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The construction of a new road, particularly up here in the north country
where there are not many roads, is an event of momentous concern to the
people of any community.
Certainly this is no less true of the completion of Highway 11. It will
at long last unite the District Of Rainy River into a single unit. It will
connect the Town of Rainy River to the Ontario capital of Toronto with a
good highway bearing a single number - No. 11.
The construction of a paper mill in Fort Frances was in its day a monsterous
occasion. It converted, at the outset, and over a period of years, a village
of a few houses, trading posts, a few stores, some boarding houses which
paraded under the name of hotels and mud streets where horse-drawn drays
bogged down, into a very nice, clean town of nearly 10,000, with paved streets,
a memorial arena and other recreational facilities, library, etc., etc.
Not only did the paper mill arrive on the scene almost 60 years ago but
it is still here today, and bigger than it ever was in size of plant and
equipment, in personnel and in production and sales, thanks to the steady
and enduring program of plant modernization, of improvement in technology
through expanded research, of consideration for the welfare of its employees
and of aggressive marketing of its products, followed by the former parent
company, Minnesota and Ontario Paper Company.
In January of this year the parent company merged with one of the larger
North American processors and distributors of forest products, the Boise
Cascade Corporation, an event which offers even greater opportunities for
growth and development.
The former Minnesota and Ontario Paper Company common shares became preferred
shares of Boise Cascade Corporation and both the preferred and Boise common
stock were listed on the New York and San Francisco Stock Exchanges on Wednesday
June 2, 1965. R.V. Hansberger, a president of Boise Cascade, purchased the
first 100 shares at a listing ceremony with Keith Funston, president of
the New York Stock Exchange, which marked the start of trading. The ticker
symbol is BCC.
The combination of the assets of these companies should substantially improve
the position of their operations in a highly competitive market and should
result in the expansion of sales for the products of the Fort Frances and
Kenora mills as well as for those of the entire company.
The basis of the ecomony of Northwestern Ontario is forest products, and
more particularly their conversion to paper. This is no less true in the
District of Rainy River which is transversed end to end - east to west -
by the section of Highway No. 11 being officially opened this month. Without
the paper manufacturing operations in Fort Frances, and the harvesting and
transportation of wood from all sections of the district, there would quite
probably be no Fort Frances or a need for the fine roads this district now
boasts.
The paper company's mills are dependent upon the harvesting of a continuous
crop of puplwood. Through the application of sound forestry principles and
orderly methods it strives to insure a perpetual supply of wood to meet
its responsibilities to its employees, customers and shareholders and to
the communities in which it operates, and in doing this the company co-operates
closely with government agencies and forest associations in developing sound
forest management practices on the Crown lands under the license from the
Ontario Department of Lands and Forests.
In Canada, family-type logging camps and bunkhouse camps are operated on
the lands so held. This source of raw material for the Fort Frances mill
is supplemented annually by purchases of pulpwood from about 650 residents
of the Rainy River District. The sale of timber products made up 36% of
the agricultural income in this district in the year 1964.
In order that district suppliers may share in the benefits to be derived
from the application of sound forestry methods to their own lands, the company
has established a Timber Management Advisory Service. To date, 74 management
plans have been prepared for district residents, and there is a back log
of applications on hand. These 74 plans recommend management practices covering
17,500 acres of farms and woodlots, of which 10,200 acres are wooded. Recognition
of the benefits to be derived from proper forest management is demonstrated
by 28 residents who have had lands certified as Tree Farms by the Ontario
Forestry Association.
Poplar, you doubtless know, is considered a weed tree in many parts of our
country. However, here many thousands of cord poplar are utilized at both
Fort Frances and International Falls. Probably no mill in Ontario utilizes
a higher percentage of poplar than does the mill at Fort Frances. This is
made possible by the integration of paper manufacturing at Fort Frances
with the production of "Insulite" building products fabricated
basically from wood fibre at the sister mill in International Falls, Minnesota,
just across the international Rainy River.
Company management over the years has demonstrated support for the development
of a nice, attractive town with all possible amenities for a good life as
a place for the homes of its employees. To this end, besides providing the
town's and district's basic payroll, the company has assisited in many ways.
A FEW STATISTICS
(Fort Frances and Kenora combined - 1964)
Payroll $11,000,000 plus
Local Pulpwood Purchases (Ontario) $3,600,000
Payments to Logging Contractors $1,400,000
Freight Payments $5,600,000
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