An Ocean Fall's Xmas party
The company would host a Xmas party for the mill operators and the mill staff every year. These parties would take place in the Martin Inn ballroom which also had room for dinner tables. They were very nice parties especially because it was rare to have large parties in town during the year. Everybody would show up in their best clothes and some of the men were in tuxedos. I remember one such party. We had finished our nice Xmas dinner. There was an open bar and it was very busy. The dancing had started and we were all dancing with someone else's wife. It must have been around 12:30 or perhaps as late as 1:00 AM when the big steam whistle over at the mill starting blowing. We counted the blows of the  whistle and thus knew, that there was a fire in the mill. People who were supposed to respond to such a problem and also people not supposed to, staggered across the bridge to the mill to find that there was a fire in the No. 1 machine dryer sections. This was a big fire, a typical dryer fire, not much flame but lots of smoke. In spite of all the lights being on in the machine room we could barely find our way around due to smoke. There were long walkways running high up on the side of the dryer sections and people were on these walkways with fire hoses. I must admit, it is one of the most funny things I have seen since everybody were running around in three-piece suits and tuxedos dragging fire hoses behind them. We got the fire out but it was too late to go back to the party and honestly, our clothes would not have presented themselves well if we had returned. Certainly one good way to remember a Xmas party at Ocean Falls.
By the way, it was not uncommon to get fires within a dryer section. The paper dust was everywhere inside the dryer hood in thick layers, some areas even soaked with lubricating oil. All the steam heated dryer rolls were supported and running in sleeve bearings which needed constant lubrication. The paper machine was equipped with a centralized lubrication system. Should the oil flow fail to one of the bearings it would not take long before a fire would start due to the overheated bearing. These fires were stubborn fires to put out since the fire would glow within the heavy paper dust layers that could not get enough oxygen to support an open flame. Something else to consider when fighting a dryer fire was not to spray cold water on the dryer rolls. The dryer rolls were fabricated of cast steel and cold water on a hot roll could cause the roll casing to crack thereby destroying the dryer roll. 

Harbour Dredging
The Ocean Falls harbour had to dredged from time to time. The mill was depositing a fair amount of organic material in the harbour. This was back in the time where words such as air and water pollution were fairly new words. A large dredge was brought in from Vancouver complete with skipper and dredging crew. The dredging crew was housed I believe in the old, long bunkhouse. To get out to the dredge, the crew had to walk for about 8 minutes to get down to the wharf where a boat would take them out to the dredge. The dredging crew was certainly not used to the heavy rainfall in Ocean Falls and they were complaining. The crew decided to request that they be driven by taxi to and from the dock if it was raining. Considering that there was only one taxi in Ocean Falls and that the walk was only 5 to 8 minutes, the boss of the dredge said that he would have to think about their request. A week later the boss called the crew together. He opened a large box just received from Vancouver. Out of it, he pulled the most beautifully coloured ladies umbrellas and handed one to each crew member. This story spread fast in town and there was a smile on everybody's face every time a dredging crew member was spotted.

Rain and weather memories
It is difficult to write about Ocean Falls and not to say a few words about the rain because it was a part of one's life during periods of the year. As mentioned earlier, Ocean Falls is exposed to one of the highest yearly rainfalls in North America. Matching rainfalls can only be found at a few spots in Alaska and on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. The heavy, steady and daily rain usually starts towards the end of September or the beginning of October. The heavy rain is caused by the warm, very moist airflow coming in from the Pacific Ocean to the west. The mountains are lower out on the edge of the coast line and they gently rise towards Ocean Falls where Caro Marion is about 4,000 feet high. I do not know what the yearly record rainfall is for Ocean Falls. However, there was an official weather station located at Ocean Falls. The engineering department was in charge of collecting the daily data and to transmit this data. I do remember that one of the years we had close to 200 inches of rain. In metric terms, that is equivalent to 5 meters of rain. Most of the rain falls between the beginning of October and Christmas and is intermittent during January and February. Not only is Ocean Falls exposed to endless days of rain, but the rainfall can be extremely heavy. There have been rainfalls measuring 8 inches in 8 hours, i.e. 1 inch/hour. Quite often the rain is accompanied by a westerly storm blowing perhaps 30 to 50 knot. In such conditions the rain comes at you horizontally and not vertical. 
During the rainy season you really did not have to look out of your windows to see if it was raining before leaving for work. You knew it was raining. The decision you had to make was; are you going to leave for work in just your rubber-overs with an umbrella, or are you going to jump into full rain gear and rubber boots. This decision did require a quick look outside before you opened the door. Should you make the wrong decision and not dress properly, you would be totally soaked before completing your 5 to 10 minutes walk to the mill. Heavens only know how many times we sat down at our office desks with the rain water running down our backs. It could take several hours to dry up properly. Rubber-overs by the way, are large rubber shoes with zippers into which you can step with your normal shoes. In Ocean Falls they were an absolute necessity if you were an office worker. 
During heavy rainfalls it was interesting to see whose boat had gone under during the night when on your way to work in the morning. Fortunately, it was mainly the smaller boats which suffered such a fate. All it took was for the boat cover to drop a corner inside the boat and you would have a perfect water funnel working on your behalf. We had a small plywood speedboat for a while with two 40 hp outboards. It had a small cabin but was open in the back. More than once did I sit in a howling rain storm at 2 or 3 in the morning bailing water and this in nearly total darkness. We did manage to drown the boat eventually and our two engine boat became a one engine boat because of saltwater damage to one of the engines. 
The months of January and February would bring colder weather. This would often result in heavy wet snowfalls but could at other times be nice dry snow. Ocean Falls could often be bone chilling cold for a period of several weeks. 
During the winter a high pressure area builds-up over Alaska and Yukon. This high pressure area results in the winds becoming easterly outflow winds rather than the normal warmer westerly winds. The winds coming down the mountain side of  the Mount Baldy could be dreadfully cold. The wind would funnel in between the mill paper machine building and the Hudsons Bay store on the other side of the mill. The only normal access to the mill was via a long wooden bridge supported by pilings. It certainly woke you up in the morning having to cross this bridge.
This bridge brings up another story. One of the engineers at the mill had been a Lieutenant Commander in the British Navy. It was stated that he had skippered a British frigate during the second world war. He had for this reason been on the bridge of  many ships. He told us, that the front surface of the bridge on a war ship was designed and built to throw the air over and above the heads of the personnel on the bridge. This would protect them from the ever present rain and cold air. The front of the bridge railing was built so that the rail was leaning forward by perhaps 30 degrees. In addition, a second plate was added to the sloping front supported by ribs. This design would act as a wind tunnel and at the speed of a war ship, the wind would be forced high up above the bridge. The engineer talked the plant engineer and mill manager into copying this design onto the bridge running from the Townsite to the mill. By using timbers and plywood a war ship bridge design was added to the mill bridge. This installation worked perfectly. It was a real pleasant change from the previous ice cold walks. This surely was what one would call applied engineering. 
The cold spells were often the times where people could not get in and out of town except by ship. The amphibian and float planes could not fly either due to icing in the air or icing on the hull or pontoons when landing. It was actually quite annoying since this could go on for a week or two. It would stop all business traveling and mail and newspapers would not arrive daily.

Ham radio and Television in Ocean Falls
There was only one radio station to listen to in Ocean Falls during the daytime. A small 50 watt repeater transmitter was beaming the Canadian Broadcast Corporation signal across town. This did have it's advantage since it was never necessary to move the radio dial to search for other stations. However, the town had regular telephone service so outside communication was not a problem. "B.C. Telephone" had a full time employee in town servicing it's customers. The telephone signal from Ocean Falls was beamed towards Calvert Island where the B.C Telephone had a strong repeater station. There were four very active radio amateurs in town, I was one of them.

We were all close friends and spent a lot of time together. There was Bert Barley, a Sulfite mill foreman, Doug Carson, an instrument mechanic and Ken Smith, a papermaker. Radio reception and the transmission of signals in Ocean Falls was not very good due to the many mountains adjacent to the town. To offset this limitation we spent more time using telegraphy than using microphones since the telegraphy signal (cw signal) would get out much more readable. As a result, we were all fast and competent telegraphy operators. Ken had been a telegraphist in the Canadian Navy and his telegraphy was as precise as machine telegraphy. Being able to communicate with the outside world did help to offset some of the isolation of living in Ocean Falls.
When I arrived in Ocean Falls in 1963 there was no television signal and subsequently no television sets. It must have been around 1965 when it was decided to get a TV signal into Ocean Falls. For some reason I ended up assisting with the first trials to establish TV signal reception in town. The television signal was transmitted from the town of Terrace north of Ocean Falls and then transmitted by repeater stations to Ocean Falls. I can still remember sitting on the top of Goat Mountain with a parabolic receiving antenna and a signal strength meter. We got to the top of the mountain by using a Bell helicopter. Never before or later in life have I been exposed to so many mosquitoes as I was on Goat Mountain. I am sure that the TV signal strength must have suffered from the density of the mosquitoes between the transmitting  and receiving antennas. 
Now suddenly Ocean Falls had a TV signal and everybody proceeded  to buy television sets. A considerable amount of these television sets were purchased from the local Hudson's Bay store. However, there was one problem to overcome. There were not anybody in town who could repair televisions. I decided, it would be good for me to get some more electronic troubleshooting experience by repairing television. I approached the manager of the Hudson's Bay company and told him, that if he would purchase the necessary test equipment, I would repair the televisions his company had sold. However, I told him that I would not do any house calls and that all televisions would have to be brought to my home for repair. We agreed on this arrangement. I received the necessary test equipment and soon my basement was filling up with television sets. This partly because I could only work in the evenings and weekends. Since I believe I was the first radio/television repairman in town at that time, I also ended up with a major portion of the towns radios as well as the old reel-to-reel tape recorders. It was a very steep learning curve since I had to cover the repairs of whatever make and type of TV people had purchased. Even worse, the TV signal strength was very poor even in the best signal reception areas of town. Subsequently, the horizontal oscillator would not lock-in properly with the result that the television pictures would be rolling and folding. It was not easy to explain to people that it was nearly impossible to get their brand new television working properly. Many of these sets were of the older type where all other entertainment components were built into one unit. In other words, it was a total disaster for the people having such units. I must admit I often felt that the owners of these non functioning TV sets blamed the repair man for their dilemma. Not a good feeling if you are the repair man. 

References, comments and contact information
Soren H. Bach, worked in the Ocean Falls Engineering Department from 1963 to 1968. The mill was at that time owned and operated by the Crown Zellerbach Company. Prior to moving to Ocean Falls I worked at the Elk Falls Mill at Campbell River, B.C. also a Crown Zellerbach mill. Following Ocean Falls I was employed by the Northwood Pulp mill in Prince George, B.C. From 1976 to 1998, I worked with the Pulp and Paper Consulting Engineering Company H.A.Simons Ltd.located in Vancouver, B.C.. Thus, my total working life of 35 years was spent in the Pulp and Paper engineering field. I was strongly influenced by my time in Ocean Falls and the memories of this town and paper mill follows me forever. I do believe that my family qualifies as being a part of the "Rain People" from Ocean Falls, what these residents are often called. However, I also realize that we were some of the "Newbies" since there were families in town who had lived there for several generations. Two of our daughters were born in Ocean Falls.
From an engineering viewpoint, the Ocean Falls Paper mill was most likely the best training ground anywhere for an engineer who wanted to specialize in the pulp and paper field. I believe it would be difficult to locate a similar paper mill anywhere in the world which could match the Ocean Falls Mill's ability to produce mechanical, sulfite and sulphate pulp within the same facility. Adding to this, the complexities of the many different paper grades produced by the 5 paper machines. The Ocean Falls Paper Mill was truly a unique mill.

Many of the residents of Ocean Falls have read the excellent book titled "The Rain People". This book written by Bruce Ramsey was published in 1971. Some of the material in this book is based on historical material collected by the local Ocean Falls historian James McKellar. I can highly recommend this book to anybody who have an interest in the birth and life of the paper mill town called Ocean Falls. Another recent book written by Paul Jones and published in 2005 is titled " Out of the Rain". This book depicts the life of a young boy during the years 1939 to 1949. It describes Mr. Jones's personal experiences having lived in Vancouver and Ocean Falls. A part of the book covers his time in the Canadian Navy during the Second World War. This book is also a very interesting and entertaining reference book related to Ocean Falls.

Many of the older residents of Ocean Falls have now fallen away. However, their children or grandchildren will most likely have an interest in the town from where they or their parents came from. In 2002 I learned of an addendum which had been published to the original book "The Rain People" This addendum describes the final years of the paper mill and the eventual demolition of both town and paper mill.. For me it was a bit sad to read this section which covers the final days of Ocean Falls as a paper mill town..

The content of the original book "The Rain People" is informative with many stories covering the lifestyle of the people living in this unique and very isolated town. This book makes you feel happy of having lived in Ocean Falls and it brings out many good and funny memories. You will have to have been from the "Falls" to really appreciate the finer points of the anecdotes. 

The first major reduction in mill production came in 1968 with the subsequent large layoff of mill staff. It was planned at that time to shut down the mill in stages. However, a newly elected Provincial Government decided to purchase the mill for a minimal sum of money to continue the operation of the mill thus saving the town from certain death. Several of the senior mill operators and maintenance people had already left Ocean Falls but were called back to operate the mill. Over several years, a valiant effort was made by the local unions and mill staff to keep the mill operating at a profit. However, the writing was on the wall for the Ocean Falls mill and the mill eventually ceased operation due to poor profitability. Studies were carried out to identify possible solutions for a different type of mill based on modern processes and modern equipment. However, quoting the published addendum, investments could not be located to permit a redesign of the mill thus providing it with a new future.

It must have been heartbreaking for the people living in Ocean Falls to realize that the end was near for their town, the mill and their employment. The long and drawn-out negotiations to keep the mill in operation resulted in some bitterness of some people towards the Government of the day and the previous mill owners. This bitterness was expressed in the addendum to the original book. I guess I would have liked to retain a happy memory of Ocean Falls gracefully sliding into the past, as have so many other older pulp and paper mills located in B.C.and Canada.

The stark reality of the Ocean Falls mill was; that it was one of  the more expensive mills to operate in the Province of B.C. in spite of the the hydro power savings. The isolated location of the paper mill resulted in many high cost expenditures not normally carried by other pulp and paper companies located closer to civilization. Everything had to be carried to and from the mill by boat or barge. This included everything and everything. Wood for the mill, all the mill chemicals and all new mill maintenance equipment and supplies. The finished paper products had to be shipped out by barge or ship since there were no roads into Ocean Falls. The cost of the wood for the mill was high due to long delivery distances. The mill was frightfully outdated operating paper machines built in the early 1900 with some machines driven by steam engines. The mill had to carry the cost of the necessary township infrastructure, a cost most other pulp and paper mills companies totally avoid. This meant the provision of housing, heating, electricity, and the maintenance cost of all buildings and roads. Due to the isolated location of the mill, it was necessary to retain a large, versatile maintenance staff. It was essential that the mill would be in a position to carry out major maintenance repairs with a minimum of delay in order to avoid production losses. This again meant the requirements for very well equipped repair shops. Most pulp and paper mills located closer to large cities rely on private companies to carry-out many of the large scale and often specialized  equipment repairs. Outside contractors can be brought in to most mills on short notice should a major maintenance problem occur.

History has shown, that pulp and paper mills much more modern than the Ocean Falls mill have had to be shut down permanently. This due to the very difficult cost environment many mills often operate within. Mills with quite modern production processes and equipment, and installed perhaps as late as 1980, have had to shut down. The Ocean Falls mill was totally devoid of  any air and water pollution control equipment. Such now obligatory systems are high cost items in any new pulp and paper mill. The Ocean Falls mill would not have been able to continue operation without such facilities.

In my opinion, the Ocean Falls paper mill town ended it's career in a noble way, having been the home to so many people since the beginning of  the 1900. From an economic, long term viewpoint, the Ocean Falls Mill created very good revenue for all involved, the Provincial Government, Investors, Mill equipment suppliers and the people who lived and worked in Ocean Falls.

Notes:
All comments, descriptions and explanations related to the Ocean Falls paper mill and town are solely my own. I am recalling events in my life which happened 40 years ago  Due to my long-standing interest in the life and history of Ocean Falls I felt I should communicate some of my memories and share some of my photographs.

The town of Ocean Falls still lives on albeit on a much smaller scale than that of the past. I send everybody still living in Ocean Falls my very best regards.