Iron Men

Holm sold company in 1979, remained manager

MOSES LAKE — A long-standing Moses Lake business is now under new management.

Nick Tommer, owner of Tommer Construction in Ephrata, purchased Moses Lake Iron and Metal July 1.

"I probably started frequenting Moses Lake Iron and Metal in the early 1970s, purchased items and bought scrap," Tommer recalled, explaining that that's a by-product of the construction business. Although they haven't been in the retail or marketing side of the scrap business, it's something that his family has been doing for 40 years already, he said.

Tommer said no changes are planned for Moses Lake Iron and Metal, which presently employs a range of four to eight people, although he said that some of the equipment will probably be upgraded and the company will provide a more broad service to the farmering, processing and industrial fields that generate scrap. The number of employees should not change, he said.

"It's been here since 1953," Tommer said. "That's 52 years, and certainly there's a need. It's also a recycling point for aluminum cans, anything that's household that's aluminum or stainless steel. People bring it in in bags, boxes and turn around and exchange it for green dollars, which ultimately might be grocery money or weekend party money."

The business recycles scrap metal that is no longer able to be used.

"It might be a wheel line that's 30 years old and becomes useless, so a farmer may bring it in here, sell it to us," Tommer explained. "We will cut it into lengths and size and then we will turn around and ship it, by either rail or truck, and it will be sent to Seattle or somewhere, to a processing plant. They will melt it down and make new iron and aluminum out of the old."

Tommer said he has been pursuing the purchase of Moses Lake Iron and Metal for five years.

"It's just something that I've been inspired to want to do," he said. "It seems like something that will be fun."

Tommer said that the scrap market price is up right now.

"Everything that we as consumers purchase is up," he said, offering that cars and machinery cost more money today, a by-product of the price of steel going up. "When the steel price goes up, then everything else goes up, and they go hand-in-hand."

Tommer's father Larry started Tommer Construction in 1959. Tommer and his wife Donna purchased it in 1987.

Tommer purchased Moses Lake Iron and Metal from Norman Estoos, who purchased it from founder Monte Holm in 1979. Estoos sold the company because he is looking to retire.

"I've been at this game since I was 17 years old," he said. "It's been 47 years, and that's a long time."

When he was in high school, Estoos would come and visit Holm quite a bit.

"One day, he asked me if I wanted to go to work," Estoos recalled. "I said, 'Sure.' That's how it all started."

The 1979 purchase was not a widely known fact.

"We were talking one day, and we both had a foot up on the back of an old steam tractor out in the yard and we got to talking about it," Estoos recalled. "One thing led to another, and (Holm) said, 'I'm going to sell you the place,' and I said, 'Good.'"

"He had been with me for so long, and I liked him like a son, so I gave him the business, you might say," Holm said. "He actually owned it, but I run it. He's a good boy, Norman is."

The purchase was not publicized.

"Monte wanted to keep working, and so we had a good agreement," Estoos said. "We just kept going, and here we are today. I ran the yard, and he ran the office. That's how it worked. We had a good team."

Estoos said that Holm has been like a father to him. Selling the company is hard, he added.

"They're all good memories," Estoos said when asked if he had a favorite. "It's been a great 47 years. Been a big part of my life, been my life."

Estoos has known Tommer over a long period of time. Wife Sandee Estoos said that some other people were looking at Moses Lake Iron and Metal.

"Norm worked with Nick and they worked together, and I think that he feels very pleased it's Nick Tommer and his wife Donna," she said. "So we couldn't be happier. We feel like family with the Holms, Monte's been very good to us and he gave us this enormous opportunity. This doesn't happen every day to a 17-year-old boy."

Holm founded Moses Lake Iron and Metal in about 1953. During his six years as a hobo during the Depression, traveling all over the United States on trains, he walked into Everett with 10 cents — 10 cents he still has — at age 19, and got started in the junk business.

"In the early 1950s, I had a lot of lung problems because of the dampness over there, and of course I worked outdoors," Holm recalled. A doctor told him that if he wanted to live, he had to get away from the coast, which is how he came to Moses Lake. "There was no junk dealer here, and I started the yard. It's been very, very good."

Holm said that there are three elements to success: being honest, working hard and being good to people.

"Most people fall down on item three something terrible," he said. "But it's very important."

Holm said he thinks Tommer will do a good job with Moses Lake Iron and Metal.

"I think he's a good man, as far as I'm concerned," he said. "I've done business with him for a good many years, and I've never had no problems … I wish them all the luck in the world. I could tell them that if they do the three things I tell them to, they will make a success. Of course, Nick Tommer has been a success whatever he's done. He's a fine fella."

Holm will continue to manage his museum, the House of Poverty. Holm's daughter and son-in-law, Karen and Wayne Rimple, remain owners of Moses Lake Steel.