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46-529: The company was acquired by Georgia-Pacific Corporation in 1990. Its name was revived in 2011 when private equity firm Cate Street Capital acquired Great Northern's original Maine mills. The company got its start when the Maine legislature authorized Charles W. Mullen to form a water power company on the West Branch Penobscot River . Mullen had observed the 110-foot (34 m) drop of

92-513: A Torrefaction wood operation, under the name of its subsidiary Thermogen Industries. In 2014 the over-100-year-old paper mill was forced to close down its operations. Originally the company and workers were hopeful that the closure would be temporary. However, when the company sent out notices under the WARN Act (Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act) to its workers in August, 2014,

138-561: A kraft pulp and linerboard mill at Toledo, Oregon . This was the only pulp and paper mill that the company ever built. The company continued to make a series of acquisitions, including US Plywood in 1987, Great Northern Nekoosa in 1990, and the Fort James Corporation in 2000. The Fort James Corporation was the result of a series of mergers of enterprises that included the Fort Howard Corporation ,

184-445: A logging camp . In the winter when things froze, a larger crew moved into the camp and proceeded to cut trees, cutting the trunks into 5-metre (16 ft) lengths, and hauling the logs with oxen or horses over iced trails to the riverbank. There the logs were decked onto "rollways." In spring when snow thawed and water levels rose, the logs were rolled into the river, and the drive commenced. To ensure that logs drifted freely along

230-433: A partial dam which could raise the water level. Millions of board feet of lumber could back up for miles upriver, requiring weeks to break up, with some timber lost if it was shoved far enough into the shallows. When the jam crew saw a jam begin, they rushed to it and tried to break it up, using peaveys and possibly dynamite . This job required some understanding of physics, strong muscles, and extreme agility. The jam crew

276-500: Is a means of moving logs (sawn tree trunks ) from a forest to sawmills and pulp mills downstream using the current of a river. It was the main transportation method of the early logging industry in Europe and North America . When the first sawmills were established, they were usually small water-powered facilities located near the source of timber, which might be converted to grist mills after farming became established when

322-652: Is also involved in several remediation sites , many of which were landfills used by other manufacturers, municipalities and other businesses, and individuals. Two of the primary remediation sites - the Fox River in Wisconsin and Kalamazoo River in Michigan - involve the cleanup of PCBs . Georgia Pacific is contributing to dam removal work as part of an effort to clean up PCB contamination in Kalamazoo. In 2007,

368-456: Is the largest user of de-ink fiber in the world, and its subsidiary company GP Harmon trades in the recycled material. The company has expanded into other markets in countries like Mexico and China. In 2005, president of the division Simon Davies estimated that China would require the import of scrap paper from the US and elsewhere for at least 15 years. In the long run, he asserted, the growth of

414-527: The Chinese middle class would be correlated with a large increase in paper production, and having viable paper recovery systems in place would be of great value to them. The Georgia-Pacific Paper Mill in Crossett, Arkansas was the subject of environmental documentary film Company Town , released in 2016. The film alleges that improper waste disposal by the mill has caused a cluster of cancer incidents in

460-525: The James River Corporation and Crown-Zellerbach . In August 2001, Georgia-Pacific completed the sale of four un-coated paper mills and their associated businesses and assets to Canadian papermaker Domtar for US$ 1.65 billion . It was announced on November 13, 2005 that Georgia-Pacific would be acquired by Koch Industries . On December 23, 2005, Koch Industries finalized the $ 21 billion acquisition of Georgia-Pacific. Georgia-Pacific

506-648: The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to approve an amendment that derailed a pending E.P.A. investigation of Weyerhaeuser Company , Louisiana-Pacific Corporation , and Georgia-Pacific, arguing that the E.P.A. was "unfairly applying present-day standards to decisions made 10 to 15 years ago", and that the E.P.A. test method overstated the emissions from wood products factories. Georgia-Pacific's opponents believed "the measure could allow Georgia-Pacific avoid installing pollution gear at many of its plants." Engelberg wrote, "Nonetheless, [Georgia-Pacific] said they would install controls at plants that need them." Georgia-Pacific

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552-516: The $ 31.8 million loan nor the $ 8.2 million equity investment was used to pay for improvements to the mill. On January 12, 2017, Our Katahdin, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization based in the Katahdin region, purchased all remaining former Great Northern Paper Company assets in Millinocket through the sale of two subsidiaries of Cate Street Capital, GNP West and GNP Holding II. On July 21, 2020,

598-480: The 16th century, and 17th century in Finland ( tukinuitto ). The total length of timber-floating routes in Finland was 40,000km. The log drive was one step in a larger process of lumber-making in remote places. In a location with snowy winters, the yearly process typically began in autumn when a small team of men hauled tools upstream into the timbered area, chopped out a clearing, and constructed crude buildings for

644-711: The EPA announced legal agreements among itself, Michigan , Georgia-Pacific, and Millennium Holdings (a corporate successor of the Allied Paper Corporation ) requiring the companies to clean up an estimated $ 21,000,000 worth of environmental damage to the Plainwell Impoundment Area. Another settlement required an additional $ 15,000,000 of environmental work on the Kalamazoo River Superfund Site . Georgia-Pacific

690-909: The Great Northern Paper Company merged with the Nekoosa-Edwards Paper Company in Port Edwards, Wisconsin , and was renamed the Great Northern Nekoosa Corporation . New mills were built in Arkansas and Mississippi . In 1971, the company completed construction of the 97-mile Golden Road in Maine that paralleled the West Branch of the Penobscot River from Quebec to its mill at Millinocket. It ended

736-468: The US and Canada ended with changes in environmental legislation in the 1970s. Some places, like the Catalan Pyrenees , still retain the practice as a popular holiday celebration once a year. In Sweden legal exemptions for log driving were eliminated in 1983. "The last float in southern Sweden was in the 1960s, with the floating era in the rest of the country ending completely with the last of

782-1063: The West Branch Penobscot River at Grand Falls in 1891 while surveying a route for the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad . He later worked with Garret Schenck, part owner of the Rumford Falls Paper Company, to build a paper mill in Millinocket , Penobscot County , Maine on the river. Schenck formed the Northern Development Company in 1897. The Millinocket plant produced its first roll of newsprint on 9 November 1900. A second mill in Madison opened in 1906. A third one opened in East Millinocket in 1907, which also had its own dam and hydroelectric facility. Financiers of

828-425: The area around the mill. In 2009, the EPA awarded Koch subsidiary Georgia-Pacific its SmartWay Excellence award, "an innovative collaboration between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the freight industry designed to increase energy efficiency while significantly reducing air pollution," and specifically commended Georgia-Pacific. The award states: In, 2008, 93 percent of Georgia-Pacific's freight

874-628: The associated facility at Earlton, Ontario , as well as its OSB facilities at Clarendon and Allendale, South Carolina , for approximately $ 400 million. The transaction closed in July 2013, following Canadian regulatory review and US court approval under the Hart–Scott–Rodino merger review process . On June 19, 2014, Georgia-Pacific announced it will acquire SPG Holdings. In 2018, Georgia-Pacific's facilities in Taylorsville, Mississippi were

920-466: The bank, pushing logs away with pike poles . Others worked with horses and oxen to pull in the logs that had strayed furthest out into the flats. Bateaux ferried log drivers using pike poles to dislodge stranded logs while maneuvering with the log drive. A wannigan was a kitchen built on a raft which followed the drivers down the river. The wannigan served four meals a day to fuel the men working in cold water. It also provided tents and blankets for

966-586: The closure could only be understood as permanent. At the time of the bankruptcy Great Northern listed over 1,000 creditors in its filing. An investigation done by the Maine Sunday Telegram uncovered that a majority of the $ 40 million investment in the Great Northern Paper mill was "returned the same day to investors." The investors are receiving $ 16 million from Maine's General Fund over seven years. The research showed that neither

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1012-512: The corporation included Oliver Payne and William Collins Whitney . When the Millinocket Mill opened it was the world's largest paper mill , producing 240 tons/day of newsprint, 120 tons/day of sulfite pulp, and 240 tons/day of groundwood pulp. It was the first paper mill to have an electrical generation and distribution facility built into the plant. The company's innovations included a pulpwood grinding machine still known throughout

1058-532: The forests had been cleared. Later, bigger circular sawmills were developed in the lower reaches of a river, with the logs floated down to them by log drivers. In the broader, slower stretches of a river, the logs might be bound together into timber rafts . In the smaller, wilder stretches of a river where rafts couldn't get through, masses of individual logs were driven down the river like huge herds of cattle. "Log floating" in Sweden ( timmerflottning ) had begun by

1104-451: The ideal river would have been straight and uniform, with sharp banks and a predictable flow of water. Wild rivers were not that, so men cut away the fallen trees that would snag logs, dynamited troublesome rocks, and built up the banks in places. To control the flow of water, they built "flash dams" or "driving dams" on smaller streams, so they could release water to push the logs down when they wanted. Each timber firm had its own mark which

1150-557: The land to the state, for what became the present-day Baxter State Park . In the 1940s its timber holdings increased to more than 2 million acres and its workforce was supplemented during World War II by a prisoner of war camp at Seboomook Farm near Moosehead Lake . In 1962, the Great Northern Paper Company expanded to Jakin, Georgia , where it formed a subsidiary named the Great Southern Land and Paper Company . It produced linerboard and corrugating medium. In 1970,

1196-524: The mid-20th century, Great Northern acquired and began construction on various smaller boats to use on inland rivers and lakes. These boats were intended to lower the cost of the increasingly-unpopular Penobscot River log drives . In the 1910s Great Northern built the Ripogenus Dam and power plant on the West Branch of the Penobscot River. Construction of a thermal power plant in 1958 raised

1242-412: The mill was called upon to supply the paper needed to produce the popular trilogy Fifty Shades of Grey . The mill's output that year was 3,000 tons of paper, mostly for the three-part novel, which was printed on Great Northern's Baxter Brite paper. In 2013 Cate Street Capital announced plans to tear down virtually all the mill buildings at the Millinocket plant, and replace them with structures to operate

1288-423: The most desirable pine timber, because it floated well. But hardwoods were more dense, and weren't buoyant enough to be easily driven, and some pines weren't near drivable streams. Log driving became increasingly unnecessary with the development of railroads and the use of trucks on logging roads . However, the practice survived in some remote locations where such infrastructure did not exist. Most log driving in

1334-626: The name of Katahdin Paper Company LLC. In 2003 Brookfield Asset Management bought the mills after the company filed for bankruptcy. That company continued its decline, laying off workers in 2008. In 2011 the Katahdin Paper Company LLC holdings in Maine were acquired by Cate Street Capital of Portsmouth, New Hampshire . They revived the Great Northern Paper name. The mill at East Millinocket was launched again although with diminished output. The purchase by Cate Street

1380-434: The night if no better accommodations were available. A commissary wagon carrying clothing, plug tobacco and patent medicines for purchase by the log drivers was also called a wangan. The logging company wangan train, called a Mary Anne , was a caravan of wagons pulled by four- or six-horse teams where roads followed the river to transport the tents, blankets, food, stoves, and tools needed by the log drivers. For log drives,

1426-438: The paper industry as Great Northern grinders . Entering the 20th century, Great Northern had a fleet of four coastal-water steam ships - as well as many small barges - it used to transport logs, pulp, and paper from Searsport, Maine , to New York and its surrounding harbors, and transport coal and sulfur back to Maine. These ships were used for several decades before their age and increased cost made them obsolete. Beginning in

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1472-542: The practice of floating logs down the river via log driving , and instead shipped them by truck. In 1989, Georgia-Pacific launched a hostile takeover of the company which closed in 1990 for $ 3.8 billion. Georgia-Pacific in turn sold the Maine holdings to Bowater in 1991. In 1999, Inexcon, a Canadian company, acquired the Maine holdings. The Inexcon holdings in Maine went into bankruptcy in 2002. They were acquired by Brascan Corporation in April 2003 and operated under

1518-432: The river, men called "log drivers" or "river pigs" were needed to guide the logs. The drivers typically divided into two groups. The more experienced and nimble men comprised the "jam" crew or "beat" crew. They watched the spots where logs were likely to jam, and when a jam started, tried to get to it quickly and dislodge the key logs before many logs stacked up. If they didn't, the river would keep piling on more logs, forming

1564-663: The site of a two-week labor strike . Georgia-Pacific operates under many different brand names. Discontinued brands include Soft n' Gentle (toilet paper), Zee (napkins and paper towels), and Mardi Gras (napkins and paper towels). The toilet paper and paper towel brands are sold in different price segments, with the Angel Soft and Sparkle brands being more value-priced and the Quilted Northern and Brawny brands being premium offerings. Stephen Engelberg of The New York Times wrote that in 1995, Georgia-Pacific persuaded

1610-437: The summer of 2008, Georgia Pacific held a fuel conservation summit to explore ways for shippers and carriers to work together to further reduce fuel consumption from its freight transport operations. The Georgia-Pacific Foundation Scholarship Program for Employees' Children has awarded nearly $ 10.5 million in college scholarships to children of the company's employees between 1988 and 2013. Log driving Log driving

1656-638: The total generating capacity of the Millinocket mill complex to 200,000 horsepower (150,000 kW). High-pressure steam generated by burning waste bark was routed first through generator turbines, and the low-pressure exhaust steam was then used to dry the paper. Mid-20th-century paper production of 1,000 tonnes per day was sold to 250 newspapers east of the Mississippi River . In 1930 the company sold 6,000 acres (24 km) around Maine's highest point, Mount Katahdin , for $ 25,000 to former Maine Governor Percival Proctor Baxter . In turn Baxter donated

1702-460: The town of East Millinocket purchased the Great Northern Paper site for $ 1.45 million, and on February 10, 2021, a portion of the mill site was leased out to Standard Biocarbon Corp. to build a pyrolysis facility to convert low-grade biomass into biocarbon. Georgia-Pacific Corporation Georgia-Pacific LLC is an American pulp and paper company based in Atlanta , Georgia , and is one of

1748-420: The various teams to keep logs moving past problem spots. Stalling a drive near a saloon often created a cascade of drunken personnel problems. A larger group of less experienced men brought up the rear, pushing along the straggler logs that were stuck on the banks and in trees. They spent more time wading in icy water than balancing on moving logs. They were called the "rear crew." Other men worked with them from

1794-545: The world's largest manufacturers and distributors of tissue , pulp , paper , toilet and paper towel dispensers, packaging, building products and related chemicals , and other forest products—largely made from its own timber . Since 2005, it has been an independently operated and managed subsidiary of Koch Industries . As of fall 2019, the company employed more than 35,000 people at more than 180 locations in North America, South America and Europe. Georgia-Pacific

1840-415: The years it expanded, adding sawmills and plywood plants. The company acquired its first West Coast facility in 1947 and changed its name to Georgia-Pacific Plywood & Lumber Company in 1948. In 1956, the company changed its name to Georgia-Pacific Corporation. In 1957—led by new president Robert B. Pamplin (who would lead for two decades) —the company entered the pulp and paper business by building

1886-432: Was an exceedingly dangerous occupation, with the drivers standing on the moving logs and running from one to another. Many drivers lost their lives by falling and being crushed by the logs. Each crew was accompanied by an experienced boss often selected for his fighting skills to control the strong and reckless men of his team. The overall drive was controlled by the "walking boss" who moved from place to place to coordinate

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1932-674: Was founded by Owen Robertson Cheatham on September 22, 1927 in Augusta, Georgia , as the Georgia Hardwood Lumber Co. He started the company through the acquisition of a wholesale hardwood lumber yard. The nascent company encountered difficulties two years after its incorporation as the United States fell into the Great Depression . Due to slow demand, the company only had five employees in 1934. Over

1978-827: Was hauled by SmartWay Transport Partners, an increase of 47 percent over the previous year. Of the 145 carriers Georgia-Pacific uses, 104 were SmartWay carriers, an increase of 33 percent over 2007. In 2008, Georgia-Pacific experienced tremendous growth in its intermodal shipping. Georgia-Pacific was able to work with its customers to increase lead-time and create more intermodal freight shipments without significantly impacting customer's needs, thus increasing intermodal loads by 39 percent in 2008 as compared to 2007. Georgia-Pacific uses advanced software to pack loads more efficiently and increase cube utilization in its trailers. The company also reduced empty loads by 10 percent, increased utilization of local fleets, and established an idling reduction policy in place at its 12 distribution centers. In

2024-402: Was placed on the logs, called an "end mark". Obliterating or altering a timber mark was a crime. At the mill the logs were captured by a log boom , and the logs were sorted for ownership before being sawn. Log drives were often in conflict with navigation , as logs would sometimes fill the entire river and make boat travel dangerous or impossible. Floating logs down a river worked well for

2070-660: Was removed from the NYSE (it had traded under the symbol GP ) and shareholders surrendered their shares for about $ 48 per share. The Georgia-Pacific Tower in Atlanta continues to house the company's headquarters. The Crown Zellerbach Building was built as the headquarters of Crown Zellerbach in San Francisco in 1959. On January 11, 2010, Georgia-Pacific signed an agreement to acquire Grant Forest Products' oriented strand board ("OSB") facility at Englehart, Ontario and

2116-530: Was seen as a positive alternative to the closing of the mill at a time when the region was experiencing 22% unemployment. The Millinocket mill was never reopened, but for a while it seemed that the East Millinocket mill could improve its financial status. Within the year of the Cate Street purchase and the reopening of the East Millinocket mill over 250 people had been hired. Just one year later

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