A sawmill has reopened in Glenwood nearly seven years after being shuttered, providing an economic boost to a town of 2,500 hard on the banks of the Caddo River and nestled in a valley of the Ouachita Mountains.
When word of the mill’s imminent reopening spread a year ago, Caddo River Forest Products received more than 300 applications for the first 100 jobs, Brett Bray, the plant’s general manager, said recently. “This is a boon not just for Glenwood and Pike County but for towns in three neighboring counties.”
The owners and employees of Caddo River Forest Products are scheduled to meet Gov. Asa Hutchinson and various town, county and economic development leaders and elected officials in a ceremony at the plant.
With a skeleton crew of supervisors and maintenance workers, the sawmill actually “powered up” on May 15 and, within a few hours, produced its first lumber since 2010, Bray said. “I really expected a much harder start-up for a mill that had been closed for so long,” Bray said. “We went through things we knew had to be fixed, and we decided just to wait and see what happened at start-up. All things considered, it went very smoothly.”
Log trucks have been arriving at the sawmill for weeks, each depositing 29.2 tons of yellow pine. Some 12,000 tons of logs are ready for production at the mill’s 111 acres, Bray said. The mill has hired 103 workers so far, for 10-hour shifts four days a week. A second shift will be added next spring, increasing employment to about 150, with more hires coming as needed, Bray said. The company believes another 300 jobs will be created in supporting industries, such as trucking.
From ArkansasOnline: https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2017/jun/01/sawmill-s-revival-gives-town-a-lift-201/?f=business