TIME LINE> Great Northern Paper Company

1899 Great Northern Paper Company evolves from the Northern Development Company. Garret Schenck and Colonel Oliver H. Payne are responsible for the construction of a mill in the Maine wilderness on the West Branch of the Penobscot River

1900 Great Northern Paper Company produces its first roll of paper.

1901 The new town of Millinocket is incorporated.

1907 A second mill is built and the town of East Millinocket grows around it.

1952 After decades of steady growth, Great Northern enters a phase of major expansion. The use of hardwoods, a new hydro-electric station at the Ripogenus Dam, a new hardwood pulp mill and new steam-electric generating plants at both mills and two newsprint machines, all greatly increased Great Northern’s production.

1962 Great Southern Land and Paper Co., a joint venture of Great Northern and Southern Land, Timber and Pulp Corp. is formed to produce Kraft linerboard at Cedar Springs, GA.

1965 Stockholders approve the merger of Great Northern and Southern Land Paper Co.

1969 Great Northern Paper Co. and Nekoosa-Edwards Paper Co. approve merger.

1986 Major restructuring leads to a reduction of 1,200-1,400 jobs over several years. Recession in the early 1990s drives loss to 2,000 jobs.

1990 Great Northern Nekoosa is purchased by Georgia-Pacific for $3.75 billion dollars.

1991 Bowater purchases Great Northern. Competition increases from mills in the southern U.S. and abroad in South America and Asia.

1998 Bowater announces that its Millinocket plant is for sale. A planned investment of $220 million in its East Millinocket mill could mean the loss of a