What a difference a hundred years make. One of the biggest components in the lumber manufacturing business was box shook. These wooden slats were shipped from the lumber mill, where they would be assembled at a packinghouse in the fruit and vegetable industry. This was prior to cardboard and the majority of produce was shipped in wooden boxes. To understand its impact, take a look at the Depression of the 1930s. Nearly half of all lumber manufactured then went into making box shook.

Cardboard was experimented with during World War I, but it did not prove satisfactory to the growers. Major improvements were made to the cardboard box during World War II, and slowly the grocers accepted the new container. Sunkist was one of the last holdouts in the conversion, and in 1955 discontinued the wooden box for the cardboard box.

It was in essence how the Fruit Growers Supply Company, the co-operative purchasing agent for Sunkist, was formed to provide a supply of wooden boxes at a reasonable price for the grower members of the California Fruit Growers Exchange. It was not their intention to go into the lumber business. However, due to some financial issues, Fruit Growers became the owner of a lumber company at Hilt, Siskiyou County. As the demand increased for wooden boxes in 1921, Fruit Growers established a mill in Susanville.