By Gerry Gilmour
The Forum - 05/29/1999

Pete Simonson faced the toughest business decision of his life at the age of 13.

His father, Arch Simonson, owner of Simonson Lumber Co., had died Oct. 30, 1941.

Shortly before 2 a.m. that day, a Northwest Airlines DC-3 - disabled by ice on its wings as it approached the Fargo airport - crash landed in a farm field north of Moorhead.

Only the pilot, Capt. Clarence Bates, who was thrown out of the plane, survived. Archibald Simonson was among the 14 who perished, either from impact, the immediate explosion or in the fire which engulfed the cabin.

It was shortly after the tragedy that Pete's grandfather, Nels Simonson, sat him down for a talk.

"He said that if I didn't want to go into the lumber business, he would have to sell out," Pete Simonson recalls.

The decision was made right there. And it wasn't one that the boy wrestled with. He would follow his father's footsteps into the lumber business. And his own sons, Peter and Rick, and daughter Kim would eventually follow his.

"Understand that he was a forceful man," Pete Simonson says of that meeting with his grandfather years ago.

Nels Simonson was born in Denmark in 1872 and came to America in 1880 with his parents. The family settled in Minnesota. As a young man, Nels Simonson worked in the rail yards, as a farm hand and as a stage coach driver before starting a meat market in St. Croix Falls, Wis.

He began buying and selling cattle and soon was buying and selling land. And acquiring timber rights. In 1913 - with a sawmill and horse-drawn wagon - he started the St. Croix Falls Lumberyard.

Rick Simonson says his great-grandfather had a reputation as a shrewd but fair and honest dealer. Though he could neither read nor write English - and used a big "N" for his signature - he was an intelligent man who could quickly calculate in his head how much lumber a particular stand of trees would produce.

Nels Simonson's lumber business soon expanded to include paints, hardware and heating coal.

He helped his son, Archibald, establish a lumber yard in Minneapolis.

But the business was heavy in accounts receivable, and when the Depression came, people couldn't pay their bills.

When he had worked for the railroad, Nels Simonson had taken a train ride to Crookston, Minn., and he the rich Red River Valley farm land he had seen.

He encouraged his son to set up a lumber business in Grand Forks, N.D. Simonson Lumber Co. was founded there in 1932.

It wasn't the best of times to set up a business, but Archibald Simonson had inherited his father's business savvy. As Rick Simonson has heard it told, his grandfather tore down old barns and sold the salvaged timber as rough cut lumber. He also sold coal. And in his store he would plunk a full keg of nails on top of a stack of empty kegs, so it appeared as though he had ample inventory.

"He was pretty thrifty, but he liked to make it look like he was a big player," Rick Simonson says.

Archibald Simonson expanded his business to Grafton, N.D., in 1934, and to Fargo in 1936. He also added gasoline outlets to the stores, and sold tractors from the Grand Forks store.

After Archibald Simonson's untimely death, Nels took Pete Simonson and his younger brother, John, under his wing. He supervised the business while the boys went to school. He taught them what he knew about business.

Pete began working at the Grand Forks lumberyard's adjacent Simonson gas station in 1947 and took over the lumber operation after graduating from the University of North Dakota in 1951.

John Simonson joined the business and concentrated on running the gasoline stations. The lumber and gasoline divisions were later split into separate businesses.

Simonson lumber stores have through fires and flood under Pete Simonson's leadership.

The Grand Forks store burned in 1962, the Fargo store in 1963 and the Grafton store in 1994. The Fargo fire was ignited around noon on Dec. 23. The guys in the store that year wanted to get in the Christmas spirit, so they strung lights on a tree and placed it in front of the store's display window.

An electrical fire ignited the tree and sparked a spectacular fire that quickly tore through the store, fueled by chemicals in paints, stains and other products.

The Grand Forks store - and, of course, most of Grand Forks - flooded in the spring of 1997.

The family business has also survived the shifting structure of the lumber business. Pete Simonson says the family lumber business can continue to thrive despite the challenge posed by "big box" lumber and hardware outlets.

"They can survive if they have people who care about the customers," Pete Simonson says. He says there will always people who want to buy lumber and materials from someone they know.

"They don't want to go into a big place and not get that personal service and attention. Advice is hard to come by these days," Pete Simonson says.

And at Simonson's, the advice is free. So, too, are drafting services and material delivery.

"We give our services free so we don't have hidden costs," Rick Simonson says. "Our motto here has always been that we sell quality materials and service at a fair price. You can always find products that are cheaper if you look hard enough."

Bob Footitt has been in the residential and light commercial construction business for 30 years in Fargo-Moorhead.

"Basically, I like the quality of the material and the quality of the people," Footittt says of his dealings with Simonson's Lumber. "They try to get us the products we like instead of just supplying us with the products they want to sell."

Pete Simonson says the business simply follows the business practices set forth by Nels Simonson and passed on by Arch Simonson.

"You have to be reasonable in what you charge people. Don't gouge them, but have a profit so you can stay around. Treat your employees as human beings and be honest in your dealings," Pete Simonson says. "You follow those kind of things and you can't go too far wrong."