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Forest Service's "timber management policies provide that the timber resources of the 

 Tongass National Forest shall be used for the upbuilding euid the support of permanent, 

 modem communities throughout Southeastern Alaska." 



In 1948, in response to this federal effort. PSPT incorporated Ketchikan Pulp and 

 Paper Company, which submitted a bid to the Forest Service for the Ketchikan 

 Pulptimber Unit. The government accepted the bid. Under its terms, the Forest 

 Service would provide a 50-year timber contract, and Ketchikan Pulp and Paper would 

 be obligated to build a pulp mill at Ward Cove. In 1951, Ketchikan Pulp and Paper 

 Company became Ketchikan Pulp Company, a joint venture between PSPT and 

 American Viscose Corporation, and financing proceeded for the construction of a mill 

 to produce dissolving pulp. The mill was the first of Its kind to be designed and built 

 in the United States. It used a state of the art pollution control and chemical recycling 

 process. 



This was a risky venture; one embarked upon only because of the guarantees 

 provided by a long-term contract. The federal government requires primary domestic 

 manufacturing of all but a very small part of the timber we harvest. Because of this 

 and in order to support the financing necessary to build a pulp mill in an isolated region 

 separated from the nearest state by 600 miles of foreign border (Canada), the Forest 

 Service promised to supply KPC 8 1/4 billion board feet of economic timber over the 

 50-year term. Construction began in May 1952; logging began on Prince of Wales 

 Island in July 1953; and the mill dedication took place on July 14, 1954. After 30 



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