I went to visit an old paper mill just outside of town a few days ago. Shuttered in 2011, this industrial site is so big that it was impossible to explore it all in a day. Here are some of photos of what I did explore, mostly the pulp mill and dye building.


1. Rusty Boxcars


2. Wood Pulp


3. High Pressure Pipe


4. Caustic


5. Protective Headgear


6. Outdoor Shower


7. Proceed With Caution


8. Through the Looking Jars


9. Big Wall of Buttons


10. Tempting


11. No Such Thing as Overkill


12. Dated


13. Dye Room


14. Dangerous Dye


15. Found Me a Semi


16. But nobody's home... right?


17. Containment Failure


18. Distinct Lack of Care


19. Dilapidation

And if anyone can tell me how to get some of these to show up in portrait format, that would be great. Dunno what happened, as they were fine on my computer.

Whoa! This is a really nice find. It looks like you had an awesome day. I especially enjoy your photos #1, 8, and 9. And in number 12, it looks like demolition is in store?

Posted by chuck barkley Whoa! This is a really nice find. It looks like you had an awesome day. I especially enjoy your photos #1, 8, and 9. And in number 12, it looks like demolition is in store?

Yeah, it was a pretty amazing day. I've only begun to explore the place, and there is so much more to find.

As for the demolition... I don't know. My friends in that town haven't heard anything about demolition, and there has been nothing in the local paper. I intend to do a bit more research, but nothing has been conclusive so far. I suspect either the private owners are tearing parts of it down (the front gate was wide open when I scouted, and closed when I explored two days later) or some REALLY confident scrappers. Especially as the electricity was still running in some areas.

Cool, man! Let's hope that full demolition is indeed not imminent nor in the near future. I'm pretty sure I have a decent idea where this location is and I sure hope to get up that way while it's still available. Either way, it sounds like you sure did your homework on this one. Nice job here!

Posted by chuck barkley I'm pretty sure I have a decent idea where this location is and I sure hope to get up that way while it's still available.

Shoot me a PM before you go. There are some major safety concerns you should know about before going, especially concerns of the chemical nature. I talked to some people on this site with experience in the paper mill industry for weeks before exploring it. I'd be more than happy to share what I learned with you.

Yes! This place is indeed amazing. I heard about it from a friend that grew up in the town but I didn't get around to seeing it until a few weeks ago. I heard it was bought by a scrapping company, but some of the lab/office buildings will be spared. To me it looked like demo had begun as about 1/5th of the buildings were gone (compared to the sat image from google maps). I've only been there once, so it's hard to tell how fast they are moving.

Also, when I went in the evening, there were a couple guards by the gate and one in break room inside (that was a close call!) so be careful if you go back.

I'd like to know more about the chem hazards here. I saw a lot of asbestos containment plastic in the power plant and obviously they used a lot of hazardous stuff in the mill. If you could pm more info, that would be awesome.

Did you make it to the drying cylinders? That was my favorite part and it looked like it was up for demo next.

hmmm...on second thought this looks like it might be a different place than the one I went to. Your exterior pic doesn't look familiar at all.

It's always rad to see Wisconsin sites i'm not familiar with. Keep it up!

Posted by NotQuiteHuman hmmm...on second thought this looks like it might be a different place than the one I went to. Your exterior pic doesn't look familiar at all.

Does the town your mill is in start with a B, end with a W, and have six letters?

As for hazards... I went back today, and I was really sketched out. Of course, I still went in, but...

First off, electrical. In many parts of the mill the electricity is still on, to the extent you can hear that hum that you usually only hear near high- voltage wires. There are several areas that I had to stay out of, because I'm not frying for a picture. Furthermore, the electrical equipment has not been maintained in over four years, so I had to duck some dangling (live?) wires.

Secondly, they did almost no chemical cleanup, by the looks of it. Sulfur coating the ground around the railroad tracks, full tanks of coolant and chemicals, possible chlorine and Hydrogen Sulfide hazards (unknown risk on those two, but they're dangerous enough that I'm not going to screw around- that's why I've avoided the underground portions thus far), potential residual chemicals so volatile that a scuff of your boot could ignite them, and lime EVERYWHERE.

The lime they use in these mills gets on everything, and is a caustic base when it mixes with moisture, such as sweat. I got some extremely mild first degree chemical burns on both palms while scouting (though honestly, I've had worse sunburns), and even though it barely counts as an injury, it was a pretty big wakeup call that this is NOT a place to mess around in. Word of advice- rapid application of vinegar neutralizes the lime.

Lastly, the structural integrity of several areas is something I hold in serious doubt. While walking across a rooftop to get to an otherwise blocked portion of the plant, I realized that I was standing two stories up on a portion partially demolished by scrappers. Then I felt parts of the roof sag. You'd better believe I was worried, but it held.

If you go to ANY paper mill, DO NOT mess around. Someone on this site once said that there isn't really a difference between a paper mill and a chemical plant, and they were absolutely right. Sorry for making this so long, but I wanted to give a decent summary of the hazards of places like these that I've experienced personally.

These places are really interesting places to go to, so long as you're careful and know what your getting in to. As with all urbexing, the golden rule is "Don't be stupid." The only difference is, the line between safe and stupid is much finer in paper mills. Know which side of the line you're on, and you'll be fine.

Must be a different place. Interesting.

Thanks for the info. This one seemed a bit more maintained since workers are actively demoing it and OSHA probably has some job site safety regulations. No serious electrical or chemical hazards that weren't clearly marked like you described, but it was still a paper mill, so I was very cautious in everything I did there.