History repeats itself

I like most of the community across the Rainy River District have been watching with baited breath the outcome of negotiations that Abitibi is going through with bankers. Saturday’s announcement that Dick Evans was joining the Abitibi board as the non-executive chairman is encouraging. Evans had previously lead Alcan and successfully negotiated Alcan’s sale to Rio Tinto.
Evans will be challenged to turn around Abitibi-Bowater. If his previous experience is any indication of what the future may hold, Abitibi’s potential will be realized. When he was asked why he would hook up with Abitibi, his answer was “I’m also interested in challenging situations, and Abitibi-Bowater is very challenging.”
Each day of last week, the community waited to find out the outcome of negotiations. As each deadline extension was reached and then was extended again we breathed a sigh of relief. The stock has remained steady.
Back in 1934, when my grandfather James Cumming and his partner Russ Larson arrived in Fort Frances to take over the newspaper, the mill was in receivership. The mill under E.W. Backus had been put into receivership in 1931. The sawmills had been shut down for a period.
The Shevlin-Clarke sawmills announced that they were reopening on the first of April 1934. Just as now when the building industry was in a downturn, the sawmill had been shuttered while orders piled up. There were finally enough orders in April 1934. 140 men were put back to work.
The paper company, even though it has been in receivership for three years had continued to make paper for customers.
It took seven more years for the reorganization of the new paper company known as the Minnesota and Ontario Paper company to come out of receivership. It did so stronger than ever. Finally in 1941 the company came out of receivership. Bonds and loans were converted to stock in the new company. In reorganizing, the new company (MANDO) in 1941, sought out R.H.M Robinson a highly respected business leader was chosen to be its new president and lead the company into the future.
I remember sitting with Russ Larson in the late 1970’s and he was telling a group of young business people at the Rainy Lake Hotel stories of how the mill and workers worked together to keep the mill open and operating. Today, I wish that I had paid closer attention to what he was telling us. I wish that I had taken notes.
I do remember Russ talking about the late nights that workers and management spent trying to eek out every penny of profit that they could. I remember him telling us about the optimism that both he and my grandfather had felt in adopting Fort Frances to raise their families.
I remember him telling us that both he and my grandfather felt confident that the mill would secure the future of Fort Frances and the district.
Fort Frances was seen as an area of prosperity in the 1930’s. The Shevlin-Clarke and Mathieu sawmills were running at full speed. There were lots of jobs in the woods cutting trees for the paper mills and sawmills.
Much has changed since my grandfather and Russ Larson arrived in Fort Frances. However, many of the challenges that were facing the district 75 years ago have returned. There may be lessons to learn from what happened in those seven years that the paper company spent reorganizing.

–Jim Cumming,
Publisher