I know a guy that found an old home that was to be demo'd and bought all the Maple flooring out of it for next to nothing. Then he installed it in his own home. He could have had it installed by a qualified installer too and refinished had he not been so good with finishing. But it was one hell of a nice floor for sure when refinished and didn't cost him as much as new carpet would have.
Another guy buys old commercial buildings with large original 1st growth flawless timber and re-mills it all into various sizes. Wealthy people that want the best pay top dollar for his lumber that you just can't buy anymore. Lots of ways to trade lumber it seems,lol.