Selling Timber in Hamilton County, IL
Quick answer
There are 3 timber businesses listed for Hamilton County, Illinois: 3 timber buyers, loggers and mills. None of them has an office in the county. That is normal and it is worth knowing: consulting foresters register with the state county by county, and many register for counties they would have to drive hours to reach.
Timber prices for Hamilton County
No county publishes its own timber prices. These are Illinois's published stumpage prices, what landowners are paid for standing timber, and the best public guide to what timber in Hamilton County is bringing. Your own timber can sell above or below them.
| Black walnut sawlogs | $1,300 per thousand board feet |
| White oak sawlogs | $590 per thousand board feet |
| Red oak sawlogs | $230 per thousand board feet |
| Hard maple | $270 per thousand board feet |
| Ash | $210 per thousand board feet |
| Mixed hardwood, woods-run upland | $370 per thousand board feet |
Source: Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Winter 2018/19. All Illinois timber prices
Before you talk to anyone, find out what your timber is worth
Most landowners in Hamilton County have no idea what their standing timber is worth, which is exactly the position a buyer wants you in. Four questions gets you a ballpark range before the first offer lands.
Timber Buyers, Loggers & Mills That Work Here (3)
Businesses that buy, cut or mill timber in Hamilton County, working from a nearby town.
Cuzin's Reclaimed Pole Solutions is a sawmill in McLeansboro, Illinois, run as a small hometown company. They mill discarded utility poles back into usable lumber, taking wood that would otherwise go to a landfill and turning it into treated lumber for fence posts and other outdoor, ground-contact work, as well as indoor projects. They work with pine, cedar, and creosote, and can mill lumber from 2 inches up to 24 inches, in lengths up to 32 feet, with posts available from 6x6 up to 12x12. Alongside the milling they also offer excavation and ground preparation, including skidsteer and excavator work, and they note that "our operator is highly experienced, and we are fully insured." They sell both fresh cut and treated lumber, with treated pine priced by the board foot, and they take business checks, Venmo, and PayPal, with a discount offered to contractors and military personnel. They serve McLeansboro and Effingham in Illinois, Evansville in Indiana, Paducah in Kentucky, and St. Louis in Missouri, and are listed as covering Hamilton County. Their own description of the work is simple: "a sawmill business helping to reduce the amount of waste going into landfills by recycling discarded utility poles." For a landowner this is less about standing timber sales and more about turning wood and old poles into lumber or clearing ground, which suits someone with a building or fencing project in mind rather than someone just looking to sell trees off the back acreage. From cuzinsreclaimedpolesolutions.com, read 10 October 2026.
Hall's Sawmill is a mill in McLeansboro, Illinois. It has a Google Maps business listing in that category. A listing here is not an endorsement.
Universal Sawmill Inc is a mill in McLeansboro, Illinois. It has a Google Maps business listing in that category. A listing here is not an endorsement.
Questions landowners ask
How many timber buyers and foresters serve Hamilton County?
3 businesses are listed for Hamilton County: 0 consulting foresters and 3 buyers, loggers and mills. None of them has an office in the county; they register to work here and travel in.
How much is my timber worth in Hamilton County?
Nobody can tell you what your timber is worth without walking it. Value depends on the species, the size and grade of the trees, how thickly they stand, the ground conditions and how easily a logger can reach them. Anyone who quotes you a figure without seeing the land is guessing, and a guess in that direction is rarely in your favour.
What stumpage value means →Do I need a forestry consultant to sell timber in Hamilton County?
You do not have to use one. A consulting forester works for you rather than the buyer, marks the timber, runs a sealed-bid sale and typically charges a percentage of the sale. Research from several state extension services has found that timber sold through a consultant often returns enough more to cover the fee, though results vary by tract and by market. The decision usually turns on the size of the sale and whether you have sold timber before.
Do I need a forestry consultant? →What is timber worth in Hamilton County?
No price series is published for Hamilton County on its own. Illinois's latest published stumpage figures (Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Winter 2018/19) put white oak sawlogs at $590 per thousand board feet. What your own timber brings depends on the species, the size and amount of it, and how far it is from a mill. A timber cruise by a forester settles it.
Forester listings for Hamilton County come from the county register, revised 2026-11-04. The register is updated quarterly.