The pastoral scene gives not a clue to what was to come. A dirt road winds past a small country house. A stand of trees behind it and farmland across the way could be a slice of many rural sites in post-World War II Mississippi.

This was not just any site, however. This one had been chosen by the giant manufacturer International Paper for the location of its new mill in Natchez.

To see the photograph of the undeveloped land as it stood in 1948 and to imagine the end of the area’s association with the company that built the mammoth plant there certainly rouses sentiments, puts lumps in throats and brings tears to eyes.

Yes, it has been a grand time. And, no, it will not be the same without them.

And yet the occasion of the closing of IP’s Natchez mill calls not for sentimentality but for thanks, praise and gratitude. What a difference the company has made in our area.

Let’s go back to the first announcement that told Natchez residents of International Paper’s interest in building the mill. The date was Nov. 25, 1948. The headline in The Natchez Democrat read, &uot;Natchez area selected for big plant; huge rayon pulp mill will be constructed if bond issue approved.&uot;

A month later, J.H. Friend, vice president and general manager of IP’s Southern Kraft Division, came to town and said:

&uot;It will be the first rayon pulp mill in the world designed to employ an entirely new process for producing dissolving wood pulp used in the manufacture of rayon and other synthetic products.

&uot;For the first time in the history of the manufacture of rayon pulp, hardwoods instead of softwoods can be used.&uot;

In January 1949, Natchez voters gave the mill plans an almost unanimous vote of confidence and approval. They voted for the $300,000 bond issue to purchase a mill site with a 97 percent affirmative vote. Three days later, the company announced it would relieve the city of any financial obligation.

Friend came to town again and told Natchez aldermen that the positive welcome by

Natchez voters had so impressed the company that IP would &uot;relieve the taxpayers of any burden whatever.&uot;

That gesture was the first of many ways in which the company became the area’s most community-minded corporation, from participation in charity drives to providing hundreds of thousands of dollars for public education projects.

The Natchez mill became headquarters for the Delta Woodlands Region, one of five such regions in the South. Along with the mill, the Woodlands division had huge economic impact on the area from the beginning, the two entities employing about 1,400 people in the 1960s, for example.

In May 1950, the Natchez mill began operation, soon producing a thousand tons of pulp a day and using more than 2,000 cords of wood a day.

W.C. Pearson of Natchez was part of the start-up crew at the mill. His affection for the company is as strong today as ever, and he likens the closing of the IP era to a death in his family.

&uot;To see IP leave Natchez? It’s like a death in the family, like losing a part of my life,&uot; said Pearson, who worked for the company for 37 years before retiring in 1984.

&uot;I don’t have enough adjectives to describe how good they were for me,&uot; he said of the company. &uot;I have only the most positive things to say about all the years I spent there.&uot;

Pearson was drafted to serve in the Korean War not long after he started work at the Natchez mill. When he returned home, having been wounded in battle, he wondered whether he would get his job back. &uot;They welcomed me with open arms,&uot; he said.

Describing the mill as &uot;the most modern pulp mill in the world,&uot; Pearson said the camaraderie among the men who started out together at the mill made a difference in their day-to-day operations.

&uot;We had so much in common. Most of us were young, just getting married and just starting families,&uot; he said.

Those friendships have remained strong. When he retired almost 20 years ago, Pearson suggested to his co-workers that they get together for dinner every three months in order to stay in touch.

&uot;We are still doing that,&uot; he said. &uot;At our last get-together we had more than 50 people. My wife tells me that every time we get together we rebuild that mill all over again.&uot;

International Paper as a company has experienced more than one rocky period in the last 50 years, centering on attempts to diversify and on cyclical markets for paper and pulp.

Struggles during the past 30 years have found mills closing here and down-sizing there. For the Natchez mill, the handwriting on the wall grew larger and clearer as the past decade came and went.

With attempts now to create an employee-owned company, some hope remains that the big stacks may continue to belch their familiar smoke in Natchez skies.

&uot;I hope they succeed,&uot; Pearson said. &uot;I certainly hope they do.&uot;