Canada.

“Every two weeks, we send 6 million board feet of lumber to Los Angeles. Every four weeks, we send another 6 million board feet to San Diego. Every three weeks, about 8,000 tons of cargo to Hawaii,” said waterfront facilities development manager Paul Langer.

“You name a commodity, it just about all travels through here, other than food or clothing.”

What makes Teevin Bros. successful? Langer says it’s “Location, location, location.”

The facility has easy access to Interstate 5, the Portland and Western railroad system, and the Columbia River, which means material can be transported by barge.

“It’s an intermodal facility. We make the transportation connection,” said Langer.

As a result of the company’s easy access to the railway system, said Langer, there are fewer trucks traveling through Columbia County. “We will take, between lumber and logs, 38,000 trucks off the road,” he said.

The company has 107 employees, half of them hailing from Columbia County.

As for the future, Teevin Brothers has plans to incorporate a finger pier – a type of working pier used for cargo – on its property to allow for more growth, as well as more river traffic.