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Wes Weingart grew up in Bonner, Montana during the 1980’s and 90’s. At the time, it seemed like there was a log truck parked on every corner, street and alley way. The Champion Lumber Mill was bustling with activity with logs and lumber moving in and out daily. Living on West Riverside Drive, Hills Trucking and McKinley Construction were just down the road. To young Wes, they seemed like pretty big outfits at the time. Wes’ dad worked construction, and Wes’ mom owned a day care along with waiting tables at various restaurants. Though living on West Riverside, Wes would spend a lot of his time down the street at his grandparents’ house helping with chores. Though Wes really enjoyed the work, Grandpa Nick’s stories of cutting timber back in the midwestern timberlands of Minnesota is what Wes really enjoyed. Grandpa would tell stories of logging with horses and cross-cut saws with his father. Even out cutting some of the early power saws. Even though Wes grew up in a logging community, he never gave logging much of a thought. Following his dads’ footsteps into the construction industry would likely be his future.
Wes and family moved to Frenchtown, where he attended Frenchtown High School. In the summer of 2000, he started a job setting concrete forms for an outfit his dad frequently worked with. It wasn’t a bad job at the time, but he wouldn’t say he loved it either. During a break in between jobs, Wes started asking around and found a job hooking logs for a local logger. When the time came for Wes to go back to work setting forms, Wes had other ideas. Unlike construction and concrete, logging was something he fell in love with right from the start. Logging might be something he could make a career out of. Like many boys from a small blue-collar town, Wes grew up loving equipment and thought he would likely become an operator someday. Taking a job with Kreis Enterprises gave him the opportunity to work his way up from hooking logs to running equipment. And that’s where he really wanted to be. Things were beginning to look up.
In 2001, with the help of some friends, Wes met his now wife, Kristen. The two hit it off right away and would soon become inseparable. It wouldn’t be long before the couple would marry in 2002. Both wanting to start a family right away, they would welcome their daughter Kelsey in 2003 and just a short time later, their son, Blake in 2004. By September of 2005 Wes decided he was going to give it a go. Starting his own business, he would call Weingart Forestry. He bought a 550 John Deere dozer and began taking on smaller private jobs. He later teamed up with his good friend Dave Swartz, and his John Deere 548 grapple skidder. The pair would trade off either sawing or skidding, depending on which machine would work best for the job. This worked well for several years until the summer of 2008, when the housing market and economy tanked. With things getting tight, and a young family to support, Wes made the decision to take a job in the North Dakota oil fields. This would only last a few months until Wes could find a sawing job back home. Eventually Wes would find his way back to logging small private jobs once again and even picking up some work logging for The Nature Conservancy. TNC had recently purchased a large portion of Plum Creek Timber’s land in the area, and wanted to continue its management.
Both kids enjoyed coming up to see dad at work in the woods. Young Blake was quickly bit by the logging bug and felt he was ready for his own pair of corked boots by age 5. He relentlessly harassed his dad to take him to work. It was about this time, Wes introduced Blake to another one of his passions, racing. Wes had been racing stock cars for a few years and had recently taken up Outlaw Kart racing. Watching dad race for as long as he could remember, Blake was eager to get behind the wheel of his own Kart. Wes got Blake started in the Beginner Box Stock class of Outlaw Karts, reserved for beginner racers of younger ages. And it wasn’t long before Kelsey would join her brother and dad racing a Box Stock Kart of her own. The young duo each worked their way up over the years until they too were racing Outlaw Karts in the most competitive divisions. It became a family affair. The Weingart’s have always been about all thing’s motorsports, and now the kids were turning into motorheads themselves. As the two young Weingart’s battled their way through the open division, Wes would take a couple of years off from racing and focus on both the kids competing in the top class. The family traveled from state to state, even as far as Texas to chase their need for speed. At one point, Blake held the track record at the local Big Sky Kartway in Missoula, for fastest lap at 8.8 seconds. For Wes and Kristen, watching their kids follow in what had become a family passion was something special.
By the time that Blake turned 12, Wes was letting him help in the woods during summer break. Weingart Forestry had just recently begun logging for Tricon Timber, who would later become Idaho Forest Group and Wes welcomed the extra help. He had recently purchased his first processor and was using it to cut and bunch. Blake would skid using the John Deere dozer, with dad often jumping out of the processor to help his young son pull winch line and hook bundles. Blake was quick to catch on and eager to learn new things. Like a sponge, the young Weingart soaked up the tips and tricks his dad would teach him. Life lessons like drive and work ethic, he seemed to have in spades. Blake continued to work summers into high school, and by his later years was getting up at 2:00 am to go to the woods. He would run the processor till daylight, saw timber till 10:30am and then head off to school. Blake graduated from Big Sky High School in 2022, and went to work for Wes and Weingart Forestry full time.
The father and son work well together. The competitive nature of the two Weingart’s is a must when working in the woods. They have updated equipment over the years, getting off the ground and in the safety of enclosed cabs. Today, Wes operates a 765C Timber Pro with Southstar felling head, making cutting on steeper slopes a little more comfortable than years past. Blake continues to run the processor. A massive SANY 365C with Log Max 7000 XT. Jess Dillard operates the Tigercat 630E skidder, keeping Blake plenty busy on the landing. The updates in equipment have made working the steeper slopes of western Montana the norm as of late. Wes hopes that the company will continue to grow and plans on tethering in the future. Weingart Forestry still works for IFG, logging sales on both state and federal lands. Hauling most of their wood to IFG’s Grangeville facility.
The Weingart family works hard. Work ethic, drive, and determination passed down from Wes’ grandfather and father to Wes, you can now see in the younger Weingart generation. Though the Weingart clan has never shied away from hard work, they don’t shy away from play time either. The family still finds time to ride dirt bikes and side by sides on mountain trails, or carve up some fresh powder with snow bikes. Spending time together as a family has always been, and always will be the most important. How does that saying go, “the family that plays together, stays together.” Well, the Weingart’s are living proof.
Wes Weingart might not come from a long line of loggers but the Weingart timber roots are growing. His son Blake following in his footsteps, passionate about the industry and determined to succeed, Kelsey and her husband Keigen just welcomed a baby girl into the family. And whatever it is this new baby might grow to love, there is a good chance it will have a motor in it. It is in her genes…in her roots.
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