pioneer kraft paper company celebrates 40th anniversary

Pioneer Kraft Paper Company Celebrates 40th AnniversarySource: Forest History, Vol. 2, No. 3/4 (Winter, 1959), p. 15Published by: Forest History Society and American Society for Environmental HistoryStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3982677 .

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[ Oral History lnteruiews BECTON, WENDELL T., Lt. Col. CE, USAR; and Barnett, Harold, Panama City, Fla., 1958. 19 p. Interviewer: E. R. Maunder. Becton: Forest Service: district ranger; CCC: forester; U.S. Army: liaison officer for wood procurement for ETOUSA (WW II), setting up forestry organizations on military posts for the Third Army. Barnett: Florida Forest Service; U. S. Army: civilian forester, Fort Gordon, Ga. First part deals with Col. Becton's experi- ences in France in procuring lumber sup- plies locally for the supply section of U. S. Army Engineers, European Theater of Op- erations. Latter part deals with treatment of forests on military posts; Army-Navy Lumber Agency; describes setup of Army forestry organizations beginning in 1950, and their subsequent operations. (1929- 1958). Sent to: U. of Ga., For. Sch. Lib.; Oxford (England) Sch. of For.; U. S. Army Eng. Div. (Atlanta, Ga.); L'Administra- tion Des Eaux et Forets (Paris); Ecole Nationale des Eaux et Forets (Nancy); Chief of Military History, Dept. of Army (Washington, D. C.); Lib. of Cong. MACKENZIE, DONALD. Seattle, Wash., 1957. 18 p. Interviewer: Elwood Maunder. Anaconda Company: from common labor- er to logging superintendent. Development of logging methods and ma- chinery in the Inland Empire; some his- tory of Anaconda's logging from 1910 on; woods safety; establishment of the Inter- mountain Logging Conference. (1904-1957). Sent to: Idaho Hist. Soc.; U. of Idaho Lib.; Mont. Hist. Soc.; Mont. St. U. Lib.; Pa- cific Logging Congress; U. of Wash. Lib.; West. Pine Assoc.; Lib. of Cong. STEVENS, JAMEs. Seattle, Wash., 1957. 83 p. Interviewer: Elwood Maunder. Stevens' background: childhood, family, schooling, experiences as a child preacher; work as teamster, frequently in the logging camps in Idaho, Oregon, California; inter- est in the "tall tale"; early literary efforts; correspondence with H. L. Mencken; Men- cken's theories of folklore; Wm. Laughead's place in folklore (Paul Bunyan) develop- ment; theories on the background and de- velopment of the Paul Bunyan legends; re- search on Bunyan; explanation of Stevens' own purposes in writing, especially as re- lated to Paul Bunyan. Sent to: U. of B. C. Lib.; Bancroft Lib., U. of Cal. (Berkeley); Minn. Hist. Soc.; U. of Minn. Paul Bunyan Coll.; Pac. Log. Cong.; West Coast Lmbrmn's Assoc.; West. Pine Assoc.; Lib. of Cong.

A THE MissouRI LOG, 1958 Forestry School Annual published by the Uni- versity of Missouri Forestry Club, con- tained three interesting historical arti- cles. The lead article, "The Missouri Ozarks: Once a Timber Empire," was written by a senior student, Jerry J. Presley, and was based on a fine re- search paper he did with another stu- dent, James W. Martin.

Pioneer Kraft Paper Company Celebrates 40th Anniuersary

THE CHESAPEAKE CORPORATION of West Point, Virginia, celebrated its 40th year of operation this fall, and on November 15, Mr. Elis Olsson, Chair- man of the Board of Chesapeake, cele- brated the 40th anniversary of his ar- rival at West Point.

Mr. Olsson, one of the pioneers of the American kraft paper industry, was born in Karlskoga, Sweden, on April 2, 1880. After studying chemical engineer- ing at the Technical College at Orebro, he decided on a career in paper man- ufacturing. In 1906, he came to the United States to study pulp bleaching. His first job, with a company making book paper, paid him 131/20 an hour. Anxious to study all phases of the in- dustry, he moved to a newsprint mill, and then to a book paper mill in Maine which was experimenting with a new system of bleaching.

At East Angus, Quebec, in 1907, the Brompton Pulp and Paper Company began the kraft or sulphate process of pulp manufacture. Although the proc- ess had been known in Sweden since the 1880s, this was the first such mill in the Western Hemisphere. The super- intendent of the Maine mill where Olsson worked was asked to go to East Angus to improve the operation. With Olsson accompanying him, he moved in 1908. A few months later he left for another position and Olsson was appointed superintendent. By 1918, Olsson had raised production to such

a point that he remembers wondering where all the pulp could be sold!

Meanwhile the woodlands of the southern United States were attracting the attention of pulp and paper mak- ers. The first sulphate mill in the South, near Roanoke Rapids, N.C., had made pulp from southern pine in 1909, and in 1914, The Chesapeake Pulp & Paper Company began production at West Point, Virginia.

At East Angus, Olsson experimented with southern wood and found that it could be pulped by his own method. When he learned that the West Point mill, which had operated for four years without attaining full production, was to be sold, he and Walter S. Boyd, sales manager at Brompton, successfully sought backing to purchase it. In Oc- tober 1918, the new Chesapeake Cor- poration was organized. When Olsson arrived at West Point as manager of production, he found it necessary to redesign the mill completely.

In 1921, he became Vice President and General Manager. Under his lead- ership the mill grew and prospered. It operated throughout the depression years of the early '20s and '30s, and during prosperous times put into op- eration equipment that was new to this country, and introduced processes which Mr. Olsson, himself, developed. In 1945, he retired as Chairman of the Corporation.

This brief biography and history is based on materials received from Mr. Lon Dill, Public Relations Manager of Chesapeake. Mr. Dill has done a fine job of collecting and writing Chesa- p e a k e history-indeed, his efforts could well open the way for the writing of an outstanding business history.

The story of Elis Olsson and the Chesapeake Corporation is a fascinat- ing one not only because of its intrinsic interest, but also because of the part both the man and the company have played in the development of the southern pulp industry. It is a story that merits preservation in a thor- oughly researched company or indus- try history.

CROWN ZELLERBACH'S 75th anniversary of mill operations at Camas, Washing- ton, was honored in the Camas PosT- RECORD'S special issue of July 10, 1958.

Locomotive History: Climax Engines Sought

THOMAS T. TABER III, Editor of Pub- lications for Railroadians of America, is compiling material for a booklet on Climax logging locomotives. According to his letter, he now has information on 650 Climax engines out of 1030 built. "I have been trying to build up a list of owners and information on the individual locomotives," he writes. "Be- cause company records were destroyed, the task is impossible to complete, but at least I want to have the satisfaction of having done as thorough a job as possible." Logging railroadians who have information or suggestions for Mr. Taber may write him at PO Box 131, Wellsville, New York.

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