Choose the best mill

Goal: get the most lumber for the logs sitting at your landing.

Cut some timber so the Logs at landing gauge shows a number above 0. The haul buttons stay greyed out (“No logs to haul”) until then.
Scroll the side panel to Timber bids. Each mill has a card.
Read the species bids on each card. They are listed per log, in bd ft of lumber, for the species you hold, followed by your log count (for example “Redcedar 118 ×11”).
Read the yard line. “Yard 35% full” tells you how full the mill’s log yard is. A fuller yard lowers every bid. The note after it (“bids falling about 6% in 2 hours”) shows where the price is heading.
Read the total on the haul button. It is already net of the mill’s haul share, for example “1,246 bd ft · 4% haul · 1 min”. Compare the three totals, not the per-log bids.
Click the haul button on the best card. The mill with the highest total carries a BEST OFFER tag.

Harrison pays a fair price for every species and takes 4% for hauling. Medimont pays extra for redcedar, larch and lodgepole but only about 80% of normal for the rest, and takes 8%. Springston pays extra for white pine and ponderosa, and takes 13%. For 11 mature redcedar logs the totals in one run were 1,246 (Harrison), 1,154 (Medimont) and 919 (Springston). For 11 white pine logs, Springston paid 1,416, Harrison 1,404 and Medimont 799.

What can go wrong

The whole load at your landing goes to one mill. If you hold cedar and pine together, the total on each button reflects the mix. To get the best price on both, cut and haul one species at a time.

Your own delivery fills the mill’s yard, so the next load pays less. Spread loads across mills if you are hauling a lot of the same species.

The price is fixed when the wagon leaves. If you turn No waiting off, a wagon takes one to two minutes and you cannot send a second one until it returns. You can keep cutting meanwhile.

A teamster stable (see open a business) halves the haul share, which changes which mill wins.

Rules and numbers: town mills.