Pulp and Paper

Pulp and Paper. . , In the early 1900’s the best and strongest wrapping paper was made from Jack Pine using the Kraft process. The process used then required quantities of soap stone, and there are a number of soap stone mines in the Dryden area. The principal forest species around Dryden was Jack Pine, and the large areas burned off by the CPR 25 years before was regenerating almost entirely in Jack Pine, promising a future supply. The rush of homesteaders promised a good supply of men and horses to harvest the wood, and the booming prairie economy a ready market for wrapping paper. In 1910 the Dryden Timber and Power Company put this all together and began construction of a Kraft pulp mill at Dryden. , There was a small brickyard making bricks from local clay on the property across the river from the town site. At that time 2 small wooden bridges from the banks to the island just north of here provided access. Dryden Timber and Power built their mill just south of the brick yard using bricks made there. An earth dam which forms the embankment of Duke Street closed the east branch of the river and a concrete power dam which still exists just below the Duke Street Bridge was built from the island across the west branch of the river. The power dam provided electricity for the original mill and the town until 1922. These dams replaced the low dams built a few years earlier to facilitate steamboat traffic. , The Kraft mill started up in 1913 and became the economic base of a growing and prosperous town. It has operated since, expanding and rebuilding over the years into the present world class Kraft pulp and fine paper mill. The last of the original 1913 buildings was demolished in 1985.