Rayonier was founded in 1926 as the Rainier Pulp and Paper Company in Shelton, Washington, with an office in San Francisco, California. Its name was inspired by Mount Rainier in Washington state. Its first mill opened the next year in Shelton and Port Angeles, Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. The mill used Tsuga heterophylla (western hemlock) trees to create a premium bleached paper pulp.