Locally milled and vacuum kiln dried. Has great color tone. Cottonwood is not a wood you find slabbed very often due to the difficulty of drying it. In fact it is such a high moisture wood that you can't even burn it with out air drying for years; when cut down most Cottonwood is just chipped. Our supplier uses a specially made vacuum kiln to get it dry. This beam is checked at one end. On the nicer looking face the split stops about 2ft in from the end; it's a bit more severe on the other face. Also has a bit of a twist -- price reflects.