Muir and McDonald Tannery

In May 2014 Salem Salvage dismantled the historic Muir and McDonald Tannery located in Dallas Oregon.

Muir & McDonald Co.   was founded in 1863 and the most recent 40,000 square foot building which we dismantled had been rebuilt in 1903 after a fire. Before it closed the doors in 2006, this was the longest continually run business in Polk County and the only tannery in the West still using the natural and non toxic vegetable tanning process.
We are very excited for the opportunity to help preserve and repurpose such an important piece of local history. Much of the wood from this project has a very unique and beautiful patina from the tanning process that took place in the building. The wood is also incredibly well preserved and in excellent useable condition. In addition to the lumber there is also some original machinery from the operation, wooden wheels, hides, photographs, a roll top desk and many other neat items that we were able to salvage. We even saved the original sign. 

 

Lumber from this project has been used for flooring, gazebos, fire place mantels, custom furniture and many other unique applications. We still have a good selection of lumber from the tannery available.

 The tannery was featured on Modern Marvels, watch the video below.