A poem marking the closure of the Smurfit-Stone mill in Litchfield
A poem marking the closure of the Smurfit-Stone mill in Litchfield
Nancy Dagenais, the Administrative Assistant at the MRC Pontiac, wrote a poem to mark the tenth anniversary of the closure of the Smurfit-Stone pulp and paper mill in the municipality of Litchfield near Portage-du-Fort.
The poem in question tells the story of the closure, on October 31st, 2008, of the mill.
Ode to the Portage du Fort pulp Mill
Pontiac’s darkest days it has been told
Was ten years today Smurfit stopped the roll
Employees wept the air grew still
Machines went silent at Smurfit Mill
For Forty-one years the pulp mill ran
Employees happy with money in hand
Skidoos and 4-wheelers, trucks and toys
That pulp mill employed a lot of boys
Barking, chipping, transforming wood
Made this known as the Mill who could
World photographic pulp was the secret key
Who would have thought all from a tree?
Name changes yes there were a few
Connie Bath, Stone and Smurfit too
But steam and lime and viscosity tests
Made our hardwood pulp the very best
It took some thinking and research true
It took time and patience the way things do
But perseverance, hard work and more
Allowed this mill to open wide its door!
Nancy Dagenais-Elliott
October 31st 2018
