In a letter to Northwest Operations Manager, E.G. Ames, Talbot mentioned that it was "suicidal to continue operating the Port Gamble Mill." He also informed Ames that production of lumber at the mill must cease once all remaining orders had been filled. When the board of directors met over a year later it took only a few minutes for them to decide that selling the company was the only option. After the meeting had concluded, Talbot met with Charles McCormick of the Charles McCormick Lumber Company, who agreed to purchase the Puget Mill Company for $15 million. This was a significant period in the history of Port Gamble and the Puget Mill Company. For almost a hundred years the Puget Mill Company had been owned and operated by the descendants of the Pope and Talbot families, but this sale meant that the mill would no longer be operated by the descendants of the men that had helped establish Port Gamble. William H. Talbot was reluctant to sell the company, but the early 1900s were a trying time for the lumber industry. The troubles for the company began in 1907, when the state of Washington instituted a tax increase on timber acreage held by mill companies. This, combined with inefficient operations, outdated equipment, and increasingly dilapidated facilities, became too much of a burden for William Talbot. Despite the sale of the company, Talbot devised a way to ensure that the Port Gamble Mill would remain operational. In the agreement with McCormick, Talbot specified that McCormick must build a brand new mill at Port Gamble. Creation of Pope & Talbot Co. McCormick had very little success as the president and owner of the Puget Mill Company. The cost of building the new mill in Port Gamble along with the cost of modernizations and improvements being made to other mills quickly added to the company's debt. In 1938, McCormick owed over $7 million to the original owners of Puget Mill, but unable to make payments, McCormick was forced to return all of the company holdings to the principals of the foreclosure suit filed against him. The principals were all descendants of the original founders of the Puget Mill Company. By 1940 the company was running under the guidance of another descendant of the Pope family, George Pope Sr., when it was decided that the business should be renamed Pope & Talbot Mills. The