The Crater Lake Lumber Company operated in Medford, Oregon. Edgar Hafer of Council Bluffs, Iowa, previously of the Iowa Lumber & Box Company, was the general manager of the company in its early days. In 1914 amd 1915, Hafer wrote articles in the Medford Mail Tribune proposing the creation of a co-operative lumber plant, sawmill, and box factory near Medford. Hafer also owned extensive timber tracts in nearby Butte Falls, and with the construction of the Pacific & Easter railroad, this timber became accessible for logging. By 1930, the company purchased the Lorenz Lumber Company of Sprague River in Klamath County, expanding operations further in Southern Oregon. Huntington H. Taylor became the manager at this time. In 1937, the Crater Lake Box and Lumber Company was organized and operated under lease from the Crater Lake Lumber Company.