The Reed family is an American business family who focuses on landownership. The family currently controls
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 ...
, established 1890, and its spin-off Green Diamond Resource. The family owns 1.37 million acres across California, Washington and Oregon and is currently the fifth-largest private landowner in the United States.
History
The Reed family was established by patriarch
Mark Edward Reed (1866–1933).
In 1897, Reed, a failed logger was hired by Sol Simpson to manage the Simpson Logging Company, Simpson's family-owned store, in the town of
Shelton, Washington
Shelton is a city in, and the county seat of, Mason County, Washington, United States. Shelton is the westernmost city on Puget Sound. The population was 10,371 at the 2020 census. Shelton has a council–manager form of government and was the ...
. Reed married Simpson's daughter, Irene, in 1901. 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.
In 2014, the Reed family purchased 600,000 acres of Oregon timberland, putting them fifth on the largest US landowners list. In 2015, the family was estimated to have a net worth of $1.7 billion.
As of 2017, the Reed family remains the fifth-largest private landowner in the United States, owning 1.37 million acres across California, Washington and Oregon
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reed family
Business families of the United States