Prince George, British Columbia

Known as the Spruce Capital of the World, Prince George is a logging town. There are three logging mills, a plywood plant, and a pulp plant. As it turned out we were in town on the right day to get a tour of the Canfor company’s Rustad mill.
This mill processes the logs from 120 trucks a day.

The mill is automated and this picture was taken in one of the two control rooms, looking out on the logs as they enter the plant.

The logs are measured and turned to the perfect position to maximize the amount of lumber that can be cut from each log. They are then cut to raw size. Sorry, between the dust and the lack of lighting, I could not get any pics of the saws.
The cut boards are then sent to the drying room. After drying they go back to another section of the mill where they are cut and planned to finish sizes, packaged, and sent out to the yard for loading on the outbound trucks.

Here we see some of the fine product the mill produces, as well as some of the fine products the area produces (also known as our tour guides).

The mill employs fewer than 180, with most of those working outside, transporting the logs and lumber to the various stations. We saw less than a dozen inside the mill and they were mostly to fix the occasional problem that arises with a jam.

Nothing is wasted either. The saw dust and chips go to the pulp mill. Larger chips and board scraps go into chip board. Any other leftovers are processed into pellets for the furnaces that heat the drying rooms.

A very interesting tour…….and by the way, they plant enough new trees each year to guarantee at least one replacement tree for each one they cut down.