Jim Thompson

Email Jim at jim.thompson@ipulpmedia.com

When the Fourdrinier Brothers invented continuous paper making in the early 1800's they needed an energy source. Sources say they first used waterwheels, gradually moving to steam engines as they became available.

Some mill names in Finland use the suffix "koski" which is Finnish for waterfall. Makes sense--a rapid change in river elevation would afford a place to install a dam and waterwheel.

As recently as the early 1990's, I visited the Rolland Mill in Quebec. The office building was at the top of a large hill and the mill was down in the valley below it. Everything that went into and out of the mill (raw materials, finished goods, maintenance equipment, people and so forth) rode an incline from the top of the hill down to the mill. Originally it had been powered by a water wheel before electricity came along. The machinery needed to be near the source of power.

In 1988, while visiting mills in Brazil, I visited the power plant at Itaipu Dam on the Paraná River which separates Paraguay from Brazil. At the time it was the largest hydroelectric project in the world (this was before Three Gorges came on line in China). At the time, the dam had twenty 700MW turbines.

It was very hot that day and in the afternoon, while climbing over Falls de Iguazu, just south of the dam, we wandered into northern Argentina. There was a little store there that had a freezer with ice cream in it, which we immediately purchased. While standing there in the 110-degree jungle heat, I heard a familiar noise. Walking around the back of the store, there it was: an ancient "hit and miss engine" likely seventy years old, that ran a dynamo to make electricity for the ice cream freezer. What a juxtaposition--less than ten miles from the largest hydroelectric project in the world, but in a place off limits from the bounty of Itaipu.

A few years later, I was performing due diligence on a couple of paper mills in the Cali Valley of Columbia. In these cases, the mills traded with the sugar mills for the bagasse on a BTU basis with coal, which the sugar mills could use for power. The bagasse became the raw material for the paper mills. I can usually figure papermaker's log sheets, even in another language. There were several notations for downtime that I did not understand, however. I called over a gentleman who could at least speak broken English and inquired as to the cause of this downtime. He explained that was where the guerrillas blew the electrical towers bringing power to the mill, causing a disruption in the power supply.

As recently as last summer, in southern Ohio, I saw (5) two-horse treadmills linked in series, powering a forage chopper/silage blower on the farm of one of my Mennonite friends. I have seen single two horse treadmills hooked up to table saws, pumps, vegetable washers and all sorts of other equipment in that community.

When I first went to work at the paper mill in Wickliffe, Kentucky, in 1981, nearly everything was driven by steam turbines. Only eleven years old at the time, the mill had no turbine generator sets, for TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) electricity was so cheap at that time that it made no sense to generate one's own electrical power.

Pulp and paper making has a long cooperative arrangement with the electrical power generation business. In 1882, the first hydroelectric power plant in North America was built in Appleton, Wisconsin. Consolidated Paper, in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, founded by the Mead family, took its name from consolidating the manufacture of pulp and paper with producing electrical power for the community.

So, this is a quick background. We'll talk about future trends starting next week.

Be safe.

For a deeper dive, go here.

Study Guide: Energy Trends in Pulp and Paper

Short-Answer Quiz

Instructions: Answer the following questions in two to three sentences, drawing all information directly from the provided text.

1. What were the initial power sources used for continuous papermaking after its invention by the Fourdrinier Brothers?
2. Explain the linguistic significance of the suffix "koski" in the names of some Finnish paper mills.
3. Describe the evolution of the power source used for transportation at the Rolland Mill in Quebec.
4. What was the status of the Itaipu Dam on the Paraná River when it was visited by the author in 1988?
5. What technological contrast did the author observe near the Falls de Iguazu in northern Argentina?
6. Explain the economic arrangement between paper mills and sugar mills in Columbia's Cali Valley.
7. What was a unique, non-mechanical cause of power disruption for the paper mills in the Cali Valley?
8. Describe the alternative power source observed in use on a Mennonite farm in southern Ohio.
9. Why did the paper mill in Wickliffe, Kentucky, not generate its own electricity when the author worked there in 1981?
10. What historical relationship between papermaking and power generation is exemplified by Consolidated Paper in Wisconsin?

Answer Key

1. When the Fourdrinier Brothers invented continuous papermaking in the early 1800s, they initially used waterwheels as their energy source. As technology progressed and became more available, they gradually transitioned to using steam engines.
2. The suffix "koski" is the Finnish word for waterfall. Its use in mill names indicates that the mill was likely located near a rapid change in river elevation, an ideal place to install a dam and waterwheel for power.
3. At the Rolland Mill, an incline railway was used to move all materials and people between the office building on a hill and the mill in the valley below. This system was originally powered by a waterwheel before the advent of electricity.
4. In 1988, the Itaipu Dam was the largest hydroelectric project in the world, featuring twenty 700MW turbines. This was before the Three Gorges Dam came online in China.
5. The author witnessed a significant technological juxtaposition less than ten miles from the world's largest hydroelectric project. A small store in Argentina was powering its ice cream freezer with an ancient, seventy-year-old "hit and miss engine" running a dynamo, completely separate from the massive power grid of Itaipu.
6. The paper mills in the Cali Valley traded with local sugar mills for bagasse, which served as the paper mills' raw material. This trade was conducted on a BTU basis with coal, which the sugar mills could then use for their own power needs.
7. A recurring cause of downtime for the Colombian paper mills was sabotage by guerrillas. They would blow up the electrical towers that brought power to the mill, causing frequent disruptions in the power supply.
8. On a Mennonite farm, the author saw five two-horse treadmills linked together in series. This setup was being used to power a forage chopper and silage blower, and similar single treadmills were used to run equipment like table saws and pumps.
9. The Wickliffe, Kentucky, paper mill relied entirely on electricity from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and had no turbine generator sets of its own. At that time, TVA electricity was so inexpensive that it was not economically sensible for the mill to generate its own power.
10. The pulp and paper industry has a long cooperative history with electrical power generation. Consolidated Paper, founded by the Mead family, derived its name from the act of consolidating the manufacturing of pulp and paper with the business of producing electrical power for the local community.

Essay Questions

Instructions: The following questions are designed to encourage deeper analysis of the source text. Formulate a comprehensive essay response for each prompt.

1. Analyze the evolution of energy sources in the pulp and paper industry as described in the text, tracing the progression from early mechanical power to reliance on large-scale electrical grids.
2. Discuss the theme of geographical determinism in energy production, using the specific examples of Finnish mills ("koski"), the Rolland Mill in Quebec, and the Itaipu Dam on the Paraná River.
3. Compare and contrast the examples of localized, "off-grid" power generation mentioned in the text (the Argentine store, the Mennonite farm) with the large-scale industrial power systems described (Itaipu Dam, TVA).
4. Explore the symbiotic relationship between the pulp and paper industry and the electrical power generation business, citing the specific historical examples from Appleton and Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin.
5. Using the examples from Colombia and the Brazil/Argentina border, discuss how access to reliable, large-scale power infrastructure can vary dramatically even within close geographical proximity and what factors, according to the text, contribute to these disparities.

Glossary of Key Terms

Term

Definition from Source Context

Bagasse

A raw material for paper mills in the Cali Valley of Columbia, acquired by trading with sugar mills on a BTU basis with coal.

Consolidated Paper

A company in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, founded by the Mead family. Its name comes from consolidating the manufacture of pulp and paper with the production of electrical power for the community.

Dynamo

A device used to make electricity, observed by the author being run by a "hit and miss engine" to power an ice cream freezer in Argentina.

Falls de Iguazu

A location just south of the Itaipu Dam, near the border of Brazil and Argentina.

Fourdrinier Brothers

The inventors of continuous papermaking in the early 1800s.

Hit and Miss Engine

An ancient type of engine, estimated at seventy years old, seen by the author powering a dynamo in northern Argentina.

Itaipu Dam

A major hydroelectric project on the Paraná River. In 1988, it was the largest in the world, with twenty 700MW turbines.

"koski"

A Finnish suffix meaning "waterfall." Its presence in a mill's name suggests a location suitable for a dam and waterwheel.

Paraná River

The river that separates Paraguay from Brazil and is the site of the Itaipu Dam.

Rolland Mill

A paper mill in Quebec where an incline railway, originally powered by a waterwheel, was used to transport materials and people up and down a large hill.

TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority)

A provider of electricity in the United States. In 1981, its electricity was so inexpensive that the paper mill in Wickliffe, Kentucky, found it more economical to purchase power from the TVA than to generate its own.

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