As I have been familiarizing myself with the computer system here in McGehee, I came across some photos of the mill. I found them pretty interesting, so I thought that I would share them with you as well, especially since most of you probably wont get to come and visit this facility for yourself. This picture was taken from the top of the recovery boiler. The recovery boiler is about 1/2 the size as the boiler in Snowflake, so the pictures aren't as impressive. This one is a view looking south. In the background the Mississippi river is just visible as it rounds a bend. More visible is the mill water pond. Just off the picture is where the mill river water pumps sit that supply the water to the mill.

This view is looking north from the boiler. It isn't exactly recent. The white building has been doubled in size from this picture, and my office is between the two tractors just east of the white building. I don't know the years on these pictures, but for the most part they are pretty accurate of the mill site.

Here is a view of the river from the mill river water pumps. The pumps are not visible in this picture but they are just to your left. This is a barge loading aid (just to the right of this view there are some grain silos witch load onto barges and then the cargo is transported via the water ways to its final destination. There are a series of levies that block the view of the river (and are supposed to block the river itself in times of floods) that run the entire length of the river on both sides. There are also roads on the top of the levies that you can drive on and various access points to the water.

Again, I don't know the dates on these pictures, but here is an alligator that founds its way into the enclosure that protects the mill river water pumps. This animal was alive, and once found was moved out of the pump enclosure to some other location. Apparently the local wildlife is very different from what I am accustomed to. Ether that or the local equipment likes to walk off under its own power, and the mill decided to put some guards around to keep it put. I have even been told of a deer that found its way into the wear house and caused some havoc while within the facility. All of the doors around the basement of the paper machine building have signs on them that indicate they are not to be opened during night time hours. I assume that this is to keep the bugs out of the paper, but as time goes on, I will get a better idea just what animal they are trying to keep contained.

In other news, I managed to find a house that will work for temporary living quarters. This is in Monticello, and we are planning on renting it for a few months while we decide on more permenant living arrangements. It is 1526 ft2 and should accommodate our needs in the short term. As the plans sit now, Terra will move out to Arkansas with the kids during the first weekend in April. I would give more details as to just how that will happen, but plans are still developing into a final stage. I would however, like to echo Sabrina's comments about AJ and his lack of information communicating skills. I haven't seen one of his letters in years, and I think that it is about time that he "cough them up".

Return to Start Page