The town I work in has a pulp mill.
I hesitated before writing that, because the pictures people invariably get in their heads once you say those words is more Allentown - gloomy, forbidding, a smudge in the sky casting a pall over everything and less like the town actually is. Really, it's just an industry in one area of town,* not a giant building looming over the landscape.
To make the pulp they use wood chips. Trucks full of wood chips trundle up and down the hilly streets, blasting your nose with the quick-dissipating scent of fresh-cut wood.
The backs of the trucks, you see, are made almost like a big wire cage. To get the chips out, the mill has a giant slide that hoists the trucks up in that air until gravity prevails and all the wood falls out. (here.)
Tonight I was toodling home behind an empty truck after a long day's work, idly watching the wind catch some chip bits - and then the sun gleamed just so, making it look like bright coins were skittering ahead of me on the highway.
A nice drive home.
*And it used to support a lot more workers than now, too. A pity, that.
5 comments:
The town near us is a pulp and paper town and the whole vitality of this area is hinging on its survival...that and mining. Unfortunately that town is taken over by the big stinky mill. When I was growing up there we called it Stinyola. Your place, coins and all, sounds lovely.
There are some pulp mills in the town where my grandparents live. They don't smell so good.
I had no idea they pick up the trucks like that. That is quite a sight!
What a neat image for you to see, Jess! Life's little sweet moments, you can't beat 'em!
Years ago, I used to go fishing up into Ontario, Canada, near a place called Terrace Bay, where they had a paper mill, which was a (or the)major employer there. You always knew when you were getting close, because off the peculiar odor...
Have a nice 4th!
beauty where you least expect it.
too bad they cut trees down for that...bummer.
What a nice post - I can see it.
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