Ready for another history lesson? No? Good. Here it comes.
Back in 1927 a new pulp mill was founded in the village of Lievestuore, Laukaa. The location was chosen, as there was timber available and it was cheap to raft it to the location. There was also a railroad running through the village, which made it easy to transport the pulp away. Perfect, it seems.
In 1935 the factory built a 4 kilometers long pipe to a nearby swamp. It was considered a good idea to lead the mill’s waste water containing caustic soda to the swamp and leave it there. They did this for a couple of decades until the swamp had become a huge, messy pond. Meanwhile it leaked to a nearby lake.
If that wasn’t enough, they led the factory’s other waste waters directly to a nearby lake. In the early 1960’s the lake was so polluted, that it couldn’t be used as the factory’s water supply any more. They dug a 10 kilometers long tunnel to obtain water from another lake.
The factory was closed due to rising costs and increasing environmental regulation. It was bought by another company, which eventually restarted production. It was soon ended due to environmental concerns, but the workers revolted and started production anyway.
Eventually the caustic soda swamp was cleaned and the factory restarted. In 1983 the company was caught having falsified water samples. It’s pollution levels had been double the legal limit.
The mill was closed for good in 1985 and the buildings imploded in 1995. I knew they were gone apart from just a few ones.
So why did I come here anyway? One, there’s always something interesting in old factory villages. Two, I saw from maps, that a part of the chimney still stands in the middle of a forest.
When I parked my summer car, I found these. I have no clue what they were, but clearly they were some structures of the factory, which was nearby.
The same structure from another direction. Still no clue.
Whatever it has been, it has now been turned into a park.
Whatever the structures have been, they have been massive.
On Google Maps this was in the middle of a forest. And on Google Maps the foot of the old chimney stood right there.
Well, doesn’t stand anymore. What a waste of time. But at least I got to give you a history lesson.