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Paper Mill Keeps Bucksport in Business
Employment at the International Paper Co. mill
peaked in the late ’80s with about 1,350 workers. There are
about 1,000 workers at the Bucksport plant today. |
At the edge of
Bucksport, the International Paper Co. plant dominates both the
town’s skyline and its economy. For more than 70 years, the paper
mill has kept Bucksport in business.
Bucksport’s
oldtimers can’t help but call the mill Champion International, its
former name under its previous owner. The corporate switch to
International Paper happened just two years ago this month.
Long-ago workers
also know the mill as St. Regis Paper, which took over the plant in
1945. It became Champion International in 1984.
All those name
changes have occurred since the mill on the Penobscot River started
back in 1930 as the Maine Seaboard Paper Co.
Whatever its name
or corporate owner, the mill has provided dependable local
employment for Bucksport and the surrounding area. More than 1,000
employees work there today, comprising
Hancock
County’s
second-biggest workforce, after the 1,100-worker Jackson Laboratory
in Bar Harbor.
About 800 of IP’s
workers are hourly employees.
The mill is where
coated paper is made for magazines and catalogs. Time, Newsweek,
Sports Illustrated and People magazines are among International
Paper’s biggest corporate clients. The L.L. Bean catalogs are
printed on stock from the Bucksport plant as well.
But as the economy
goes, so goes production at the plant. Twice already this spring the
mill has shut down for one week at a time, once in February and
again May 5-13. Company officials said both shutdowns were forced by
a downturn in orders for coated paper. For the Feb. 17-25 closure,
officials said seasonal variations in the printing industry were
part of the reason.
When the mill
opened in November 1930 as the Maine Seaboard Paper Co., access to
ocean shipping was good, but access to Maine’s inland forests was
not. Wood was shipped by water, rail and truck from Maine and
Canada. Logs were dumped into the Penobscot River beside the mill
and drawn into the factory by a chain of notched converters.
Unlike inland
mills, Seaboard couldn’t use the salty river water. Instead, a
series of pumping stations and gravity feeds connected three nearby
lakes (Toddy Pond, Alamoosook Lake and Silver Lake) to provide
millions of gallons of fresh water daily. The mill purchased the
water rights to the lakes, agreeing in return to provide enough
water for the town of Bucksport.
For many years, the
St. Regis paper mill produced its own kraft—that is,
sulfite-bleached fibers that whiten paper. Kraft production causes
the odorous fumes often associated with paper mills. But in 1968,
the mill shut down its kraft prep machines for quality and
environmental reasons. Since then, the mill has purchased all its
kraft from other plants.
The mill has
operated continuously except for a single strike in the late 1970s—a
standoff that lasted six weeks.
The mill employed
as many as 1,350 workers in the late ’80s under Champion.
Today, the company
pays out about $90 million in wages and benefits just at the
Bucksport plant (International Paper also has another Maine plant in
Jay). It spends about $122 million on supplies and services within
Maine, according to company spokesman Keith Cunningham.
On a smaller,
closer-to-home scale, International Paper supports its town. There
are educational scholarships for children of employees, and there
are donations to different local groups, such as Friends of Fort
Knox and Northeast Historic Film.
The company even
has an impact on Bucksport’s youngest: The mill sponsors several
Little League and softball teams.
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