A Bold Move

This is a panoramic view of Cousin's Inlet. Martin Valley is on the left, and the Ocean Falls town site on the right. I 'borrowed' the last two photos from a website put together by the Ocean Falls Development Committee.

There have been precedents. Private enterprise has determined that a business is no longer viable and then a government takes over. This never works. The reasons are all about political ideology and motivation as opposed to pragmatism. Even after new infrastructure such as a $5 million state of the art ground wood mill (built in 1965) and upgrades to the steam plant, Crown Zellerbach could not make a profit, probably because of falling newsprint and pulp prices on the world market. So to save the people, the jobs, and the town, the mill was purchased in March of '73, by the NDP government, even though there were only 6 people in town who did not already have another job and location to go to. Most had already shipped their belongings out of town and were in the stages of closing down their lives in Ocean Falls. Ted Vesak, who was directly involved in the studies that led to the original plan to shut down the mill, was now hired on as manager of all operations. Yes, he knew, but took the job anyway. There had been numerous other suggestions for the town site, from fish farming operations, to a drug addiction rehab retreat. But in the end, it was decided to take the two mothballed newsprint machines and fire them up. There was a little spike in paper prices right then and that was all the motivation that was needed to make the final decision.
It turned out to be a fiasco. Shortly after the government took over, we were seeing news headlines that were claiming that production had never been so high at the mill. I could not understand this so I made some inquiries and found out that all four machines were running newsprint at full speed. This obviously made for higher tonnage because you cannot run the machines at a high speed when you are making the more profitable specialty papers. Not only that, but I found out the newsprint did not always have a market and it was being pumped out in record amounts and then being stored. The problem was, storage space was limited so the thousands of rolls of paper were being fork lifted to the old sawmill which was old, decrepit and had leaky roofs. In no time at all, mountains of perfectly good newsprint were reduced to useless piles of wet and rotting pulp. But headlines did not reveal this. It was Government deceit at it worst.
Even 'they' could not carry on this sham forever and eventually, what Crown Zellerbach had known all along, dawned on the bureaucrats. Again, it was announced that the mill and town were shutting down, but this time there would be no last minute deals. Even a murderer on death row eventually goes to his demise.
The death was swift and brutal. Without a lot of consultation, the town was what they called 'normalized'. That was a sanitized version of 'demolished'. After much hue and cry from former residents, 'normalisation' was halted just before evertything was lost. What was left is still standing today. Some of it in total disrepair, some of it restored for historical purposes, and some building are being used or lived in to this day.
There are now around 50 permanant residents but in summer the population explodes as holidayers, fishermen, and former residents invade the town.
I have not been back but have seen many photos of what is left. I do not know if I want to go back. I have heard from others that it is difficult. I see it as such a waste and a devastation of such an incredibly beautiful spot. The town of my childhood in Saskatchewan is not at all like it was when I was growing up there. I have been back there and it is difficult not recognising all the old familiar spots. This would be the same. If I do go back, this blogspot will be the first to hear about it.