Page 49 - USA ROAD TRIP SUMMER of 2000

a canoe but the weather was so bad, we thought that was silly. So

we went back to International Falls and had a nice dinner and an
early night.

BOISE CASCADE PAPER MILL and SOUDAN IRON ORE MINE

Tuesday - It continued to rain in the morning. We called and got a

reservation to take a tour of the Boise Cascade paper mill in
International Falls. Strangely, it was a wonderful time. It is a huge

58-acre building with massive machines producing paper products
at an unbelievable speed. The place was immaculate. You could

eat off the floor. It was loud and we were required to wear

earplugs. Too many facts to enumerate but the whole process
from forest to distribution involves a series of complex stages

requiring great quantities of specialized knowledge and skills so
foreign to a person educated in the world of medicine. We saw

the entire chain of events from the trucks delivering cut timber to
the lifts placing the finished product onto railroad cars that were

pushed inside the plant for loading.

We left town and stopped at a third Ranger Station for the

National Park at Ash River to see if we could learn any more about
the Voyageurs – the actual French boatmen that led the beaver

pelt trade in the Great Lakes area.

On the way, we had another first sighting – a mink. It scurried
across the road right in front of us so we got a good look at the

dark, sleek, very fast weasel.

It was still raining so we were pleased to find this station to be
rustic, warm and inviting. A delightful older Ranger who was

interested in our questions greeted us.

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