Mark Edward Reed (December 23, 1866 – September 5, 1933) was an American

lumberman Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

, financier and politician in the state of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

. He served in the

Washington House of Representatives The Washington House of Representatives is the lower house of the Washington State Legislature, and along with the Washington State Senate makes up the legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is composed of 98 Representatives from 49 ...

from 1915 to 1931. He was Speaker of the House from 1923 to 1925. Reed did not find financial success until 1897 when he was employed by Sol Simpson to help manage the company, Simpson Logging, later called

Simpson Investment Company The Simpson Investment Company is a company based in McCleary, Washington in the US Pacific Northwest that specializes in manufacture of forest products. Founded as a logging company in 1890 by Sol Simpson, the company now functions as a holding ...

. In 1901, he married Simpson's daughter, Irene. After Simpson died in 1906 Reed assumed control of Simpson Logging. At that time the company employed approximately 300 people working out of five separate camps. By 1914, Reed had full control and transformed the company into a forest-products corporation. In 1925, the company opened its first sawmill, the Reed Mill, and entered the hemlock lumber manufacturing business. The

Reed family The Reed family is an American business family who focuses on landownership. The family currently controls Simpson Investment Company, established 1890, and its spin-off Green Diamond Resource. The family owns 1.37 million acres across California, ...

currently owns Simpson Investment Company and are the fifth-largest private landowners in the United States, owning 1.37 million acres across California, Washington and Oregon.

References

1933 deaths 1866 births Republican Party members of the Washington House of Representatives People from Washington Territory Speakers of the Washington House of Representatives {{Washington-politician-stub