Utilization Research 



Paper has been 

 manufactured in the South, 

 at rag papermills, since 

 before the Civil War. Near 

 Atlanta, a groundwood 

 process mill used shortleaf 

 and loblolly pine in 

 combination with rags to 

 produce currency for the 

 Confederacy until General 

 Sherman's army destroyed 

 it in 1864. 



In 1888, a small sulfite mill, 

 the Piedmont Pulp and 

 Paper Company, was built 

 near Luke, MD, by the Luke 

 family. The mill later became 

 part of the West Virginia 

 Pulp and Paper Company, 

 which is now known as 

 Westvaco. 



But the real key to 

 papermaking in the South 

 turned with the introduction 

 of the sulfate process. 

 Sulfate processing dates 

 back to 1879, when C.F. 

 Dahl, a German chemist, 

 successfully substituted 

 sodium sulfate for the soda 

 ash used in the old sulfite 

 process. In 1884, Dahl 

 received a patent for this 

 process, which led to a 

 faster rate of cooking and 

 "kraft" (German and Swedish 

 word for "strong") pulp. 



USDA Forest Service 

 investigations at the Forest 

 Products Laboratory into 



manufacturing and chemical 

 variables resulted in the 

 technology needed to 

 successfully utilize the 

 southern pines in the sulfate 

 process (Wells and Rue 

 1927, Surface 1914). The 

 South's abundance of 

 wood, power, labor, and 

 water and its proximity to 

 markets were attractive to 

 papermakers. A general 

 expansion in southern pulp 

 and paper occurred in the 

 1920's with International 

 Paper Company 

 contributing a major effort. 



By 1930, there were 15 

 major southern kraft mills, 

 accounting for 50 percent 

 of the Nation's sulfate pulp 

 production (U.S. Bureau of 

 the Census 1931). 

 International Paper 

 Company owned 5 of the 

 15 mills and produced 800 

 tons of pulp per day. 



Research during the 1920's 

 paid off in two 

 breakthroughs. First was 

 the introduction of 

 synchronized electric 

 drivers, replacing the 

 gear-driven series of 

 machines used to operate 

 the paper machine. These 

 electric drivers dramatically 

 increased production 

 capacity. Second, in 1925 

 researchers discovered that 

 kraft made excellent board 

 and that the Fourdrinier, 

 with little change, could 



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