Chip Service

Unused wood chip unloading equipment at the Blue Heron Paper Company in Oregon City, Oregon.

It's good to be back. I had a very productive trip to Wisconsin, but I was battling a nasty cold most of the time. Thankfully I seem to be recovering. This afternoon I walked the loop down Singer Hill, through downtown, under the tracks, along 99E to the pedestrian overpass and back along the bluff. It was good to be out with the camera looking for compositions. I focused on the unused equipment for unloading wood chips by rail at the Blue Heron mill, looking for interesting lines and shapes in the supports and conveyors. Chips still arrive at the mill by truck, but as far as I can tell, chip service by rail ended before Union Pacific bought Southern Pacific in 1996. I've found old track charts that indicate the chip siding had a 12-car capacity, and it's hard to imagine the mill receiving that many chips at a time. Today much of the material for making new paper arrives in the form of old paper for recycling.