Berlin NH stacks

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peakbagger

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I missed all the excitement in Berlin NH today. Apparently one of the North Country landmarks wasnt in the mood to leave quietly. One of the stacks that were supposed to be demolished, wouldnt come down despite two sets of explosive charges. It got stuck leaning over (aka the leaning tower of Berlin). It had to be finished off with cutting rigs and gravity assist. The paper reports several individuals were hurt, cars and houses damaged. There is a You Tube video of the first stack to go down, but the angle for the stuck stack is poor.
 
Anyone know the You Tube link?, I tried finding it but to no avail. I will never forget how the smell from that could give you monster headaches on some days, as I got older it seemed to bother me less. No long term damage. At least my typeeng and speleeng are stil gud.
 
Thanks guys, that was great stuff, appreciate both links!
 
Wow!

Would you believe that they would ever come down? I can think of several other "landmarks" I'd like to see demolished in the North Country. If those stacks can come down, who knows...?

KDT
 
Kevin said:
Would you believe that they would ever come down? I can think of several other "landmarks" I'd like to see demolished in the North Country. If those stacks can come down, who knows...?
Click to expand...
Keep in mind that those stacks represented the only way to earn a good living in Berlin for decades. With the mill gone, the economy of the north country will remain questionable for years to come.
 
Rider Steve and I were up hiking the Mahoosucs in July and it was just plain eerie to see the demolition of the factory. It really gave me pause.

I was also in North Adams this weekend at Mass Moca. Great stuff, but we saw some interesting books about the "urban renewal" that was started in the mid 60's that the town has still never recovered from.

I think Dave makes a darn good point.
 
Having grown up in Berlin, it is indeed an odd feeling to see those landmarks missing. Truly an end to an era.

Growing up in a paper mill town was tough. Literally everyone I knew had some connection to the mill. My grandfather started working there when he was very young and celebrated 50 years in the mill before he retired. He started off carrying water in to the workers at a very young age (12?). Both of my Grandfathers, my Dad, and all of my uncles worked there. I worked there during summers in college. I would get home, register for work, and then climb Goose Eye with my dog Ringo. I'd usually start working in a day or so later, doing the dirtiest jobs imagineable. I was able to pay my entire college from my summer earnings. It was a dreary, nasty place, but you could make a real good living through the 70's. Working side by side with relative and friends in a place like that gives you an interesting perspective on things.

After that, it slowly went downhill. Two of my friends had died from lung cancer. One at 14, the other at 17. Both never smoked a day in their lives. Both lived on the East side, downwind of the mill, 3 doors apart. Living on the East side, land was cheaper, because of the mill. You painted your house when the side facing the mill needed it: it would bleach years before it should have. My Dad suffers from Asbestosis, and his life will be shortened because of the mill.

Winter was beautiful, as we got tons of snow. Spring was disgusting: all that was left was the black soot as the snow melted. Our ballfields were right in the shadow of the mill. Hit one in the river and you could see where it went in from the hole in the brown foam, often a foot thick or more.

Berlin has a proud heritage. When you live daily in a community like that, you stick together. There was a real feeling of family in that town. Most familes had a long hunting heritage. In my family, vacations revolved around "getting your deer". When a hunter went lost, they would sound "Big Bella" to hope that he would head toward the sound.

I'd go to a high school hockey game between Berlin HS and Notre Dame (Berlin's Catholic HS) and over 1500 fans would be there. The Berlin Maroons were Senior Men's National champions in 1954, 67 and 68, and did it with local talent: that was just the way you did things in Berlin. My dad played on the 1954 championship team. For years, teams at every level that came to Berlin always laughed at the smell. The rarely left laughing.

Berlin is also where the oldest ski club in the country was formed: the Nansen Ski Club, which hosted many Nordic competitions.

It's a hard thing to see the end of an era. Berlin was a once prosperous, proud small city. Things are moving on, and I hope that Berlin will move with them. I'm proud of my heritage. It will always be where I'm from, regardless of where I end up.
 
Last edited:
Wow

I lived 2 years on the EAST side. It wasn't a pleasant smell and for some reason I never got used to it. Although when friends visited they seemed to be more bothered than I was by it. I spent many nights out on the porch 3 stories up looking out at Berlin, the lights at night, the mill, the shadowed mountains... I wondered the health impacts I might be suffereing and the people that lived up here their hole lives might already have suffered.

It was no big surprise for me that it wasn't a healthy place to live. My rent $250 dollars a month for a large 2 bedroom, everything included.

It was worth it. I meet some of the nicest people, had some of the craziest and most fun experiances, and was a changed person after spending 2 winters "up there". I was a stronger person.

Hiking is what I did, and what a great place to live for a hiker.

I can only hope that "moving on" means improving the situation up there for the people of Berlin.
 
FYI, If you follow Sheomet's link to YouTube, you will see in the "Related" tab a whole bunch of video clips of the demolition.
 
Wow

SherpaKroto said:
Having grown up in Berlin, it is indeed an odd feeling to see those landmarks missing. Truly an end to an era.

Growing up in a paper mill town was tough. Literally everyone I knew had some connection to the mill. My grandfather started working there when he was very young and celebrated 50 years in the mill before he retired. He started off carrying water in to the workers at a very young age (12?). Both of my Grandfathers and all of my uncles worked there. I worked there during summers in college. I would get home, register for work, and then climb Goose Eye with my dog Ringo. I'd usually start working in a day or so later, doing the dirtiest jobs imagineable. I was able to pay my entire college from my summer earnings. It was a dreary, nasty place, but you could make a real good living through the 70's. Working side by side with relative and friends in a place like that gives you an interesting perspective on things.

After that, it slowly went downhill. Two of my friends had died from lung cancer. One at 14, the other at 17. Both never smoked a day in their lives. Both lived on the East side, downwind of the mill, 3 doors apart. Living on the East side, land was cheaper, because of the mill. You painted your house when the side facing the mill needed it: it would bleach years before it should have. My Dad suffers from Asbestosis, and his life will be shortained because of the mill.

Winter was beautiful, as we got tons of snow. Spring was disgusting: all that was left was the black soot as the snow melted. Our ballfields were right in the shadow of the mill. Hit one in the river and you could see where it went in from the hole in the brown foam, often a foot thick or more.

Berlin has a proud heritage. When you live daily in community like that, you stick together. There was a real feeling of family in that town. Most familes had a long hunting heritage. In my family, vacations revolved around "getting your deer". When a hunter went lost, they would sound "Big Bella" to hope that he would head toward the sound.

I'd go to a high school hockey game between Berlin HS and Notre Dame (Berlin's Catholic HS) and over 1500 fans would be there. The Berlin Maroons were Senior Men's National champions in 1954, 67 and 68, and did it with local talent: that was just the way you did it in Berlin. My dad played on the 1954 championship team. For years, teams at every level that came to Berlin always laughed at the smell. The rarely left laughing.

Berlin is also where the oldest ski club in the country was formed: the Nansen Ski Club, which hosted many Nordic competitions.

It's a hard thing to see the end of an era. Berlin was a once prosperous, proud small city. Things are moving on, and I hope that Berlin will move with them. I'm proud of my heritage. It will always be where I'm from, regardless of where I end up.
Click to expand...

Eloquent piece - you should send it in to the local paper Sherp. I'm sure a lot of folks would enjoy reading it; might be a few wet eyes too...
 
SherpaKroto said:
Growing up in a paper mill town was tough . . .
Click to expand...
Very well stated, Sherp.

Those folks in the mills (my relatives, too, in Maine) made the paper everyone read in the morning, or ordered clothes from, or wrote their letters and checks on, etc. Being involved in workers' compensation, I had plenty of opportunity to see the downside of mill work--the asbestosis, the injuries, the broken bodies. A tough and honorable way to make a living and feed a family, despite the environmental impact.

The woods industry was responsible for building the roads that have given us access to the back country for decades. And remember what the mill workers used to say about the odor: "Mmmm, smells like money!" :eek:
 
This indeed really IS the end of an era. It started with the end of the golden era of logging (for good or bad), and then the paper mills fading away. Again, for good or bad, it is still a bit saddening to see disappear. It was a proud and time honored line of work that is now a fading memory of the past.

Brian
 
David Metsky said:
Keep in mind that those stacks represented the only way to earn a good living in Berlin for decades. With the mill gone, the economy of the north country will remain questionable for years to come.
Click to expand...


Well said, Dave. I have family up there and while nobody liked the smell (and it's been years since they emmitted the sulfer smell), it really does represent the end of an era and epitomizes the uncertainity of a lot of people's future. So, in some ways, it is sad. My in-laws were there watching the events on Saturday.
 
While I'm glad to see the pollution gone(or at least one source of it)my heart too, goes out to my friends and family who are still there. It has left an economic vacuum and my hope is that seeing how tourism will always be a source, that somehow it will be done in a balanced fashion. NH people have always been proud of the way we protect the land that is valuable and shared publicly. I, for one, do not want to see it abused.
Playing stick hockey on the tennis courts underneath the stacks and pick-up football will always be great memories. I too, lived on Goebel St (that is, living "in-town", as opposed to being in Jefferson), rented from a 1st shift mill worker. When it came time to rent I had to negotiate with his wife, who really only understood French Canadian, I had to have my sister-in-law interpret for me. It was great being a bystander to that conversation.
If you thought the stench from the stacks was bad, one time three of us (as little kids) snuck down to the outflow pipe that emptied into the river between the Grover Cleveland bridge and the dam. God, what a stink. We got chased out by an irate maintenance worker. Kinda understand, we shouldn't have been down there anyway. But I will never forget that smell and color.
 
My grandparents moved to this country to work in the mills in Lewiston-Auburn. A lot of my dad's family still works in the mills in Rumford Maine. These were/are all mills along the Androscoggin River. I remember every spring going down to the Memorial bridge and seeing the brown water pound over the waterfalls during the spring flooding. I am not sure how old I was when I realized that all river water was not brown.

I grew up along the river and was told that we could eat about 1/2 a fish a year out of the river without getting sick because the water was so polluted. I never really felt mad about this though, because if my grandparents never moved from Canada and my father never came to the area, I would have never been born. The mills were a huge part of the Maine economy, and they have pretty much faded into existence as the years have gone on, as the economy has moved closer to a service economy.

With progress comes pollution and damage to the environment. While we can all applaude the removal of these destructive man made devices, I think we must all recognize that without these structures, money will stop flowing into these geographic areas. The odds of a call center or a high tech industry coming into this area is grim. A way of life is gone, as well as a history, be it good or bad. Maybe the area will be pristine again someday, but if no one can afford to drive there at $10 a gallon for gas, will it be worth it?

As I write this, my grandfather sits in a chair back in Maine, having survived multiple bouts with cancer, heart surgeries etc... and my grandmother who also worked many years in the mill resides in a nursing home after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's. While things are not good now, I would like to think that their best years were when they had a house next to ours that my grandfather built, and they used to play cards with us kids all the time during their many years of retirement. There were many happy years that they had, and with the economy the way it is now, it appears that my generation might be one of the first ones in a while that might never experience the economic prosperity and early retirement options that generations before us have experienced. I see the stacks coming down with mixed emotions, and I also see a lot of stories about the people and the mill disappearing into history. Service economies sound great, but if all the products end up being made in China, I wonder how long we can provide services without actually making any physical products.

This all reminds me of black and white photos of my gradparents wedding that get faded by light as the years go by. The ghosts will have stories to tell each other in the dark alleys of these cities, and a way of life will be gone, forever vanished. One day I will tell my kids about my grandparents and about what "mills" were.
 
Apologies

I sort of posted without thinking too much on the subject. I'm sorry if I offended anyone, I didn't mean to. I just think that some things, well, their time has come. If it were up to me, there would be no Auto Road, no Cog, no roads through any notch... I realize it is unrealistic and not many would share my views. Of course those stacks provided for many families, it's just how things are, and I'm sure I used the paper they produced, so please forgive my fantasy of the Whites returning to a pristine wilderness.

KDT
 
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